Salada Foods is aggressively pursuing export growth in Caribbean markets in a bid to diversify its export sales that previously comprised of fulfilment orders to three of Jamaica’s major trading partners — the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Canada.

The company’s Commercial and Corporate Affairs Manager Kerrian Johnson told Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of the recent Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival that it began targeting distributors in the Eastern Caribbean last year and has continued to pursue new markets in the subregion.

“Our mandate for last year and this year was to expand our footprint into the Caribbean. So what we did was target all of the islands in the Lesser Antilles. We targeted Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados,” she stated.

“In Barbados we made a switch with our distributor, but in St Lucia, Antigua and Trinidad, it’s our first time in those markets,” she elaborated.

According to the company’s annual report for 2023, Salada has engaged Armstrong Agencies, describing the distributor as “experienced and well rounded”.

In Trinidad and Tobago, Salada has partnered with Ansa McAl to move the goods into the retail space. With the fulfilment of the order taking place last month, the team should have visited the twin-island republic last week to launch the Jamaica Mountain Peak portfolio there.

When asked what has been the take-up of the products in the Eastern Caribbean, Johnson responded, “We have been doing phenomenally well, and you can see that by the reorders of our distributors and the growth in the quantity of the reorders.”

She, however, declined providing figures, but pointed to the company’s financials for greater clarity around export returns.

For Salada’s financial year ended September 30, 2023, the company earned $1.4 billion in sales, just about 5 per cent more than sales figures in the previous years. Revenue from the local market grew by 5 per cent.

“Our export markets grew by 3 per cent driven by the gradual expansion of our footprint in Caricom. This year featured our first shipments to Caricom territories including St Lucia and Antigua, as well as the fortifying of our position in Barbados with a change in distributorship to Armstrong Agencies, an experienced and well-rounded distribution agency,” Salada General Manager Tamii Brown told shareholders in the company’s annual report.

Pushing growth in those market, however, has meant targeting more than retailers. To this end, Johnson revealed that it has been working with agencies in those countries to market its products to hotels and guest rooms that offer complimentary sachets of teas and coffees to their guests. While she has indicated some success in this regard, she was reluctant to share the names of the hospitality service providers.

“So our focus for the Caribbean is to continue growing [volume] and expanding our footprint throughout the entire region,” Johnson informed Caribbean Business Report, adding: “Right now we’re actively pursuing the [Dominican Republic].”

At present, the company is in the process of completing paperwork before engaging in business in the Spanish-speaking country.

Overall, the company’s marketing push in the region resulted in 17.9 per cent increase in selling and administrative expenses, as Brown pointed out that the company invested in “brand awareness and consumer engagement activities in these Caricom markets for long-term market sustainability”.

Beyond the Caribbean Sea, Salada is also expanding its distribution network in the United States having secured a partnership with Publix. Its products, including flavoured coffees, can now be found on the shelves of the chain supermarket’s outlets in the New York tristate area and Florida.

Salada also has a distribution arrangement with Walmart

Locally, the company is preparing to roll out a new product called the turmeric latte with pumpkin spice. Already, market testing has indicated a near-100 per cent favourability rating, Johnson shared.

In fact, the company capitalised on the recent Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival to soft launch the product while ascertaining customer feedback. Johnson added that the company also has a mandate of introducing one new product each year.