Back with a bang since COVID-19 pandemic-induced fallouts, sales from the booming tourism industry have already started to positively impact topline growth for ice cream and frozen novelties manufacturer Caribbean Cream, more popularly known as Kremi, following its re-entrance in that market last year.

The company, in moving to expand its customer base after re-engaging the lucrative sector during the 2023/24 financial year, saw revenues earned from its newly crafted bulkan stock keeping unit (SKU) exceeding expectations for the year with sales from the segment growing in line with the number of tourist arrivals to the island.

Up to the end of the financial year ended February 29, 2024, the country welcomed one million visitors for the first two months of the year following record arrivals of 4.1 million visitors in 2023.

Sales from the tourism industry, which showed a steady month-on-month increase, the company’s directors said, were further driven by strong customer demand for the three-gallon bulkan container product which took the market “by storm”.

“Although a smaller segment of the market, sales [from the tourist sector] have exceeded our budgeted projections by about 500 per cent in the year under review and continue to show excellent growth,” a report to shareholders from the company’s directors published in its recently released annual report noted.

Serviced through its distributor Wisynco, products from the company have started to spread across a growing number of resorts and hospitality facilities islandwide.

Outside of the tourism sector, Kremi already has a large presence in the wholesale and retail trade.

“With the high demand for our ice cream by the hotel trade we are optimistic that we will make further inroads into that market, as we continue to expand sales outside of current traditional avenues,” Chairman Christopher Clarke also said in the report.

At the end of the financial year, Kremi’s revenues climbed to $2.6 billion, up from $2.5 billion in the previous year. This, as profit grew 36 per cent to a total $36.7 million coupled with total assets of $2.5 billion, representing a 17 per cent increase for the year.

Over the 12-month period, the company’s core operations, strengthened by the roll-out of new systems including a cold room facility, further helped to significantly improve its stock availability and co-packaging storage for third-party ice-cream brands.

“The future for Kremi looks bright, as we seek to grow production through the optimisation of these new tools we have acquired, as well as the commissioning of the CHP plant which is expected to provide cheaper power and steam. In addition, we expect to fully utilise the increased pallet space in our cold room to respond to the uptick in sales. The pallet spaces have moved from 150 to 750,” the chairman further said.

Pushing growth through the continued use of its social media platforms, which saw increases in followers by some 20 per cent last year, the company said it plans to further reinforce the brand as a leader in the local industry.

“Having come through the most ‘challenging’ and ‘exhilarating’ year yet, we are poised to reap the fruits of our labour; ‘exhilarating’, as we implemented several of our projects stated earlier, and ‘challenging’ because of the teething pains experienced during the implementation exercises,” the directors said.

Kremi, at the end of its first quarter or three-month period ended May 2024, achieved revenues of $763.6 million followed by a more than doubling of net profit which totalled $15.3 million.

“We are excited to face the future, and with the help of God we expect the benefits from the implemented strategic initiatives to increase production capacity and market share and to achieve operational efficiencies as well as our strategic target of $3 billion in sales by 2025,” the company further said.