Building on its regional success in The Bahamas, local food distributor Everything Fresh Limited (EFresh) is gearing up to enter another Caribbean market to further expand its regional footprint.

In a sidebar interview following the company’s annual general meeting earlier this week, Chairman Gregory Pullen disclosed that EFresh’s plans are partly driven by the opportunity to leverage established client relationships in Jamaica to secure business in this new market, where several of its largest clients already operate.

“We’ve expanded into The Bahamas and we see similar potential elsewhere,” Pullen told the Jamaica Observer.

“The demand is there, and many of our key clients have operations in this new market. Expanding there allows us to strengthen those existing ties and serve them more directly,” he explained, adding that the company is looking to enter the new market through greenfield approach — building from the ground up rather than acquiring an existing entity.

A timeline for the completion of the company’s expansion plan was not disclosed.

“It’s too soon to say that,” Pullen said. He also declined to name the market the company has its eyes on.

EFresh’s plans for regional growth align closely with major restructuring efforts at home. The expansion comes as the company strengthens its non-hotel business segments to meet the growing demand for food products beyond the tourism sector.

The shift has been a critical strategy, Pullen said, especially given recent challenges in the hotel sector, which was hit by two US travel advisories in 2024. Once responsible for more than half of EFresh’s Jamaican revenue, hotel sales declined by 15 per cent in the first half of this year. However, the company’s retail and non-hotel business in Jamaica grew by 26 per cent, mitigating the impact and providing higher margins.

“We’ve rebalanced our revenue mix,” the chairman noted. “More than half of our business previously came from hotels, but the shift towards supermarkets and restaurants has provided a stronger margin base.”

The planned expansion also aligns with EFresh’s recent operational improvements, including the transfer of a large portion of its inventory from Kingston to the expanded distribution facility in Bog Walk, St Catherine. Now serving as a central hub, the Bog Walk site offers three times the cold storage and double the dry goods space, streamlining logistics for clients in Jamaica’s north coast tourism belt and reducing both transportation costs and delivery times.

EFresh’s strengthened position has been supported by a recent $361.4-million capital injection, managed by GK Capital, which bolstered the company’s financial flexibility ahead of the busy Christmas season. Of this, $110 million was allocated to retire high-cost, short-term debt, with the remaining funds used to build inventory across key markets in Jamaica and The Bahamas.

“This capital injection has enabled us to better support demand and strategically build up stock in our primary markets,” said Pullen.

The company’s operational focus has also extended to enhancing its administrative, sales, and merchandising teams, while expanding its marketing efforts to capture a wider range of retail clients. EFresh has further invested in synchronising its Bahamian operations with those in Jamaica, creating a streamlined, real-time reporting system that ensures efficient oversight. With demand in The Bahamas expected to rise this year compared to 2023, EFresh has retooled its operations to capitalise on this growth.

For the first half of 2024, EFresh recorded group sales of $1.72 billion, a 3.2 per cent increase over the previous year, with $1.36 billion attributed to Jamaican operations and $359.1 million from The Bahamas. However, increased expenditure and rising staff costs affected profitability, resulting in a net profit of $43.1 million, down from $78.1 million in the same period last year.

“The increased costs are investments that strengthen our capacity for future revenue growth,” Pullen noted, referencing the company’s recent hires in warehousing, purchasing, and transportation.