Jamaican sauce producer Scotch Boyz has entered into a partnership with Agro-Investment Limited that will see the company ramp up its agro-processing operations to meet growing demand for its products.

The company recently secured a lease of five acres of land at the Ebony Agro-Park in Clarendon through Agro-Invest. Scotch Boyz will use the parcel of land for the cultivation of a variety of Scotch bonnet peppers which feature heavily in its assortments of sauces and jerk seasoning.

According to Agro-Invest, the soil at the Ebony Agro-Park is “fertile, loamy [and] well-drained” making it suitable for producing high yields of a number of Scotch bonnet varieties. While the land lease has a five-year time span, it is renewable upon reaching maturity.

“We are thrilled to partner with Scotch Boyz in this land lease initiative to cultivate Scotch bonnet peppers at our Ebony Agro-Park in Clarendon,” said Vivion Scully, CEO at Agro-Invest.

“This venture aligns with our commitment to sustainable agriculture and addresses the rising demand for flavourful ingredients used in value-added products produced and exported by Jamaica. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship in ensuring that exceptional products like those produced by Scotch Boyz permeate every corner of the globe,” he added.

Scotch Boyz started in Jamaica when four friends from Westmoreland entered a BBQ cooking competition using Scotch bonnet peppers as the main ingredients and won. Following the team’s successful submission, demand for the sauce began to grow and so the team agreed to bottle the sauce under the Scotch Boyz name.

That team includes Neil Hudson, now the CEO; Drew Gray, chief operating officer; Kemar Swaby, brand director; and Matthew Wallace, partnerships director.

Since its founding, the company has sold its products on its website and e-commerce platform Amazon. In April this year, the Scotch Boyz brand secured placement on the shelves of over 250 Target stores in the United States.

While the company continues to pursue partnerships with other distributors in the United States, it is also expanding into the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.

“We are excited to partner with Agro-Invest to promote sustainable agriculture in Jamaica. We believe that sustainable agriculture is essential to the long-term health of our business and the Jamaican economy. We will be planting five acres of Scotch bonnet peppers to help shore up our supply of peppers,” Scotch Boyz founding partner Gray stated.

According to the Scotch Boyz website, the company sources raw materials from over 200 local farmers. It added that the operation can produce up to 80,000 bottles per day.