TRUE Pet Food is tapping into regional markets.According to Tina Hamilton, head of True Pet Food, and senior manager of pet foods for CB Group, the brand is finally responding to the numerous requests from potential customers and interested parties in the region. “People were just in the different countries asking, listen this isn’t fair, you guys have this brand and we’re not able to use it here,” said Hamilton in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Hamilton explained that Cayman was one of the first countries that asked for the brand, but True Pet was not big enough to support it at that time. True Pet Food is now available in five Caribbean countries and is hoping to double its retail market in the Caribbean by next year.

“Starting last year we started getting in St Martin and then from St Martin we went to smaller islands in Anguilla, Sint Eustatius and then this year we got into Antigua and they’re already sold out after one month of having it,” she explained.

The brand recorded success from its first shipment to St Martin which was just a few hundred bags that were sold out within four days. Thereafter, a full container was sent to the island and the partnership has stayed on both the French and Dutch territories. Hamilton explained that a part of the recognition and demand from other Caribbean countries comes from the strong digital presence that the team has been pushing. However, she revealed to the Business Observer that due to the manufacturing of the product being done overseas, it is limited by the amount it can produce and import. “For us it’s a lot more economical to send a full container but the tiny countries cannot use that, or if they do, it would be too much stock for them, so it’s challenging in terms of volume, so you have to convince them that they’re going to be able to sell that much stock and you have to go in and do the work, visit the retailers talk to the breeders so when it does land it doesn’t just sit there and let people figure out what it is they have to be wanting it before it even gets here, so once it lands, it sells,” she shared.

Despite volume challenges, True Pet has a very ambitious distribution target to reach every Caribbean country and the global market. “I don’t think because we’re a Jamaican company we need to limit ourselves to just the Caribbean, I think the brand is strong enough and what we stand for and how we’ve approached the market can be good enough to hit global,” Hamilton said optimistically.

True Pet Food currently focuses on the manufacturing of dog food, but plans are afoot to develop cat food due to constant requests from cat owners who want to be included. True Pet recently introduced salmon oil in its line of products which has been picked up quickly by cat owners.

” There’s a lot of other things that people are asking us as a Jamaica pet food brand, so because we’re small we have the flexibility to do that and create new things that no one else is doing,” said Hamilton while sharing plans for the introduction of new products. “Wet dog food, a lot of people are asking for that whether it is in cans or pouches and you have to remember too, we have a good base here with CB in terms of access to chicken and raw materials to do other things. So we are in the process of exploring a lot of ideas and people are putting forward to us, the breeders are asking for very breeder specific things, high protein,” she added.

True Pet also has plans to build a factory within a few years which Hamilton says will enable production of a number of things and manage the cost of the product better to make it cost efficient for pet owners. “We will be able to do more specific or more customise things. A lot of the vets are also asking for like medicated things or things that are more specific to the dogs and we’ll be able to do that once we have our own facility,” said Hamilton.