For the first time in a decade, ice cream maker BICO is exporting from Barbados to a CARICOM neighbour.
A shipment left the Bridgetown Port on Tuesday on a one-week journey to Dominica. The shipment includes ice cream products as well as BICO branded freezers.
After a fire had wiped out domestic production for the 120-year-old company, the return of its Harbour Road factory has spurred exports leading to a deal with Dominican retail and wholesale distributor Jollys Pharmacy and Mega Store.
BICO’s Sales and Business Development Manager Dwayne Holmes said the “exciting” partnership was “very easy to develop” given the sustainable approach to business that both companies share.
He noted that the reopening of the Barbadian factory and resumption of ice cream manufacturing has also resulted in other regional partners asking when the company would resume exports.
Holmes said: “We have received expressions of interest from distributors, including a few in Trinidad, Antigua and in South America. Our ice cream factory is flavour-flexible. We are currently reviewing the expressions for alignment with the strategy of the brand and the products they required.”
BICO’s Commercial Director Haydn Alleyne said the current export initiative demonstrates that despite a challenging era, there are still Barbadian firms willing to move forward with manufacturing.
“For us, we want to be trailblazers,” said Alleyne. “We want to put BICO ice cream out there as the premium brand in the Caribbean being made and produced in Barbados and also take it to the next level. That is our intent with the product.”
Malcolm Pendenque of Jollys Pharmacy expects that BICO’s products will be very well received in Dominica. (BT/PR)
