Aug 2011 Financial News

GraceKennedy's ready-to-eat veggies a hit at agricultural show

Aug 01, 2011

Caught off guard by the strong response to its recently launched Fresh 'n' Ready line of ready-to-eat vegetables, GraceKennedy is scrambling to keep up with demand, according to Angella Grandison-Reid, promotions and consumer services manager for GraceKennedy Foods and Services.

"The demand is overwhelming. It has surpassed our expectations," she told The Gleaner on the opening day of the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show, where the company maintains a pavilion.

"We are getting rave reviews about it," she gushed, explaining that the vegetables, which include callaloo, carrot, cabbage, mixed vegetable and sweet peppers, are all washed and cut.

"When we were coming to Denbigh, we got a request and we could not fill it because of the demand out there. It is selling like hot bread. We had really targeted it for the urban, high-density areas, where buyers - professionals for the most part - are looking for convenience because they are on the go," Grandison-Reid explained.

Rethinking distribution

High demand for the product, which is now only available in select stores, has now prompted the company to rethink its distribution logistics.

The most popular product is the sliced sweet peppers which the GraceKennedy executive thinks is due to the fact that all the work of cutting and deseeding has already been done for what she says customers are finding to be a novel idea.

"All the work has been done so you save on energy, time and money and because it is preserved, the nutrients are still there, so you don't have to worry that the vitamins will be lost; it is still fresh."

Given its shelf life of between seven and 10 days, preserving the integrity of the Fresh 'n' Ready line is a priority for the multinational company, which transports the vegetables in special refrigerated trucks, with distributors having to ensure that their display equipment are up to standard in preserving this perishable product.

"For this reason, you have to ensure that wherever you place it, there is a high demand," Grandison-Reid said.

The Fresh 'n' Ready line of vegetables is prepared at the GraceKennedy facility in Hounslow, St Elizabeth.


Source:
Jamaica Observer
Monday August 1, 2011

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110801/business/business2.html