Everything Fresh targets new Caribbean market

Building on its regional success in the Bahamas, local food distributor Everything Fresh Limited (EFresh) is preparing to enter another Caribbean market to further expand its regional presence.

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

“We have expanded into the Bahamas and see similar potential elsewhere,” Pullen told the publication. Jamaican columnist.

“The demand is there and many of our key customers are in this new market. Expanding there allows us to strengthen our existing relationships and serve them more directly,” he explained, adding that the company is looking to enter a new market using a greenfield approach—building from the ground up rather than acquiring an existing facility.

The timing of the completion of the company’s expansion plan has not been disclosed.

“It’s too early to tell,” Pullen said. He also declined to name the market the company is looking at.

EFresh’s plans for regional growth are closely linked to large-scale restructuring efforts at home. The expansion comes as the company strengthens its non-hotel business segments to meet growing food demand outside the tourism sector.

The shift was a critical strategy, especially given recent challenges in the hotel sector, which was hit by two U.S. travel advisories in 2024, Pullen said. Once accounting for more than half of EFresh’s revenue in Jamaica, hotel sales fell 15 percent in 2024. first half of this year. However, the company’s retail and non-hotel business in Jamaica grew by 26 percent, mitigating the impact and delivering higher profits.

“We have balanced the structure of our income,” the chairman noted. “Previously, more than half of our business came from hotels, but the move into supermarkets and restaurants has provided a stronger profit base.”

The planned expansion also aligns with recent improvements to Efresh’s operations, including the transfer of a significant portion of inventory from Kingston to an expanded distribution facility in Bogue Walk, St. Catherine. Now acting as a central hub, the Bog Walk site offers three times more cold storage and twice as much dry goods space, streamlining logistics for customers in Jamaica’s north coast tourism belt and reducing both transport costs and delivery times.

EFresh’s strengthening position was supported by a recent capital injection of $361.4 million led by GK Capital, which strengthened the company’s financial flexibility ahead of the busy Christmas season. Of this amount, $110 million was allocated to pay off costly short-term debt, and the remaining funds were used to build inventory in key markets in Jamaica and the Bahamas.

“This injection of capital has allowed us to better support demand and strategically build inventory in our core markets,” Pullen said.

The company’s operations also expanded by strengthening its administrative, sales and merchandising teams, as well as expanding its marketing efforts to attract a wider range of retail customers. EFresh has also invested in synchronizing its operations in the Bahamas with those in Jamaica, creating a streamlined, real-time reporting system that provides effective oversight. With demand in the Bahamas expected to increase this year compared to 2023, EFresh has retooled its operations to capitalize on this growth.

For the first half of 2024, EFresh group generated sales of $1.72 billion, up 3.2 percent from the previous year, with $1.36 billion coming from operations in Jamaica and $359.1 million in the Bahamas . However, higher expenses and higher personnel costs weighed on profitability, resulting in net income of $43.1 million compared to $78.1 million in the same period last year.

“The increased spending is an investment that strengthens our capabilities for future revenue growth,” Pullen said, citing the company’s recent hiring in warehousing, purchasing and transportation.