1 week ago
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There will be adequate supplies of chicken and chicken products for the upcoming Christmas season, says the Jamaica Broilers Group Limited, JBG, the country’s largest poultry producer and supplier.
The company’s leadership is upbeat about the near future for the company, stating that it has registered growth in the processed meats segment of the market, as well as delivery to hotels and QSR, or quick service restaurants. QSR is also known as fast food.
Speaking during JBG’s annual general meeting, CEO and President Christopher Levy noted that there had been some fallout in the supply of chicken, especially among small farmers, following the passage of Hurricane Beryl in early July.
“The small farmers represent 30 per cent of the production of chicken meat in Jamaica, and when they get hit or hammered, it impacts the entire industry. That’s some of what we’re seeing taking place now,” the CEO said.
The storm’s impact on small farmers affected the business of the Hi-Pro division, which provides them with farming supplies, hens, chicks and feed. Levy said the Hi-Pro team, headed by Vice-President Jamie O’Gilvie, was helping the small farmers recover.
Meanwhile, Conley Salmon, managing director of local fast-food chain Quick Chick, said his business has not been affected by any shortages in recent weeks.
“I personally have not had any difficulties whatsoever in getting our supplies. I’ve heard about the shortage, but for whatever reason we have not experienced it,” Salmon told the Financial Gleaner.
Levy said supplies should be back on track going into the holiday season, especially following improvements to the company plant at Spring Village, St Catherine.
“We’ve recently just expanded our loading bay there and our operations. We have a new gas-fired engine to work with our co-generation operations, and that is going to impact the end of this fiscal year. I think that’s going to be a big step forward for us as well, both from an environmental and reliability perspective. We’re turning towards Christmas, so that should be quite exciting,” Levy said.
Commenting on the areas of growth in the company, the CEO said new, innovative products were doing well in the market.
“One of the areas that we’re really investing in is our nuggets, tenders and strips, really all the processed products. We recently launched our Vienna sausages made with all Jamaican chicken, and it really is doing very well and is available in retail now. The response and the feedback we are getting is quite impressive,” he said.
He added that in-store sales of chicken was up five per cent for the year ending April 2024.
“We did see considerable market share growth in terms of our Best Dressed Chicken meat line, mostly in the food service and the hotel segment, and we’re excited about that. We’re seeing growth also in our QSR locations like your KFCs, your Popeyes and Mother’s,” Levy said.
Commenting on the improvements to the Spring Village plant, the CEO said the additional loading bays have improved efficiency in delivering the products to customers.
“We’ve put in 14 bays, and this has really helped us to be more efficient in terms of getting products to our customers before they open their doors. It’s very difficult to have a customer that is in full swing and then a chicken truck pulls up to unload,” he said.
English (US) ·