LOCAL ICE CREAM COMPANY BICO Ltd has entrusted the manufacture of some of its brands to major Trinidad and Tobago competitor Flavorite Foods Ltd.Chief executive officer of BICO Hemraj Ramdath confirmed this development last week.Ramdath, who was appointed effective March 1, told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that BICO was forced to import its products extraregionally that were produced under specification by a Canadian company after BICO’s manufacturing plant was destroyed by fire in August last year.“We have to look at better, competitive prices because of the 20 per cent Common External Tariff on products coming from outside the region,” he said about the rationale for the deal with Flavorite.He described the Trinidad-based manufacturer as a “co-packer” to which BICO provided specifications about its products from “time to time”.Major competitor“Obviously, they are a major competitor in the market throughout the Caribbean and they have a major advantage right now,” he conceded.On the pending reconstruction of BICO’s manufacturing plant at Harbour Road, The City, Ramdath said, “We have a few more hurdles to cross. We are almost there.”Meanwhile, BICO’s commercial director Colin Corbin said BICO had contracted Flavorite in April this year to package at least 200 000 batches of its nutty and fruit sundaes, and the transaction could continue until year-end.“BICO had committed a certain amount of packaging to this brand of ice cream and they are the only people in the region with the equipment to do this type of packaging of such small containers, and sometimes you have to form some kind of strategic alliance,” he said. (SR)
