A LOCAL THIRD-GENERATION bakery has completed a plant upgrade despite stiff local and international competition and a depressed economic environment.
After four years of planning and preparation, 50-year-old Foster’s Bakery launched its
modernised and expanded Rockley, Christ Church plant last Wednesday.
Managing director Andrew Foster said the improvements would put the business in a position to develop strategic partnerships and enter the export market. However, he noted that maintaining a small business was difficult, given limited capital, competition and rising prices.
He said there was “abundant competition” not only from other small businesses but from
large enterprises, both local and international.
“We compete with multinational corporations here in Barbados at the supermarket.
“We compete with companies that have cake batter pumping through a four-inch pipe 24 hours a day, seven days a week, depositing cakes on an automated production line.
“We compete with those companies that their packaging component may cost them cents whereas ours costs us many dollars,” he said.
Foster noted that in the last eight years the cost of major components had risen dramatically, with the price of flour and sugar increasing by about 125 and 130 per cent, respectively.
He said the new plant lent to greater efficiency since a separate work area was now allocated to each process. In addition, there was greater emphasis on sanitation since the walls and floors are covered with a special coating that made them easier to clean and corners and crevices had been eliminated.
Foster has also added a vacuum sealer and a new state-of-the-art oven to his suite of equipment.
In addition, the foundation has been laid for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point-compliance, with all ten staff members successfully completing a course in food safety and prerequisite training. (NB)
