THE 310-YEAR-OLD Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd and the three-year-old Agapey Chocolate Factory have joined forces to produce a new chocolate bar that is expected to be internationally competitive.
Agapey is a local artisan chocolate manufacturer that produces a high-end range of products utilizing cocoa beans from Grenada and Ecuador and Barbadian sugar.
The new product, Rum Caramel, was launched at the Mount Gay Visitors’ Centre last Thursday evening.
Founder and owner of Agapey, Derrick Hastick, said the new chocolate bar would be the company’s flagship product and would be pushed internationally.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, Dr Leroy McClean, said that agency was working to get Agapey into the United States as soon as possible. It is already available in Britain.
“I’ve held the view that Barbados is a country that produces high-quality, high-priced commodities and therefore we cannot compete in a low-quality, low-priced market. When I saw the packaging of the chocolate I said immediately this is really for the international market,” he said.
McClean said it was important to look for new products to export since the island could only export so much pepper sauce and jam. (NB)
