Pakaraima Flavours significantly increases market share through alliance with Banks DIH, Church’s Chicken Restaurants

Aug 10, 2020 News

Last week, Kaieteur News reported on the evolution of the Pakaraima Flavours Sundried Tomato Products, focusing on the agricultural and post-harvest processing adaptations and improvements.  This is the second part of our examination of this local initiative.

Professor Suresh Narine (left) of IAST and Desmond Gajraj from Banks DIH Limited Launch Banks’ use of Pakaraima Flavours.

The Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) announced on Sunday, August 9, 2020, that Church’s Chicken Restaurants and Banks DIH Ltd will be utilizing the local product in their food outlets.  Both companies will be utilizing new individual-use sachets of the product in their take out business as well as bulk packaged versions of the product in other aspects of their business.  The newest packaging innovation by the IAST in the line of products, to produce individualized sachets, was the clinching factor.
Especially during the COVID-19 Pandemic, take-out has become very important to the restaurant industry, as dine-in restrictions continue.  Even when the restrictions are lifted, it is expected that social distancing requirements will place a limit on the capacity of most dine-in establishments. The resulting increase in take-out business has resulted in a need for safely packaged sealed condiments such as ketchup to be included in take-out orders.
In an invited comment on this new alliance, Terrance Campbell, one of the Principals of Church’s Chicken Restaurants, told Kaieteur News of his meeting several months ago with Professor Suresh Narine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).  Campbell said, “He made an on the spot plea for the consideration of Pakaraima Flavours Sundried Tomato Ketchup to be used in Church’s Chicken Restaurants and presented the business model, which is an ambitious social commercial enterprise.  I promised to work with the IAST in assessing the products and process. I was moved to do so because of the important local sustainable development goals of the project.”
The entrepreneur added, “We were pleasantly surprised with the professionalism of the process and the consistently high quality of the product.  Church’s immediately began using the product in bulk and I challenged Professor Narine to begin producing individualized sachets.  The new individualized sachets are well packaged and of high quality.  Starting immediately, we will be utilizing Pakaraima Flavours Sundried Tomato Ketchup in all of our restaurants.  IS WE OWN!”
Another company on Professor Narine’s radar was Banks DIH Ltd, a company which has been a cornerstone of the Guyanese food, beverage services industry for decades.  During the Company’s Annual General Meeting in April 2019, long-serving Chairman of Banks DIH Ltd, Clifford Reis, reiterated his commitment to local content. In a widely-reported address to his shareholders, Mr. Reis underscored Banks’ long commitment to developing local people and local resources.  Seeking to increase the market for its Pakaraima Flavours products, IAST wrote to Mr. Reis, to appeal to his commitment to developing local products. The response, according to Professor Narine, was both positive and rapid.  “Chairman Reis immediately engaged his senior executive team at Banks DIH Ltd to assess the products and investigate the commercial fit.  Within a period of one week, the assessment was completed and Banks DIH Ltd committed to using the Pakaraima Flavours products in all its food outlets.”

From left: Nonieka Daniels and Raveena Mangal of the IAST and Dawn Braithwaite of Church’s Chicken Restaurants Launch Church’s use of Pakaraima Flavours.

In a brief comment to Kaieteur News, the Chairman of Banks DIH Ltd was keen to note that Banks DIH Ltd has a long and distinguished history of maximizing Guyana’s potential by engaging local people, productive capacity and local resources.  He said, “We are delighted to partner with the Institute of Applied Science and Technology in utilizing its Pakaraima Flavours Sundried Tomato Products across all aspects of our food business.  The emphasis of this project on development in Guyana’s hinterland for the benefit of our Indigenous Peoples aligns well both at a philosophical level and as a commercial focus for Banks DIH Ltd. I am delighted to note the high quality and appeal of the products, which are comparable to the best in the class of imported condiments available here in Guyana.”
The increased demand from these two companies, Professor Narine said, will represent a 400% increase in demand for the product. He indicated that one of the most challenging aspects of a vertically integrated project such as this one is matching agricultural production, processing, storage and market demand.  “This need to tightly control supply side logistics to meet demand was somewhat enabled in this project due to the shelf-stable nature of the sundried tomatoes,” Narine explained. He noted however that product storage and shelf stability are not the only crucial factors. In this regard, Professor Narine said that cash flow is also crucially important as this project operates from a revolving operational expenditure fund which must be replenished through sales. With this in mind, Professor Narine said that securing the stable demand presented by Banks DIH Ltd and Church’s Chicken Restaurants will now allow the project to be better managed logistically, which will lead to greater efficiencies of scale.  “Although growing by this much is always challenging, we can now put steps in place to ensure no quality drift can occur and better manage the agricultural side of the spectrum,” a grateful Narine posited while adding that one immediate impact of this increased demand will be increased agricultural production, leading to increased earnings for the Patamona farmers.
Asked about the long-term future of the product, Narine commented, “It is not ideal for a research institute to also be in long term commercial production.  Our model is to ensure that this socially conscious business is robust and then seek to divest it, with the assistance of President Irfaan Ali’s Government, to the private sector.”
The IAST Director said that the agency’s central value proposition is not in the operation of commercial manufacturing businesses – it is to germinate such businesses through its innovation and early stage development and then to let the private sector be the beneficiary of the opportunities created.  “In so doing, we can hopefully also help fuel a change in our local private sector from being mercantile into agriculture and manufacturing locally.  If such investments are seeded with sustainable socially conscious developmental goals built-in, then there is a triple bottom line effect to such ventures,” the IAST Head concluded.