Nestlé deal to double frozen foods sales for Wisynco
Published:Friday | July 22, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nestlé Jamaica Limited has signed Wisynco Group as exclusive distributor of its ice cream products.
Wisynco managing director William Mahfood says the deal is expected to increase sales by its frozen foods division by 100 per cent over the next year.
The arrangement takes effect August 1, when Wisynco will take charge of sales for Buckingham, Nestlé Blue and Gold edition ice creams, Edy's and other novelty items such as Irie vibes water ice, Kimo and more.
Wisynco already distributes more than 4,000 products under 110 brands, covering beverages, grocery and synthetic items. The company also owns the franchises for Wendy's, Häagen-Dazs stores and Domino's pizza restaurants.
Mahfood said the ice cream agreement is an extension of its partnership with Nestlé Jamaica, for which it already distributes frozen foods such as Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine and Stouffers, and confectionaries such as Nestlé Crunch, Kit Kat, Roundtree, and Oh Henry, among others.
"We also last month started the distribution of their ready-to-drink Nescafé and Milo canned products, which is also a new development for us," said Mahfood.
He declined to state the value of the deal, but said the new distribution contract "along with other plans for the refrigerated and frozen business should see the company's frozen division doubling sales within the next year."
Frozen foods , he said, has become a major focus for the company, with resulting growth requiring "us to buy and expand our capacity for storage, deliveries, and therefore quite a bit of capital investment. We will also need to add quite a few people to the organisation to make the necessary transition process as smooth as possible."
Wisynco is a private company headquartered in St Catherine.