Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter

Spirits and beverage company Angostura Limited has hired Pepsi-Cola Jamaica to manufacture and distribute its lemon-lime and bitters locally in a bid to gain visibility and grow sales in the high-volume drinks market.

Pepsi Jamaica, in announcing the deal on the weekend, said it would look to triple the Angostura LLB market in Jamaica.

"Pepsi-Cola Jamaica and An-gostura LLB see the potential to grow the market by over 300 per cent" through islandwide distribution, said Marketing Manager Denise Dixon.

Currently, annual sales in Jamaica are around 5,000 cases, she said.

But in Jamaica, the soft-drink market - a major portion of which Pepsi Jamaica commands - sells 12 million cases annually, according to Pepsi Jamaica Chief Executive Officer Andrew Reid.

Distribution

Angostura LLB, prior to this deal, was imported from its home market in Trinidad and chanelled to a few retail outlets, which in effect limited the growth of the brand.

Prior to Pepsi, distribution was being handled by Wisynco Group Limited.

"The previous import model had several limitations and challenges, therefore Angostura LLB sought a local production platform through Pepsi-Cola Jamaica," said Alex Thomas, marketing manager for Angostura LLB, in a joint statement with Pepsi.

"Prior to Pepsi's partnership with Angostura LLB, there was no focused marketing and promotions effort in support of the product, which was imported from Trinidad and distributed to the trade," added Dixon.

Pepsi-Cola Jamaica started production of the Angostura LLB brand in October and for now will service just the Jamaican market.

But discussions are ongoing for export opportunities in the United States and United Kingdom.

"Initially, Pepsi-Cola Jamaica will handle production and distribution for Jamaica only," said Dixon.

"If Pepsi-Cola Jamaica does start to export Angostura LLB, the product will be sent to markets that the company is already covering and for the most part this will be in the US and UK."

Within the Caribbean, the drink is sold in Trinidad, Barbados, St Lucia and other Eastern Caribbean islands.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com