King Pepper Products Limited's Christine Wong and Dudley Eaton are staving off the recession. One of the focuses of Jamaica's resurgence from the world's economic decline is fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. See how this small business does big things, maybe you can do it too!

Getting Started:

How did you get into this business?

Dudley: I started in the mid '80s when I was looking to leave a business arrangement. Someone was growing peppers on one of my mother-in-law's properties and I purchased them out of my pay cheque and started making drums of crushed pepper. I didn't quite understand the mixing and holding the mash until I met an American who was a master at fermentation and he gave me some ideas. I had made up a pepper sauce formula and the customers really liked it. By 1985 I got some ladies to help me and had by then built up 50 drums of pepper mash.

After several months, requests started to come in for the pepper product and we decided to branch out. There were mangoes growing on my mother-in-law's property and I began making mango chutney and mango jam.

A large distributor heard about me and asked if I could make jerk seasoning for them under a contractual agreement. That is when things really began to pop for King Pepper. We then started making other sauces: crushed red peppers, barbecue sauces, tomato ketchup.

What were some of the main obstacles?

Dudley: The entire business was being operated on a shoestring. One of the main obstacles was financing because you want to grow reasonably fast if the market was there. I needed money to buy machinery, as I was using an old grinder and we had to wait months before we could produce large quantities.

Many disappointments came along but the lack of money caused me to work extra hard. I had to be the chief cook and bottle washer. I prepared the raw material, the packaging of the material, I ran the office and also the lab.

How did you overcome these challenges?

Christine: It took a lot of self-sacrifice and my father has that philosophy until this day. Every bill has to be met and staff must be paid before we can personally benefit. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. That's what separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest.

Management skills

How do you control costs?

Christine: It is definitely a team effort. Dad really has pushed to ensure that our costs are monitored. When our suppliers send price increases you have to try and negotiate or find new sources. Can we replace X material with Y material which is less costly? Can I negotiate something more long-term with a suppler to get the best prices? It is a constant job to keep on top of everything. For years Dad taught me 'don't sit back and expect things to go well, you have to keep on top of everything'. We are very practical and we really don't do things like entertaining and traveling.

What have you found are the best strategies to access financing?

Christine: We have largely financed the business ourselves - through cash flow. And that has proved beneficial over the years. Once or twice over the years we have borrowed money to expand the business and we tailored it and knew what we could manage. In the '90s, rather than going through the bank, I carried in shareholders and have kept on going forward. I am proud to say that we have never disappointed any bank.

How do you go about selecting the right staff or employee skills set for your business?

Dudley: Many of our employees know the business and have been with us for years. We have on-the-job training and we continuously have in-house and external training sessions to improve the manufacturing process. For our quality department, we hire graduates from a tertiary institution because quality is critical and we need to focus on standards and the scientific aspects of the business.

How important is people-management and how do you manage your winning team (staff)?

Christine: I think managing staff has a lot to do with the way you deal with them. You have to be in tune with your staff and we treat them well. We are really blessed here as the members of our core team have good work ethics. We also have regular staff meetings and devotion.

Marketing and competing

How did you create a niche for yourself?

Dudley: I think putting out a product that has good and excellent quality and one you can be proud of. Customers come to us and say they will never leave. Some were with other manufacturers before but have come to us because the products are good. We have a bunch of letters on our file from England and all over the world, saying how they have had the best relationship with us and it is the best they ever experienced with a Jamaican firm.

How do you market your service?

Christine: We attend trade shows, locally and abroad, and promote in the ethnic market overseas. We research and find out who are the key players and maintain contact with them. A lot of our business contacts have approached us themselves and they have turned out to be really first-class people. But when we do promote ourselves, it is really about the quality and that is how we stand out from the rest.

Advice

What are the three main ingredients of your recipe for success?

Dudley: 1. Quality.

2. Putting a product out there that people want.

3. Pay attention to our customers and their needs. Do they want their product in three weeks? If so, you turn over heaven and hell to do it. You have to please your customer.

How can one attempt to recession proof their business or remain viable over the short-medium term?

Christine: Tighten your belt. Drop all unnecessary expenses and scale back where you can, but maintain the quality, and ensure you meet your commitments to suppliers and staff. You must also work harder to find sales as well. Several years ago we made a sale, which was the equivalent to a container of goods, and we weren't paid for it and that really hurt us because we didn't have the money to cover that. So we made a plan to cut back expenses significantly and had to stick with it. It was really rough but we survived it, and as soon as things got better we put back those things in place.

With the benefit of hindsight, is there one thing you would do differently next time?

Dudley: We are just proud of how far we have come. We like to move forward and we wouldn't want the business to go backward. I think with the amount of hard work and sacrifice that we put in, there is really nothing to regret. You don't regret not getting to drive a Mercedes Benz.

Christine: For me, even the difficult times have been a really good lesson. Even the guy who ripped us off opened my eyes to be careful of people who are out there. So even the difficult periods brought knowledge and I can't say it hasn't turned out to be beneficial. So it is really hard to regret anything.

These workers at King Pepper Products Limited enjoy a light moment while they prepare ingredients for the company's spices. - Contributed photos