EFresh weathers Melissa, aiming for new growth
Published:Friday | November 7, 2025 | 12:08 AM
Food distributor Everything Fresh Limited confirmed that its operations are intact post-hurricane, albeit that its plant at Bog Walk in St Catherine has to be operating on generator power.
“There has been no cold chain issue whatsoever, therefore no spoilage, and cost containment has been good,” said Managing Director Courtney Pullen.
“We didn’t have to fuel the plant at Marcus Garvey for too long, and we have a very efficient plant at Bog Walk,” Pullen reported to shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday.
Hurricane Melissa cut a path of destruction across Jamaica at Category 5 strength on October 28.
Kingston-based EFresh is in the business of distributing food products, with operations in Jamaica and The Bahamas. It also owns a meat processing plant located at Bog Walk in St Catherine.
The company’s Financial Controller, Errol Grant, outlined several initiatives aimed at improving operational efficiency and responding to market needs. These include expanding the product portfolio, investing in human resources, and upgrading distribution infrastructure.
“We’ve taken a focus on execution and quality,” Grant said. “We speak with our customers, we communicate with them, and we offer new products that meet their demand. This helps us maintain market penetration and enhance customer service,” he reported.
He also highlighted capital investments in marketing, brand design, and distribution facilities, noting that these are essential to support the company’s mission and scale.
The company’s financial results for the second quarter ended June 2025 show revenue of $1.12 billion, up from $894.67 million in the similar period last year. Gross profit rose to $221.2 million, but shareholders expressed concern about the cost of sales, which reached $1.72 billion, or nearly 80 per cent of revenue.
Responding to questions about cost containment and shareholder returns, Pullen explained that much of the spending was tied to plant upgrades.
“Most of the expenditures you see are actually as a result of upgrades and infrastructure improvements designed to increase our storage capacities,” he said. “If we don’t make those expenditures and prepare ourselves, then that business goes elsewhere. We risk losing clients we already have,” he added.
Shareholders also pressed for clarity on dividend timelines, but got no firm commitment.
“We’re looking to improve our jobs and hopefully in the near future, we can make everything not so sweet, but sweeter,” Pullen said, hinting at possible returns within six months.
Over the past few years, EFresh has been through a transition. That pivot, sparked by the company’s vulnerable status during the COVID pandemic when its main market dried up, has seen company pivot off its over-reliance on the resort market for sales, and leaning towards mainstream retail.
Those diversification efforts have paid off, Pullen reported at the meeting.
“Luckily for us, during COVID we rebalanced our portfolio, so that we’re no longer largely reliant on the tourism sector for the bulk of our income,” he told shareholders. “We now have retail customers, supermarkets, restaurants, and end users. So even if we have substantial fallout from the tourism sector, we’re not expecting to fall into losses because of that,” he added later in a discussion with the Financial Gleaner after the meeting.