THE Warner family has, over the years, invested time and money to ensure that their small business grows and it has, with their homemade Jet’s brand of nutritional bottled beverages.

In 1999 Jethro Warner used to walk and sell the noni fruit freshly picked from his farm and while going into the city and offices, he was encouraged to process it into juice and bottle it for re-sale.

After he did some research and realised the many nutritional values of the fruit, there was no stopping him from embarking on his project, which started from his home and is a juice factory today.

This business was registered in 2000 and they began converting fresh fruits garnered from their farms into juices which includes mauby, guava, gooseberry, ginger, jamoon, cherry, noni, capadulla, sorrel, tamarind and many others, which also come in a bottled concentrate to which you can just add water to consume. No sugar is needed.

These products are available in many shops and supermarkets countrywide and are also being retailed at the Guyana Marketing Corporation (The Guyana Shop) on Robb Street.

The Warner family consists of Jethro, his wife Simone and their six children, who are all involved in the family business and they have two employees who work on their farms.

The Warners have gone into honey, pepper sauce and green seasoning and these are bottled and sold as well.
Simone Warner told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is originally from Danielstown, Essequibo Coast, but relocated to De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara 20 years ago when she got married to Jethro.

The 51-year-old added that their time is consumed with work on their farms and at their home where they have their processing factory; as such, they do not socialise much with residents but stated that the village is a very quiet place, which suits them just fine.
Being farmers, they have some farmlands behind Parika, East Bank Essequibo, where they have crops of ground provisions and fruits which are sold at the Leonora and Stabroek Markets on Fridays and weekends.
The Warners also have a plot of land in De Kinderen on which farming is also done and presently, they are experimenting with cassava which is chopped into small pieces and dried.
Simone Warner said it will be converted into powder and if the experiment is successful, they may soon have cassava flour of the shelves of supermarkets soon.
“We would source honey from the Soesdyke-Linden Highway and bottle it for sale; same with peppers and green seasonings,” she said.
Simone Warner added that her husband had a vision and collectively they worked to achieve that goal and today their family-run business is successful and gaining momentum.
She related that the glass bottles of 750ml are sourced from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), while the plastic bottles are bought from local suppliers.
“We have our factory here with cold storage and everything and we produce juices according to the international standards and it is also correctly labelled and sealed as wholesome products,” she said.
While Jet’s product range derives from the processing of various fruits and barks, including cherry and mauby bark, the star products are the Noni drinks and juices.
Noni has a well-known history of use as a preparation for joint pain and skin conditions and its juice is consumed in several countries as a general health tonic, as well as for cancer and chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Laboratory research has indicated that the fruit has antioxidant, immune-stimulating, and tumour-fighting properties.
The fruits that are processed into drinks at the De Kinderen factory are all cultivated at the Warners’farm.
The farm also provides cash crops, some of which are sold to subsidise the Warners’ income.
The Warners are a true representation of humbleness and perfect examples of agro-processors, who are determined to go forward with the introduction of newer products through their innovative reach.
“To be successful in any business you have to have the support of all parties involved and it entails a lot of work and planning and this family is a unit that does everything together to ensure the doors stay open and we are simple, God-fearing people, who have a small business which provides and income for the home,” Simone Warner said.