TEN years after deciding to add fruit to barbeque sauce, Sandra Craig has managed to turn this idea into a successful small business.
SS Natural Fruit Flavoured Inc is now a household name in Guyana and all of its products have been tested and approved by the Food and Drug Department.
Its owner is also a prominent member of the country’s flourishing agro-processing industry.
Craig was the owner of a snackette at Orange Walk, Georgetown and would often venture out to find new ideas for her menu. One day her son came to her with the idea of making barbequed chicken.
They placed barbequed chicken on the menu every Friday. Craig would purchase her sauce from supermarkets for the barbeque.
She related that she felt that the sauce was not tasty enough, so, she first added pineapple to it and got lots of great reviews from her customers.
She then started to make her own sauce from scratch and continued adding pineapple. Given the large number of good reviews she received, she decided to extend the sale of barbequed chicken to Saturdays.
As time passed, Craig said she had a “vision” to try passion fruit in the mix. She mixed her barbeque sauce with passion fruit and again, got good reviews.
“I gave the customers and I use it on my chicken and some people were really surprised to know that passion fruit can do all of these things, because the chicken tasted nice,” she related.
From that day, Craig stated that she decided to try different fruits. Today, the flavours include pineapple, golden apple, passion fruit, mango and soursop.
She began adding fruits in 2011, but started selling the sauces by the bottle in 2012. She became well known in 2014 after attending an exhibition in Sophia.
Craig is also a part of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), which she said has helped to promote her product which was displayed during a free two-day exhibition.
She also attended exhibitions in Florida, Canada, Saint Vincent and Barbados and stated that she recently came back from Panama where she successfully managed to identify and have meetings with potential distributors and buyers.
Exporting her product is a challenge, but she is currently in talks with an individual who will be able to export her products for her. It is expected that the barbeque sauces will be sold in Colombia, Canada, Barbados and Panama.
The businesswoman was an exhibitor at the recently held Together We Win Business Network’s Small Business Conference and Expo, where she engaged a potential buyer.
