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giants is by enlarging its line with additional products. One significant newcomer is Stag beer, positioned as “the Man’s Beer” in the company’s advertising, alongside Carib’s positioning as “the Beer of the Caribbean.” The company also has a line of non-alcoholic beverages, including Ginseng-Up and Juicy Cool, and Battery, an energy drink. Another means of maintaining their market standing is active sponsorship of island activities. “We donate a tremendous amount of money on an annual basis to a variety of community and cultural activities that go to the very core of being Grenadian,” says Antoine. These inclue the Carriacou Regatta, Carnival in Grenada and Monday Night Mass, Carriacou Maroon Festival, and Grenada Billfish Tournament. The company gives back to the economy and society through taxes paid on every bottle sold, as well as through general taxes and duties. These sums total “somewhere between $5.5 and 7.5 million in eastern Caribbean dollars,” Antoine says. And the firm contributes to Grenadians in another way. After it’s used in beer processing, “spent grain” is given free to the island’s farmers for use as animal feed. “Our main by-product is actually subsidizing farmers all over the land,” Antoine says. The Carib brand contributes to the nation’s vital tourist economy as it “adds to the mystique of the island, as part of the rich culinary experience while in Grenada,” says Ron. And he believes the island’s
Even in these difficult times, we have seen our net income grow
resident population will always support his brands. “Granadians love their local product”, he notes, “a high quality product that is affordable, and these are the main qualities our competition finds it difficult to overcome.” Carib is, in fact, the number one beer on the island. And Stag, Antoine feels, may overtake Heineken for the number two spot as soon as this year. Brewing beer on a comparatively small island does have its challenges. Antoine mentions that most raw materials must be imported, that transportation and freight access is limited, though
improving, and that the size of the island’s population, small as nations go at just over 100,000, is a barrier to volume growth. One solution he seeks is to increase international sales substantially. Even with these limitations, Grenada Breweries, under Antoine’s leadership, has shown constant growth. “We’ve really focused on our efficiencies and seen some tremendous improvements that have made a big difference to our bottom line,” he says. “Even in these difficult times, we have seen our net income grow between 15 – 18 percent during the three year period. Profitability was such that, in 2008, the firm was able to award its shareholders with a special dividend five times the normal amount, leading Antoine to observe that “we are really trying to do our best for what is a Grenadian public company, managed entirely by Grenadians, to be the successful company the nation can be proud of.” In preparing this issue, we asked many of our interviewees where they see their businesses going by the year 2050. Ron Antoine addressed several aspects of this question. One involved ecological issues. “I dread the day beer is sold in plastic bottles,” he explained, pointing out that every bottle his company puts forth is reusable up to 20 times, replacing that number of plastic bottles in the landfill “so that our impact in terms of garbage we add to the island is very minimal.” Besides maintaining glass bottling, he would like his plant to add a canning line, using aluminum, the only packaging metal which is 100 percent recyclable. He also would like to see his plant constantly improving its technology to “first world” standards, and for Grenada to “become a hub for manufacturing some of the beverages which are then fanned out throughout the region.” This would, he feels, attract the foreign investment needed to implement his vision. Asked to sum up his greatest achievement since becoming managing director, Ron first pointed out that a talented team was already in place when he arrived. But that his prior experience, both in the U.S. and on the island, has led to his being able to “bring to the table improvements in productivity and costs … that have enabled us to develop and continually move forward consistently, with a sense of urgency. “We’re on our way,” he says, “to becoming a world class company that already produces a world class product.” Now who wouldn’t drink to that?
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Photo: Tony McQuilkin