Big H Juices is the trademark for fruit juice and related beverage products from Cayo Tropical Fruits, Ltd., a company incorporated in Belize, Central America.  A very diversified enterprise, the company has product lines in various different categories.  However, fruit juice products are at the core of our business.

Big H is the number one brand in fruit-based beverages in Belize and is currently looking to expand into regional markets.  Our products are high-quality and have the fresh taste of the tropical lands where they are manufactured.  We work closely with our suppliers to ensure high quality inputs into our products, to ensure the greatest degree of satisfaction for our customers.

Doing business in "The Jewel"

Cayo Tropical Fruits, Ltd. was founded in San Ignacio Town, in the western part of Belize in 1987.  The year 2007 marked 20 years of uninterrupted growth and expansion.  Starting out with a very small operation focusing solely on citrus juices (orange and grapefruit), the company has since expanded to include additional product lines, while at the same time diversifying into new categories.  Today, the company is the number one fruit juice brand in the country of Belize.

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ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR

Ms. Karen Harrison

(Extracted from The Review January 2005)

It was in March, 1988 when the new company, calling itself Cayo Tropical Fruits, first went out into the market. It began as an off-shoot of a defunct company, one of whose owners still recognized, and had faith in, the idea that local orange juice would sell to the populace. Oranges were bought from local farmers but, in the beginning, there had to be an extensive search to find sufficient fruits.

Ms. Karen Harrison is the manager for her family’s business. She said that the next products introduced were pineapple and grapefruit juices but that they were not as popular, partly because, in the case of grapefruit juice, it was considered more for medicinal use. This thinking is still prevalent today. The juices were marketed under the brand name “Big H” but many people think of the whole company by that name, probably because it is short and easy to remember.

Karen stated that the next product brought unto the market was coconut water. Although it too is widely used for medicinal purposes, e.g. Parkinson’s disease, it has not suffered the same discrimination as grapefruit and is loved by young and old alike. Unfortunately, there is greater and greater difficulty in procuring sufficient nuts. This shortage has come about as a result of lethal yellowing, a disease which killed, and is still killing, most of the tall variety of trees in the country. However, more people are seeing the potential for growing coconut palms and in a few more years the supply should be assured, since the new varieties are immune to this disease. They are also shorter and bear larger fruit, so should be easier, and more efficient to harvest.
Coconuts are a very sensitive fruit. They must be processed the same day they are harvested, to insure complete freshness, so no change in taste or colour can take place. Until the new palms begin bearing, the company has to search a wider and wider area to find enough fruit, which must make for very long hours some days.

Cayo Tropical Fruits now serves the whole country. A sales team, consisting of a driver and salesman, cover each of the four areas- North, South, East and Cayo. All of the products come from the San Ignacio processing plant and are transported in refrigerated trucks to the area and it’s individual stores, restaurants, etc. For the future the company is looking to establish distribution centres in the areas, to afford quicker and easier access for merchants, restaurateurs etc. Thus would prevent having empty shelves before the next delivery date. The processing facilities would not be moved from San Ignacio but the products would be sent out in trailer-loads to the centres.

When asked how the dairy industry merged with the fruit juices industry, Ms. Harrison said that it was not by design so much as that the opportunity presented itself to purchase the assets of the Macal Dairy Cooperative, along with its equipment, and have ready suppliers. MDC was only processing milk but in order not to under–utilize the equipment, Cayo Tropical Fruits began experimenting with new by-products, and now market white, chocolate and strawberry flavoured milk under the Mamita label, as well as selling fresh cream, white cheese in regular and hot flavours with other products in the developing stage.

Dairy products are even more sensitive commodities where processing and storage are concerned, and there are great challenges in keeping the quality high. To off-set some difficulties, CTF has converted their processing equipment to gas, eliminating the problem of electricity cuts. Gas is also cheaper and has allowed the price of the products to remain low. Dairy farmers always are at the mercy of weather, sickness among their animals, with difficulty accessing financing to improve their equipment, as well as poor access to proper technology. Western Dairy is the only other centre for farmers to dispose of their milk, and they are dependent on selling their milk for their family’s income. CTF is tied to what errors, or problems, occur on the farm. A close eye must be kept on the quality of milk that comes in and each supply is tested for several factors.

Although the milk is a small part of the business it is very important. It is a known nutritional fact that milk is essential for good bone and tooth growth and development in children but, in Belize, not much fresh milk is consumed. To overcome this stigma, Cayo Tropical Fruits has been targeting schools with educational programmes. They are presently working with St. Andrew’s Anglican School feeding program, at no cost to the school. A child’s poor health can greatly influence many aspects of his/her life, such as physical and mental development. As Karen says “We are what we eat— and I’d like to say, we are what we drink.”

In the future CTF wants to continue improving the quality of the products provided and expand the healthy line, whether it is fruit juices or dairy and the by-products. They are looking beyond national boundaries to the region where they would possibly face competition from companies with newer and better technology. They also want to do all this and still keep the prices affordable. In 14 years of business there has been a price increase only once, two years ago.

Cayo Tropical Fruit not only looks to improving its own business efficiency and productivity but they have a commitment to assist the wider community and so are often found helping educational and community groups, whether by outright donations of some kind, consignments for fund-raising or other means. They try to extend the benefits they have received to the wider community because, as Karen wisely commented, no business can thrive unless they have happy and loyal customers.