Ashman Foods continues to produce despite the odds
“Committed to the production of safe and nutritious products of the highest quality”, is the first sentence of the mission statement that guides 79-year-old entrepreneur Ira Ashman and his employees at Ashman Food Products in Vineyard Crescent, Old Harbour, St Catherine.
Managing the 31-year-old factory business of 68 full-time employees with an additional set of seasonal workers, which pushes the total up to 103, Ashman is able to operate in the capacity of chief executive of Ashman Food Products Ltd because of the experience he has garnered over the years. Ashman said he started off working with big manufacturing companies as a qualified marketer.
“I was the general sales manager at Colgate Palmolive and I was also the marketing manager at Salada Foods when it was owned by Kellogg. And during that time I visited some factories which did things like jams and jellies, and it was interesting, you know. So I decided that something I would like to get into for myself was manufacturing,” Ashman said.
Ashman Food Products originated in Mandeville, but Ashman did not start manufacturing “things like jams and jellies” just yet. He started out canning ackees because there was a high demand for the product at the time. “We did about four different products in cans and after the 1988 hurricane, we ended up with two products because the raw material just got wiped out so we did ackees and callaloo,” Ashman said.
The main challenge the company was faced with initially was the scarcity of raw material. And another challenge which Ashman overcame was the financing, because banks would not lend money for equipment, but according to him, he managed between his own savings and his family’s. They were able to equip the factory properly and were able to purchase without actually borrowing funds.
According to Ashman, the property at Bushy Park, St Catherine, was bought in 1994 and started as a 4,000-square-foot factory which expanded to a 12,000-square-foot factory. He said that the building comprises: the production area, the office area, the laboratory, the receiving area where pre-processing is done (like crushing of peppers), a number of warehouse spaces, a newly installed cold room costing approximately $2.3 million, and a design for a 5,000-square foot addition that he is reluctant to pursue, based on the recent taxation instituted by the Government.
But the cold room is integral for Ashman’s plans. “We’ll be making some new products which will require refrigeration. I can’t give you the name yet because my competitors will know,” Ashman hinted, amid laughter.
According to Ashman, when the factory relocated from Mandeville to Old Harbour, that set of employees still had jobs because the workers would travel on the train and get off at the stop closest and most accessible to get to the factory. The railway track runs just behind the factory, but that ended soon after the passenger train stopped running and persons could not afford the commute anymore. Ashman stated that there were several persons from Mandeville working with him in St Catherine up to about four years ago who have now moved on to a different field. “We have about 10 persons who have been here since 1995, we have some loyal employees who are very well trained so we don’t want to see them go,” said Ashman.
The managing director reflected that the factory had increased and dropped some product lines, which allowed it to move from canning only to the bottling of jams, jellies and a whole variety of pepper sauces. The factory produces 35 products and sales generally have grown by an average 21 per cent, Ashman said.
Working alongside Ashman is his wife Winsome, who had run her own business from 1978 to 2001 when she sold it and joined the Ashman Food Products family fully, following her return from a trip to be with their migrated children and grandchildren overseas.
Ashman described his wife as “a tower of strength”, and he believes that the company has grown because of her management ability. “Her relationship with customers is fantastic. I don’t think we would’ve had so many customers shifting from other people to us if it wasn’t for her. I more deal with the regulatory part of things, I deal with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the Bureau of Standards, deal with the tax department… anything to do with the technical part of things. I handle that and a little of the marketing,” Ashman said, emphasising that his wife had a good relationship with local and international customers.
Ashman has had thoughts of relocating, mainly because of the state of the roadway that connects the main road to the factory road, but after considering how challenging it would be to sell a factory building in its present location, he opted not to. He said he thought about relocating closer to Kingston or even abroad, but remain in St Catherine. Ashman added that people in The Bahamas and St Lucia suggested that he set up a factory in their country. “Furthermore, the products that we’re doing now, with the exception of ackees, can be done anywhere else in the world if we really got fed up and decided to move, we could move to almost any country and do the same products. But we’re here and I can’t see us relocating now,” Ashman said.
Besides the shortage of produce, which according to Ashman can be overcome, Government policies is another factor that proves a challenge to Ashman’s business. The Ashman’s brand is mainly a private label which consumers don’t see on the shelves of their local grocery stores. But Ashman manufactures more popular brands in various products. “People like Grace, Geddes, the NuPak people, Eve, Kendell — we just cannot get up and increase prices on them because already they have some things that the ordinary man can’t just get up and go in a supermarket to buy, so you can’t push the price any higher,” Ashman suggested.
He described as a “terrible thing”, the increase in taxation on gasoline that has gone up by an average $5.57 a litre. Ashman’s company uses diesel fuel for the standby plant and the tax on that has gone up by $6.70 a litre, said Ashman, a graduate of Calabar High School, who was a student while former Prime Minister P J Patterson attended the institution.
“The electricity is going to go up because they put a tax on the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). We switched from diesel to LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) for our boiler and that is going up by $3.90 a litre. Now that’s gonna kill us because we switched from diesel because its so expensive and so dirty, we turn to LPG, which is a clean, burning fuel — we don’t see any massive things coming out the stack and the Government is doing everything now for us to go back to diesel,” Ashman said.
According to Ashman, in the year 2000, Ashman Food Products was among the two factories that the FDA audit approved to ship ackees to the United States. “We have been audited by the FDA three times and we have come through with flying colours. And recently, last year December, we got international audit for our food safety system again… we can ship to anywhere in the world with a recognised food safety system,” Ashman said with pride.
Based on his expertise as an entrepreneur, Ashman would advise budding business owners that they should stay focused and strive for their goal. “The main thing is that you can’t go half-heartedly in anything and you have to be prepared to entail losses. Your first two, three, four years is not something where you’re going to be able to buy a new car,” Ashman said.
Ashman celebrates his 80th birthday on April 20, but he has no intention of retiring. “My daughter and her husband who are here, young people, they’ll be here when I go because my daughter is coming back and my son-in-law is here as the plant manager. I don’t intend to step down; if I step down I’m going to step down in a six-foot, so I’m going to remain right here. But we have plans. We just had discussions just on Sunday. We had a meeting with other members of the staff and we looked at the succession thing. And I think we are fairly safe. We won’t collapse and disappear. If it even means that my grandchildren have to come back,” Ashman assured.