The CFF Story

Caribbean Frozen Foods is a Minority Owned Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB).

Originally, the company got started strictly as a marketing entity (Smart Food Distributors, Inc.) in Orlando, Florida (U.S.A.) in 1992. Our objective was to focus on the selling and marketing of Jamaican Patties to the mainstream markets. Prior to this, Jamaican patties were only marketed to the mainstream supermarket trade on a limited scope in the Northeastern Region of the U.S.A. Many felt that it couldn’t be done in other regions of the U.S.A. on account of lack of population diversity and lack of product appeal to the mainstream consumers. Yet, we were confident that the mainstream consumers when properly introduced to our products would find them to be quite palatable and make them a regular weekly buying habit.

Smart Food was therefore one of the pioneers in the selling and marketing of Jamaican patties on the mainstream stage. Like other pioneering tasks, this was indeed a monumental challenge. Initially, the brand of patty that was being marketed was presented in a frozen unbaked style. During our in-store demos at the retail stores level, the consumers instantly fell in love with our patties. There was one drawback though: They were being asked to take the patties home to bake them in their conventional oven for about thirty minutes, then let them sit and cool for another ten minutes before consuming their tasty snack.

This method of cooking did not go over too well with the mainstream consumers, whom by then have been enjoying a love affair with the quick, convenient, microwave method of heating and cooking.

The need to orchestrate a quick change in the way our patties were cooked suddenly became our main focus. After extensive research and development (R&D), the microwaveable concept of heating Jamaican patties became a reality. Many experts within the Caribbean arena scoffed at this new revolutionary approach, claiming it would never work.
In 1995 the microwaveable concept had its first roll out into a major retail chain in Orlando, Florida (under a Brand X label) and the rest of the story is now history. Since then, the sale of Jamaican patties into the mainstream arena has just ballooned beyond expectation.

In 1999 Caribbean Frozen Foods became the d/b/a name for Smart Food Distributors. This was a strategic move by management to pave the way for the launching of a competitive brand (Both Retail & Food Service).

Products were now being manufactured vis-á-vis outsourcing to different manufacturing partners. Our goal became more clearly defined: To take the marketing effort of Jamaican patties into the global limelight.

After only a short period, the company began to experience phenomenal growth, primarily due to the fact that we are now offering healthier products, our quality was better and  our packaging more attractive. With additional production partners, the company is now poised to diversify our product lines – utilizing our own delicious formulas – and to expand our market base beyond the Southeastern U.S.A.

From the outset, the company has maintained a very simple, proactive, user friendly, formula to achieve our objective:

Quality and healthy products + aggressive sales and marketing = quality success. It is with this approach that we expect to penetrate the global mainstream markets from coast to coast in the future.

With years of experience in successfully selling and marketing Jamaican patties to the retail supermarkets, club stores, and various Food Service entities, we feel in our own humble way that no one knows and understands this business better than we do. Caribbean Frozen Foods – in conjunction with our sales team and manufacturing partners – are now poised to become one of the premier marketers of Jamaican Patties on the international stage.