By: Staff Writer
March 29, 2022
A Bahamian tea manufacturer has invested a lot of time in developing her relationship with her broker, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US and the Food Safety Laboratory in The Bahamas to ensure her product gets to her customers.
Julie Hoffer, owner/operator of Pasion Tea and Coffee Company, New Providence, Bahamas, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that exporting her teas takes a lot of patience and due diligence. Especially when her product goes to the United States, FDA approval is required.
She explained how business was like during the COIVID-19 shut down: “We do a lot of immune teas and things with vanilla and honey and because we are in a lot of the food stores people are into this health frenzy with teas and stuff, so even though 90 percent of our business was cut because of tourism and despite having our online store in the states, we had to hold on tight.
“We also started planting stuff because we grow a lot of our products so we did a lot of cultivating during the lockdowns. We also export a lot, and we have our online store then we have some smaller boutique stores in the Florida Cays and a few up in Canada that buy wholesale from me. Everything I sell has to have the FDA approval on it and it’s so expensive. But slowly we are getting more FDA products approved.”
The online store was also a challenge for Julie because she had to get her website done in the US because when she was ready to start exporting The Bahamas had not yet prepared for e-commerce and it is only now that the country has found the need for expanding the e-commerce platforms for average Bahamians due to the COVID-19 impact that forced most business to move to online sales. But Julie was ready for this ten years ago, “The bank I use for my e-commerce platform is in the US. I had to deal with a banker in the states. I tried really hard to do it in The Bahamas but it was kind of impossible. I heard some people say that the banks are now getting better at that, so it’s something I may want to look into now.”
Julie has been in the tea making business for over 25 years, 20 of them formally under Pasion Tea Company, where she had branched out into more than just teas as she sells jams, jellies, preservatives peppers and other condiments including natural health creams and gels for health and beauty industry, all of which can be found on her online store and select stores in the US.
She continued, “I have the perfect broker that taught me the ropes of getting my products into America with no problem. There is still a little problem with my hot sauces because even though some of them are FDA approved they still are a little strict on that but I am working on that.”
Having domestic marketing licked, Julie needs “easier ways” to get her product out of the country and she is self-taught on how to export to larger, more developed markets but understands that this is not the easiest way to sustain Pasion’s progression in the long term. So, she finally found a reputable broker in Florida and it is smooth sailing for now.
Also, luckily, The Bahamas has a Food Safety and Technology Laboratory where she can have her preservatives pre-checked before send them off to the FDA for approval, which she says “helps a lot.”
She even had the favour to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their most recent visit to The Bahamas where Pasion was on full display for the Royals. “Hosting the Duke and Duchess was cool because I had my tea box approved to be in their room and we had to send the teas to England to be approved to be in the room. When they were here they were drinking my tea under the tent that was provided for them from the rain, so that was really cool.”
