Aided by an equity placement led by KPMG, Switcha, the Bahamian drinks company, will invest $8 million this year and hire an additional 100 people when it acquires a farm in Andros and establishes a new 22,000-square-foot facility to accommodate its growing operations.
Mervin Sweeting Jr., president of Switcha, said that the company expects to spend $5 million acquiring an existing grapefruit farm, along with 500 acres of land adjacent to it, and $3 million on the new facility, which will be in the Airport Industrial Park. The company has outgrown its present headquarters on Gladstone Road within just two years.
While the company had already been eyeing the possibility of growing its own limes to be used in the production of its popular citrus-based beverage, recent inflation in the price of the fruit, due to natural and criminal factors in its key source market, Mexico, have galvanized the company in its belief that it must secure its own lime supply.
Sweeting said the impact of lime inflation on his business has been "very severe", ultimately causing the company to have to start using lemons instead.
Despite the traditionally high level of local demand for limes, in an interview with Guardian Business on Monday, Super Value President Rupert Robert said he had to cut back on purchases of limes by 50 percent after prices rose from $19 a box to $115, impacting local appetite for the fruit.
Don Carnine, general manager of Bahamas Food Services, said he has never experienced an inflationary impact "this bad for so long", and added that many companies which had previously relied on a regular supply of limes are now turning to lemons or pre-packaged lime juice. Taking a more long-term approach to his company's supply of the key commodity, Sweeting said that a sales agreement has now been drafted to facilitate the purchase of the grapefruit farm, currently owned by investors based in Florida, by Switcha. On a nearby 500 acres of land, a lime orchard would be established.
"We are now focusing very heavily on growing our own limes. I've been to North Andros a few times and spoken with the different producers there. We've always thought about it, but the inflation has greatly pushed us in going forward with it. Having the financial ability is another issue because we are now in a position where we can finance our own farm and continue with our regular operations. I am meeting with the owners at the end of the month to finalize some numbers," said Sweeting.
Sweeting said he anticipates starting work on getting lime production underway in Andros by the end of the year, a move which he anticipates will require the hiring of around 60 people.
The company hopes to eventually move into other product lines, including using grapefruit and limes to make citrus oil, which is said to have a number of health and wellness-related uses.
"We have a lot of work to do in terms of getting things prepared. We would need to top off all the trees and get the irrigation done," he added.
In Nassau, Switcha expects to start construction of its new facility on three acres in the Airport Industrial Park by the summer.
"The beverage industry is a large and lucrative market, but you need a lot of space - for equipment, raw materials, space for finished goods, and to manoeuver, and for additional marketing paraphernalia," he explained.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian