BARBADIAN CONSUMERS have been told to "send a message" to Chefette Restaurants.

The advice came yesterday from attorney-at-law and interim chairman of the People's Empowerment Party (PEP), David Comissiong, in the wake of a decision by the fast food chain to drop Coke and its sister products from its menu.

The move means that Barbados Bottling Company (BBC), local producers of Coke, has lost its single largest customer.

Filling the void at the 13 local Chefette outlets is Pepsi – Coke's biggest rival internationally. Pepsi is being imported from Trinidad and Tobago.

But speaking on Voice of Barbados' call-in programme, Brass tacks Sunday , Comissiong said Barbadian consumers were too complacent. He said they needed to take a stance on Chefette.

He explained that local consumers had been strongly supportive of the company, to such an extent that it had moved from one to 13 outlets in about 30 years of business.

Comissiong noted that by abandoning BBC, a Barbadian-based and owned supplier, and moving its contract to the twin-island republic, Chefette was putting the jobs of several Barbadian workers under pressure.

"Barbadian consumers have the power within their hands to send a message to companies like Chefette, that this is unacceptable and to 'come back to your right senses'," he stated.

Last month Chefette's deputy general manager Ryan Haloute said the decision to drop Coke was dictated by "market forces", adding this was the second time in 34 years that Chefette had made the switch to Pepsi .

An official at BBC earlier explained that after a detailed look at costs, management had to accept it could not compete with the cost of input from the Trinidad and Tobago market. (WG)