Snackers’ delight

Corey Boyce is on a mission. In addition to providing employment for himself and as many other individuals as he possibly can, this young chef wants to introduce a new generation of Barbadians to Bajan confectionery and other items that utilise local produce.
Boyce is the owner of Supreme Delights, a three-month-old company which came second in the new product showcase at the recently held Barbados Manufacturers Exhibition (BMEX).
“We bring the traditional confectionaries but we add our own twist to it with the different flavours. A lot of people like confectioneries, especially the more mature Barbadians, but many young people are not aware of these items,” he told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
“So we decided to do the confectioneries for the older folks and also the younger folks, but non-traditional flavours. So we do rum and raisin sugar cake, berries and cherries sugar cake, sorrel sugar cake, essentially bringing new life into a dying art because not many people make things such as sugar cakes, tamarind balls, and glassies.”
Noting that the business “is in infancy stages”, Boyce said he was motivated to start it after becoming “tired” of the seasonal work on offer and decided to “start a food business”.
After thinking about operating a food van before a lack of funds forced his abandonment of this idea, he decided to start making traditional Bajan confectionery, and utilise local crops including sweet potato, yams, and cassava to make “snack chips”. Supreme Delights also makes other items including juices, cakes and pastries.
Praising the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme for the assistance it offered him, Boyce said he was also grateful for the assistance offered by friend Christopher King. King was unemployed and Boyce asked him to get involved in the business, and it was King who suggested the introduction of the chips.
The two also “did some brainstorming” and came up with the idea to produce the non-traditional sugar cake flavours, and “fruit-infused cookies”.
Lisa Durant was also asked to get involved and in addition to performing administrative duties, she assists with the production of the items, a process which is led by the young business man’s mother Joanna Boyce.
The young man is also looking to employ other individuals, and said he was buoyed by the “good feedback” received during a sampling event at Sky Mall, and the positive response from BMEX patrons.
“A lot of people who attended BMEX collected some of our flyers and they have been calling and placing orders for the products since they are not yet in the supermarkes yet, especially for the chips,” he said.
“The feedback, the people we met, everything has been good so far, even the negatives were positives in the end. It has opened my eyes to a lot of things, especially business wise and hopefully I would be able to expand and employ some more people because a lot of people are unemployed right now. I plan to help as many people as I can.”
Boyce anticipates he will be better able to do so once the business, which is now located at his home, expands to “a factory space” and he and his partners are able to expand to supermarkets and eventually overseas.
“We are just trying to build up revenue now to get a factory space so that we could increase production and also to work on the packaging for the chips. If we can secure an investor or two, we can do so hopefully within the next four months. We are hoping to get our products available in the supermarkets in the same four-month time frame,” he said.
Boyce said King would “branch off” and give increased attention to expanding the chips brand, including “trying to get them overseas”.
“In terms of the sugar cakes we have a lot of flavours to introduce as well as new flavours with the cookies. For the chips, we are going to do a herb flavour and utilise a number of additional local ground provisions. I am trying to get people to eat healthier with the chips as well,” he said.