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Expo Jamaica 2018 goes nuts for for Crazy Jim

Published:Friday | April 20, 2018 | 12:00 AMSyranno Baines/Gleaner Writer
Buyers Ingrid Morris (left) and Sonya Smith are waiting to be served a sample of the new premium flavoured ice cream produced by Crazy Jim, while another patron shows interest in the product.
Dave Lee, marketing consultant for Crazy Jim Ice Cream, at Expo Jamaica 2018, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre and the National Arena.
Erica Simmons (right), executive director of Caribbean Maritime University, shows students of Vere Technical High how a 3D digital printer works at Expo Jamaica 2018.
Camille Beckford Brown (left), customer care, business development and marketing manager of Technological Solutions Limited; and managing director, Dr Andre Gordon (second right), explain how the company works to Michael Rhoden (second left), marketing director of Barco Caribbean, and Robert Rhoden, managing director, at the JEA JMA Expo Jamaica.
Elon Beckford (left), chairman of Chemical and Construction International, shows off his company’s booth at Expo Jamaica 2018.
Omar Azan (left), CEO of Boss Furniture, shows his company’s bed to Roger Chang of Sugar and Spice at the JEA JMA Expo Jamaica at the National Indoor Sports Centre and the National Arena yesterday.
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For longstanding ice cream purveyors Crazy Jim, Expo Jamaica 2018 is proving to be the ideal springboard into the retail market, which it will now supply with 11 premium gold flavours.

One of the more popular exhibitors at the four-day show-and-tell event currently under way at the National Indoor Sports Centre and the National Arena, the company has been pushing premium ice cream within the hotel sector for almost two years and is encouraged by its "resounding success".

It's this success that has prompted them to now provide Jamaicans islandwide with premium options, and if day two of Expo Jamaica 2018 is a sign of things to come, the gold flavours won't occupy the shelves for very long.

"Just look at their faces when they taste it. It's just pure happiness, premium happiness," declared Dave Lee, marketing consultant with Crazy Jim. Lee, who was formerly employed to the company as a sales and marketing manager, was integral to the development of the premium product.

"We use local ingredients and infuse it into our ice cream to give you a special blend. So, we have ice cream here, for example, that's a blend of coffee and Jamaican rum that's called Old Pirate," said Lee. "We have Apple Vodka, we have piÒa colada, we have real shredded coconut. So, it's really high-end stuff, it's local, premium ice cream made in Jamaica for Jamaicans, and the price is absolutely crazy," Lee stated, further disclosing that a pint of the premium will retail for about $500, and half gallon will retail for under $1,000.

"When you compare that to the other brands that are imported of similar size, you'll find that our cost is probably about 50 per cent. So, it's going to be in the reach of most persons who want to have that experience, and once you go premium ice cream, it's hard to go back to regular ice cream," Lee concluded.

syranno.baines@gleanerjm.com