Why has J'can ackee fallen off US shelves?
Published:Friday | September 14, 2018 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Is there any known reason why the Grace and Linstead Market ackee brands have disappeared from supermarket shelves here in New York? Hopefully, they have not become uncompetitive for any recent reason as both brands were very decent choices for anyone unable to have the ackee cooked directly picked from the tree.
The Linstead Market ackee was surprisingly good, considering the historic song about its inability to sell. Ironically, it was so well loved by a number of people here, yet it does seem that Jamaican products in general have this flash-in-the-pan success only to entice and then retreat into forgetfulness.
There is a non-familiar brand of ackee that has risen here with the apparent fall of ours and seems to be readily filling the need that the vacancy facilitated.
Whatever happened to the ackee, it proves one thing: However good your product is, the moment it is no longer on the shelves, consumers are not going to wait around missing it until it reappears - people will soon accommodate and even acquire tastes for less proven brands, even to such an extent that genuine quality even fades into obsolescence.
HOMER SYLVESTER