Specialty Foods - Two Kenyan Companies Take U.S. Specialty Food Market by Storm
"Shamba” is the Swahili word for “farm” and “Choma” means “grilled.” American consumers are becoming familiar with these terms thanks to USAID East Africa’s Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program (USAID/COMPETE). Following intensive assistance from USAID through specialty food consultants Talier Trading Group, two Kenyan companies, Premier Foods and Frigoken, have taken the U.S. specialty food market by storm taking advantage of preferential trade opportunities available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). To help increase trade, innovation and job creation in Africa, AGOA allows African companies to export up to 9,000 goods to the U.S. without paying import tax.
Within three months of USAID’s assistance with packaging, product development, pricing, brand development, and value-chain assessment, the two new brands, Shamba Farms Vegetables and Choma‘Wild Grillin’ BBQ Sauce signed with an importer, negotiated contracts with two of the largest food distributors in the U.S. and began shipping product to a apidly exp
anding customer base. All of this happened before the companies arrived in New York in 2010 to participate in the USAID sponsored Fancy Foods Show, the largest specialty food event of its kind in the U.S.
“I like these products for a few reasons,” says Talier managing director Jim Thaller. “They use commodities that have limited export potential on their own (e.g., greenbeans) and because they help brand a story from Kenya. They are great companies and were a pleasure to work with.”
The Shamba Farms brand has three products:all-natural, bundled green beans, carrots and yellow beans. The Choma brand has our products: traditional, hot, and sweet and garlic barbeque sauces.
American consumers seem to like the products with 700,000 bottles of the choma sauces distributed, generating over $350,000 in sales. The products can be found in supermarket chains such as Kroger, Foodtown, Hannaford and White Rose. The two companies will continue working the U.S. market with hopes of approaching other international markets.
"USAID/COMPETE's support helped us navigate our
way into the U.S. market."
Victoria Muthusi
Frigoken, Ltd.