As one of the country’s leading manufacturers, Major Foods has been producing a wide array of condiments which have been transforming the
culinary endeavours of cooks for decades. The company stands for producing quality products as well as exemplary customer satisfaction. Major Foods has maintained the values of a family business and continues to successfully operate out of Victoria, East Coast Demerara. With a variety of products under its belt, like green seasoning; Chinese sauce; cake colouring; cassareep; mango, souree and tamarind achar; and pepper sauce;
Major Foods has, over the years, grown to become a leader in the agro processing industry. The manufacturing enterprise was registered in the
early 1970s by the late Alan Major, the son of Edna Major, who started the family business which operated at “Factory Yard” Victoria, in the 1940s. The “Factory Yard” was always bustling with the making of products, from cassareep to cassava bread. Chickens and pigs were also reared, slaughtered and then sold by Edna Major, who would travel as far as New Amsterdam, Berbice to earn sales.
Alan Major had adapted the skills of his mother and had also begun selling pork, fish and eventually cassareep in Linden. He would travel from the East Coast of Demerara to Linden every week to peddle his goods. In the early 70’s, Alan decided to manufacture his own cassareep. Little did he know that this would be the start of the mighty Major brand. After years of trial and error, his company has turned out to be a huge success. It is
now under the stewardship of Dennise Major-Goppy, the daughter of the late Alan Major. The company has maintained long lasting business
relationships built on reliability, quality and customer satisfaction. In fact, Major Foods was one of the first manufacturing plants in Victoria and later grew to become one of the largest employers in the village. With 99 percent of its workforce being women, the company prides itself on promoting empowerment among women, not only in the village of Victoria, but also countrywide. For this family business, which has been carried on for
generations, quality is everything. According to the company’s Marketing Consultant, Earl Gittens, “Our quality is important. We source all of our
ingredients from suppliers who believe in quality, because that’s all we would accept. We try to use local spices and purchase from local farmers that we can monitor.” Gittens continued, “We track even the celery from the date it was planted, reaped and sold to us. Ultimately, we would like to support only sustainable farming practice and add value to the green sustainable society that Guyana is becoming. Consumer safety is priority with us, so our quality control starts from our procurement methods. We inspect the produce from the farms if possible and ensure that what we are buying is processed in a safe manner.
Once in our facility, we practise our SQT (Safety, Quality & Taste) system.” Major Foods exports its products to Trinidad, Barbados, St. Lucia, England and the USA. The company has even had sightings of its products in stores in Amsterdam, Holland.
