The leading provider of Caribbean food and drink products to the UK is gearing up for a busy 2022 as it prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Grace Foods UK is the name behind some of the most iconic brands from the Caribbean including Grace Jerk Sauces, Grace snacks, Grace tropical drinks, including Tropical Rhythms, coconut water and aloe vera drinks, Encona range of hot sauces, Dunn’s River seasonings, and sauces, Nurishment, nutritionally enriched milk drinks, and new Caribbean street food range Irie Eats, which has been launched in response to a growing demand for authentic Caribbean street food.
All of the Grace Foods products are available in all of the UK supermarket giants as well as world food convenience stores across the country.
Grace Foods UK, which saw its turnover hit more than £80 million in the UK in 2021, is the parent company to Grace Kennedy, a $1bn corporation, based in Kingston, Jamaica and is one of the Caribbean’s most dynamic businesses. GraceKennedy’s global food operation, GK Foods, spans food processing, manufacturing and distribution across the Caribbean, USA, Canada, UK and Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Grace Kennedy was founded on 14 February 1922.
The 100th anniversary year-long celebrations kick off on Valentine’s Day with the launch of the global campaign, The Taste That Moves You.
The celebrations will also include the launch of the 100th anniversary special-edition gold Grace Foods Jamaican Jerk Seasoning and Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce bottle, which will be available to buy in Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA, Morrisons, Co-op, Waitrose and all good world foods convenience stores nationwide.
Also, the new 100th anniversary logo will be rolled out to nine Grace products* including Grace Special Edition Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, Dunn’s River Special Edition Jamaican Jerk Seasoning and the Grace Mighty Malt range of drinks.
And as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations, Grace Foods UK’s iconic sauce range Encona is partnering with Mi-Soul radio station for a campaign that started at the beginning of this month and includes four Encona-sponsored music mixes a day across primetime shows alongside six commercials a day.
Encona will also be giving away four Grace Foods hampers every day from 7-11 February culminating in the ultimate prize giveaway of a seven-day all-inclusive holiday to Jamaica, which can be won as part of the 100th anniversary campaign on 14 February, the official 100th anniversary day.
Mi-Soul broadcasts soulful music 24/7 across London and Brighton and was created by the team who launched Kiss FM.
Grace Foods UK’s website is being relaunched this month (gk-100.gracefoods.co.uk) along with relaunches for Nurishment, Encona and Irie Eats, the new Caribbean-inspired street-food meal kits that launched in August 2021 and are available to buy in Tesco. Grace Foods UK is also working with award-winning digital agency Engage to update all of the social media feeds for all of its leading brands.
Looking forward to the 100th anniversary celebrations, Vandu Patel, Marketing Manager for Grace Foods UK, said: “Celebrating 100 years of Grace is a momentous occasion for the company, which has worked hard to establish itself as the number one provider of Caribbean food and drink products to the UK. Grace products are hugely popular with the Jamaican diaspora and beyond in the UK as our seasonings and sauces are used to recreate Caribbean-inspired dishes.
“Consumers up and down the country are extremely familiar with Grace’s legendary brands, which all bring a part of the Caribbean to the UK, and we are looking forward to launching The Taste That Moves You campaign to mark 100 years.
“Caribbean food is really having a moment this year. A recent survey by Mintel** found that 46% picked Caribbean food as a food they wanted to sample, and the indications are that Caribbean food will be very popular in 2022.
“As well as Grace celebrating its 100th anniversary, Jamaica celebrates 60 years of Jamaican independence – the headquarters of Grace’s parent company Grace Kennedy is in Kingston Jamaica – the new West End musical, Get Up Stand Up, celebrates Jamaican music, it’s the 60th anniversary of the first-ever James Bond movie and many scenes were filmed in Jamaica, the play Small Island is running again at the national theatre in February and an immersive art exhibition celebrating Bob Marley (One Love) is going to be shown at the Saatchi gallery this year.
“And of course, there is much excitement in the UK around Benjamin Alexander, who is set to become Jamaica’s first Alpine skier at the Winter Olympics! What a year it is going to be for Jamaica.
“So 2022 really is a party year for Grace and Jamaica! Grace employs 210 people at its factory in Wales and its headquarters in Hertfordshire, and all of the employees will be involved in the celebrations in some way throughout the year.”
* The Grace products that will feature the 100th anniversary logo
Grace Corned Beef, 340g
Grace Halal Corned Beef, 340g
Grace Mackerel in Hot Tomato Sauce, 200g
Grace Mackerel in Tomato Sauce, 200g
Grace Mighty Malt – Glass Bottles, 330ml singles
Grace Mighty Malt – Glass Bottles, 6x330ml, 6pack
Grace Tropical Rhythms Mango Carrot, 475ml
Grace Special Edition Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, 375g
Dunn’s River Special Edition Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, 300g
