From being unable to see her way, to seeing her product being sold from Debe to Mandalay.
This is the five-year turnaround Rebekah James has seen through her company, Bekah Bites.
The former Holy Faith Convent, Couva student fell in love with baking from a young age. She was further entranced when the now-defunct T&T Hospitality and Tourism Institute hosted a career fair at the school.
She completed an associate degree in culinary management at TTHTI before earning a bachelor’s degree in international tourism management at the University of the West Indies.
However, James did not find success in the job market.
“I just want to big up my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, if you haven’t gotten that yet, he is the reason I’m doing this business venture in the first place. I was at a crossroads, and as decorated as I am with degrees, I would have been looking for jobs,” said James in an interview with the Sunday Business Guardian.
“I sent out probably a million and one resumes, and I would have only gotten “nos” and it would have been very discouraging for me. A few years ago, I had a really tough time being able to accept I have these degrees and what it is all for.”
James, whose parents are pastors, explained that religion ultimately guided her on the path to the business. To join her church’s mission to India, she opted to bake and sell cakes to raise $20,000 needed. Her path was forged then.
“I remember praying and asking the Lord which direction to go in, should I work or go through with the business? And well, the Lord answered my prayers by not letting me get the job and for me to start the business,” said James.
But Bekah Bites found a niche market when her husband Joshua James asked her about an ingredient package for one of the most anticipated delights of the T&T Christmas season: Black Cake.
“My husband is Guyanese,” she said, “So he was telling me back, every Christmas time they have a pepper pot package, and a lot of butcher shops and grocery stores sell the package where you have all the meats together with the seasoning and everything. So he was asking me, if we have anything like that here for black cake. I said, ‘What do you mean exactly?’ So he said, prepackaged soaked fruits. I was like, ‘No, we don’t have that down here.’ He’s like, Well, why? I think that’s a really good idea.”
She started selling the packaged fruits in 2019, under the brand Trini Mix, and it immediately became a hit with her customers.
This prompted her to look into an expansion in 2020. After getting the necessary certification and labelling, she managed to get the prepackaged fruits under the brand Trini Mix in groceries around the country.
“When we officially introduced it to the market in 2019, I sold it for myself. We made about 50 containers, and it sold out. And in 2020 we decided to go bigger, get our certificate of pre-sale, testing, alcohol testing and everything,” James explained, “We were able to sell in groceries from 2020 and we were in serious groceries nationwide from Debe to Mandalay.”
James did eventually get a job, and Trini Mix took a hiatus when she took up her new contract. Due to concerns about balancing the management of a cafeteria at the tertiary institution, she decided not to produce the prepackaged soaked fruits last year. However public demand has prompted her to return to the market in 2024.
“Our customers, we got positive feedback because now it’s like they can’t do without it. Like why buy fruits when I could get it soaked, preblended and everything already. So I think we created that kind of comfort for them, so much so that when we weren’t in the market last year, I got so many calls asking me, when you’re coming back, when you’re coming back. So, we came back,” said James.
“This year, we changed the packaging and everything, even for easier cleanup because we had the containers before. This year, we are using the ‘spouch’, so you just squeeze the amount that you use in the recipe and you screw back the cap and store it in the fridge and it’s easy for storage as well for space,” she explained.
“We decided to come back when we got a very good response from our customers, especially for people who don’t have the time to soak all the fruits.
“A lot of people found that it was very convenient.”
James said she was extremely thankful that her family had been able to lend support in terms of preparing the fruits for packaging.
She explained that preparation for Trini Mix started in July with the collection of the necessary fruits. Inspired by the restart of the Trini Mix line, James said Bekah Bites was also looking to revive other speciality mixes it had discontinued after she took up the cafeteria contract.
