Sunshine Snacks has announced that it has taken the executive decision to open the gates of the Queen’s Park Oval to local nuts vendors to sell homemade roasted peanuts following a public call by cricket supporters.
Sunshine Snacks is an official sponsor of the T20 cricket Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR).
In a statement Monday, Sunshine Snacks General Manager Kristine Thompson stated, “As an official sponsor of TKR, who actually own the rights to selling at the Queen’s Park Oval- their home grounds, Sunshine Snacks purchased the exclusive right to sell snacks and nuts during the games and we structured our promotions and events along those lines. But the people have spoken and we have listened.”
The company said it will now partially waive its paid exclusive rights and allow local nuts vendors to ply their trade at the games.
Explaining the change of heart and underscoring that the company had engaged the local nuts association members since last season, Thompson explained, “ Since July 2017, we have been in communication with the local nuts vendors, in fact one of the nuts vendors is already selling our products at the games. But when the cricket fans spoke out in favour of all nuts sellers being there as a critical part of the Oval Cricket Culture and the game experience…we simply decided to put our hearts ahead of our strict sponsorship rights.”
Sunshine Snacks notes that its sponsorship of CPL and the TKR has brought "exciting new features to the games including the “Hit the Sun to win Challenge”, free giveaways, the crowd favourite ‘snack-launcher’ plus the chance to win an all-inclusive lime to the CPL Final".
Commenting on the company’s role as sponsor, she reiterated, “Sunshine Snacks has always respected and promoted local and regional culture. We took on this sponsorship to support amazing cricket and to bring the game and its strong culture of family fun to a whole new generation of Caribbean youth. We loved cricket growing up in the Caribbean and we love how this exciting format has brought new life to the sport and regional togetherness.”