Caribbean Foodservice Industry Looks to Rebound from Hurricane Season
Elizabeth Wunderlich, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Caribbean representative, recently updated U.S. producers and exporters on the region’s efforts to recover from an exceptionally harsh hurricane season. The Caribbean is an important destination for U.S. beef, pork and lamb, with exports through September totaling nearly $210 million. But the hotel and restaurant sectors on some Caribbean islands – especially Dominica, St. Martin, Barbuda the British Virgin Islands and the southern edge of the Bahamas – are facing a long and difficult recovery.
Wunderlich notes, however, the Caribbean is a very resilient region that has bounced back rapidly from previous hurricanes – citing Hurricane Ivan’s devastation of Grand Cayman in 2004 as an example. She also discusses USMEF’s participation in menu promotions on islands spared by this year’s hurricanes, which are specifically designed to assist with recovery efforts on the most-impacted islands.
