Bico Limited

The Barbados Ice Cream Company Ltd. (BICO) (BSE:: BCO) is the leading Barbadian manufacturer of frozen desserts. The company was started in December 1901, as the Barbados Ice Company Limited, which made ice. It is now known as BICO.[1] BICO started making ice cream in 1949. It is located near the Harbour Port Office park in Bridgetown.

History

The Barbados Ice Company was formed as the result of a merger between two ice-making companies in 1901. The new company was engaged exclusively in ice manufacture until 1910, when it decided to extend its facilities. The expansion was made for a cold storage department. In 1949, it expanded again and began manufacturing ice cream. Subsequently, in 1967, it became a subcontractor for the Barbados Port Authority. In 1976, the Barbados Ice Company changed its name to BICO. Since then BICO has discontinued its production of ice.

2007 to present

Presently, it is a public limited company owned by over 350 shareholders, earning the majority of its revenue from its ice cream sales.

In June 2007, the company announced that it had completed renovations on freezer facilities, and the company expanded their previous 750,000 cubic feet (21,000 m3) of storage space to just under 1 million cubic feet (28,000 m3) of storage space. The new freezer space gives the BICO company one of the largest, if not the largest, public cold storage facility in the Caribbean region.[2]

In August 2009, the BICO manufacturing plant was destroyed by a fire causing the company to outsource operations to two Canadian-based frozen dairy manufacturers. Meanwhile, ongoing delays have caused the BICO leadership to continue pressing the company's insurers to disburse funds to undertake rebuilding the BICO factory.[3]

Products

BICO makes the following products:

  • Ice Cream
  • Valupak
  • Classic
  • Perfect Balance
  • Tropical Flavors
  • Double Delight
  • Old Fashioned
  • Sherbet
  • Frozen Yogurt
  • Soycream
  • Novelties
  • Brik Ice Cream Sandwich
  • Bicone
  • Yocone
  • Lollies

The company also exports to other Caribbean islands as well. It is listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange.

See also

References
  1. "BICO's Company History". Barbados Ice Cream Company Ltd. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  2. "BICO's Cold Store among largest in the Caribbean". Barbados Advocate. 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2010. BICO Limited's million-dollar investment means the 106-year-old company now possesses one of the largest, if not the largest, public cold storage facilities in the Caribbean. [ . . . ] BICO now possesses a storage capacity of just under one million cubic feet, after exhausting its previous capacity of 750 000 cubic feet.
  3. Staff writer (29 January 2010). "Problems with re-building BICO". Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 18 March 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2010.


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