28 Years of Keeping the Fijian Taste in Canada
He migrated in 1982. Harry Prasad is one of the biggest wholesalers of Fijian products in Canada.
For the past 28 years, Mr Prasad has been running his business, Island Town Foods Enterprises Ltd in Vancouver, British Columbia.
He specialises in Fijian foods and groceries with Goodman Fielder, FMF Foods, Punjas Ltd, CJ Patel, Fiji Agro Marketing and other companies as his supplier.
He is a distributor to more than 30 stores within Canada.
Before starting his wholesale and retail business, Mr Prasad worked as a chef in Canada.
“Our Fijian people and the community want the best and quality stuff and there’s nothing better than our own Fiji products,” he said.
“This brings home a little closer to us with our own Fiji taste.”
His products are shipped to Canada every three months through Air New Zealand.
He has been dealing with the airline for more than 25 years.
Fiji Airways Direct Flight
Now with the Fiji Airways direct flight to Vancouver, Mr Prasad said it was a relief.
“This makes me happy because I will get my products overnight.
No more waste and rotten stuff, especially vegetables.”
He said most of the time he had to deal with rotten vegetables because it takes at least up to a week for deliveries.
Mr Prasad makes sure that all the products he’s selling have expiry dates displayed on the item.
“I did my best to make sure that I keep my customers, especially our Fijian people happy.
“I saw that some people were bringing in Fijian products to sell but were not honest with the Fijian community in terms of pricing and expiry dates.
“This was not fair to us, so I thought since I am a Fijian, why not get in Fijian products and build that trust with the community doing the best I can to provide good and quality products.”
Background
Mr Prasad lives in British Columbia with his son, who is an engineer, his wife and mother.
He hails from Nausori and studied at Saraswati College.
He was a salesperson at Prouds Fiji before moving to Canada 40 years ago.
His advice to budding Fijian entrepreneurs in Canada is to; “Keep doing business for as long as you live and keep supporting the Fijian people.”