Tortuga and Home Shopping Network celebrate 10-year partnership

TORTUGA, THE Caribbean’s leading rum cake and rumbased confectionery brand, is celebrating its 10th anniversary of partnership with the Home Shopping Network (HSN).

According to Monique Hamaty-Simmonds, director of brand development, Tortuga International Holdings Limited, the collaboration began in 2007 with the showcasing of the Tortuga 16-oz Golden Original rum cake on the network, and this month, the full brand portfolio, including the Tortuga line of chocolate confectionery products, sauces and rum cakes in six flavours, were featured on HSN.

“Having Tortuga products on HSN has given the brand exposure to 90 million television sets across the globe, resulting in sales of well over US$2 million on the shopping network over the past decade,” Hamaty-Simmonds said.

FEATURED ON HSN

She said that this year alone, Tortuga was featured five times on the HSN, with two more shows booked before the end of 2017.

“This is a great privilege to market our products on one of the largest international online shopping platforms, and it has worked wonders for our bottom line,” Hamaty-Simmonds said. According to

Marcus Simmonds, chief executive officer of Tortuga International Limited, there has been a steady growth in the rum cake category of the business year over year because of partnerships such as the HSN cable station.

He said that during the Valentine’s and Mother’s Day periods in 2017, approximately 12,000 Tortuga Rum Cakes were sold on HSN in 10-minute segments, on two shows. “Our Caribbean Rum Cakes remain a favourite with the hosts and viewers of HSN,” Simmonds said.

In 1984, then Cayman

Airways Captain Robert Hamaty and wife Carlene formed the Tortuga Rum Company after Carlene’s rum cakes, made from a four-generation-old family recipe, became a hit at special events.

Now known as the Tortuga International Holdings Limited, the company became a subsidiary of the Jamaica Producers Group in 2012 and currently has bakeries and operations in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and The Bahamas.