When he was about six years old, Bahamian entrepreneur Joshua Miller started selling natural limeade at his father’s food stall in Nassau.
Joshua’s dad Rudolph gave him an original recipe for the refreshing drink made from handpicked, local limes and it quickly proved to be a resounding success.
Joshua recalls: “My father wanted to teach me the value of a dollar so in the summer I would sell limeade at his Jerk stand outside my grandmother’s restaurant.
“When I was at college (studying accounting), my grandmother suggested bottling the drink so she could sell it in the restaurant. I did that from 2009 until 2012 which is when I officially launched the product to a broader market.”
Joshua says he knew his brand ‘Limeade Bahamas’ could be made into a viable business when people started asking for the drink by name.
Over a decade later, Joshua now offers his product in three sizes (12 ounces, 20 ounces, and one gallon) and six flavours – lime, strawberry, ginger, peach, pineapple, and mango. The drink is on sale at 150 locations in New Providence including restaurants, schools, convenience stores, and gas stations.
Limeade Bahamas currently employs 12 people, and Joshua has kept the business afloat, despite challenges with capital and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily through personal funds and assistance from family, as well as support from the Bahamian Small Business Development Centre.
In 2020, Joshua decided to scale up production ahead of exporting to the rest of the Bahamas and possibly even further afield. He leased a building from the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) but it needed a lot of work to get it fit for purpose.
Joshua applied to the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s 2021 Direct Support Grant Programme to convert the building into a modern manufacturing plant.
He states: “We moved into the building early last year, but it took about a year and a half to get it up to standard. It didn’t even have electricity, so I had to get a transformer installed, which was extremely expensive.
“I decided to go the renewable energy, solar system route so that the equipment could be seen as collateral by a lending institution,” Joshua adds.
“I brought the equipment over, but it was quite high tech, so then I experienced an issue with installation. The grant money I received from Caribbean Export assisted with getting it installed.”
The new solar system allows Limeade Bahamas to run almost completely off the grid except for a few heavy pieces of equipment which require a significant amount of power.
Joshua believes getting the building onstream will take Limeade Bahamas to another level in terms of production.
“Working in this space is a huge opportunity for the business,’ he says. “Where we were before, close to my grandmother’s restaurant, was quite small and cramped. This new building gives us room to walk around without bumping into each other and the equipment. We can also make more drink now and store it. It’s already made a big difference.”
Over the next year, Joshua aims to sell his product throughout the Bahamas and in other Caribbean islands and possibly south Florida. He also wants to introduce other types of juices and water to compliment the limeade.
From humble beginnings, Joshua has substantially grown his brand, and on reflection he says there is nothing he would change because “every experience was a learning experience”.
