Robert Hamaty wanted to be a pilot as a boy. Little did he know that he would eventually be flying high in another sector altogether. In the early 1980s, Hamaty was employed as a pilot for Cayman Airways. His wife, Carlene, was an in-flight supervisor. During their travels through the region they noticed visitors carrying bottles of rum from each island. Both felt that the Cayman Islands needed its own brand of rum, and the minor fact that there were neither sugar cane fields nor distilleries on this small slice of paradise was no deterrent to them.
"We started with two little lonely bottles of rum," he said. It was a modest beginning for a company that found a distinct niche in the market - the absence of Cayman-based rum - and turned it into an international business with franchises across the region and spreading its sphere of influence as far as the Internet can reach.
A special blend of Jamaican and Barbados rum was created, and thus Tortuga Rum was born. The varieties have expanded along with the demand; Tortuga offers aged rums, as well as banana, coconut and mango flavours. Carlene is the creator of the jealously guarded recipe for another product that has surpassed Cayman's first own rum in popularity, the Tortuga Rum Cake. Having started out baking the moist and tasty confections at home for friends and supplying the odd local restaurant, popular demand required her to move the baking to an industrial level. Rum cakes are since being sold worldwide.
In just over an hour, the oven at the Cayman factory can produce 250 large, 550 medium and 1,100 mini cakes, which are subjected to the famous hand glazing of a generous dollop of rum over them when they are still warm - a joy to watch from the conference room window. The vacuum-sealing machine is custom made and allows the cakes to stay as moist and tasty as the day were made for an unlimited time in the freezer, and three months in the fridge.
Hamaty is proud that these products have become identified with the Cayman Islands like Blue Mountain Coffee is identified with Jamaica. He says that his company had the Cayman Islands' first e-commerce site, enabling clients to order all Tortuga products online.
The truly family-operated business has expanded to Miami, Florida, where daughter Monique Hamaty-Simmonds and her husband run the company's worldwide distribution, mail order and online sales.
The success of the product is apparent through its distribution. The company sold the franchise rights to bakeries in Jamaica and Barbados, where Taste of Jamaica and Taste of Barbados cakes are being packaged in the trademarked golden boxes. These and the secret ingredients are purchased from the distribution headquarters in the US, and a way to ensure that the franchisee stays 'honest'.
He likes to give all the credit for the business foresight to his father, whose insight into legal protection has helped win a suit against a company in Jamaica making Reggae Rum Cake in similarly shaped boxes with the same lettering as the now famous Tortuga brand. "Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery," he quips, "but it is annoying." He feels that the customer is being deceived into believing they are purchasing a famous brand.
His daughter was able to convince cruise lines to offer the cakes on their on-board stores. Selling under the label 'Taste of the Caribbean' so that the cakes can be considered a souvenir from every port of call, the Cayman-based product is the number-two gift shop item, only outsold by Absolut Vodka. Porthole Cruise Magazine named Tortuga Rum Cakes the 2005 Best Cruise Souvenir, just to make it official. At the most recent count, Tortuga Rum Cakes were on sale in 108 cruise ships. The factory was asked to create an exclusive flavour for the cruise lines, and came up with Cinnamon Raisin Rum Cake.
The company is represented at the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association trade shows every year, which is being held in St Kitts this year. Hamaty also always attends the Duty-Free Show of America in Fort Lauderdale.
The success of the Key Lime rum cake in Key West prompted the owner to look into further expanding into the Florida market. The latest product developed by the marketing team is the Tortuga Rum Cakes 'Taste of Florida' collection. Hamaty feels that the authentic Florida flavours of orange, key lime and coconut are going to take the Sunshine State by storm.
In regular retail, the original, chocolate and Blue Mountain coffee rum cakes are very popular items; also available are key lime, banana and pineapple.
Earlier this year, the Tortuga Rum Company enjoyed being in the spotlight of a Food TV Network special, when Monique was interviewed at the All American Dessert's Expo in Las Vegas. Not happy to stay in the Caribbean and Florida, Hamaty has negotiated with Frontier duty free stores on the border of Canada to carry the rum cakes.
As much as the expansion is ongoing, Hamaty is committed to making a difference locally. According to sales and marketing director Patti Julius, Tortuga Rum Company "sponsors just about anything that goes on in the Cayman Islands." Recent involvements have been with the Cultural Foundation, the National Trust, the Stingray Swim Club, the Pines Retirement Home, the Red Cross and the Cayman Aids Foundation.
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, the warehouse in Florida was used as an intermediate stop to bring relief supplies to Grand Cayman. The company suffered about $500,000 in damages to its factory, and had to replace much of the specialised equipment. But Hamaty feels lucky that production was only ceased for around six weeks, during which time the Barbados factory was able to supply Florida and fulfil the orders.
Twenty-one years after Robert and Carlene first got the idea for a rum company, Tortuga, its rum and its rum cakes are now is synonymous with the Cayman Islands as Blue Mountain coffee is to Jamaica. It has been quite a story.
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