Tobago Wild: The taste of the Caribbean, express.

FedEx really has allowed me to grow my export business from a one-town operation to an any-town operation.
— Michael Dimin, Founder/CEO, Tobago Wild

The Opportunity

Tobago Wild is a Tobago-based hand-lined fresh fish exporter to fine restaurants in the United States that promises “from hook to kitchen in less than 36 hours." In order to make good on this promise and to reduce his costs, owner/founder Michael Dimin realized he had to sell directly to the restaurants themselves. Tobago Wild needed reliable air transportation capacity, customs brokerage, FDA clearance and timely delivery for the business to be successful. Beginning January 2006, Tobago Wild began working with FedEx Express.

FedEx Solutions

After investigating their client’s needs, FedEx coordinators realized that daily flights would need to leave Trinidad with 1,000 pounds of fids, packed in ice, pulled from the ocean just hours before.

FedEx tagged the shipments with electric manifests to facilitate pre-clearance through customs before they even hit the ground in Memphis. Now, within three hours the FDA and customs-cleared food is on its way to twenty waiting trucks in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington D.C. By housing its own FDA inspection and clearing offices at the FedEx Memphis Hub, Tobago Wild saves hours or even days of valuable time.

In a little more than a year and a half after beginning to work with FedEx, Michael Dimin was able to increase his shipment size to 2,000 pounds a day, doubling his business output. By eliminating customs fees, lowering delivery and warehouse costs, and streamlining distribution, Tobago Wild has tripled its profits.

For Tobago Wild, FedEx LAC provided:

· Faster international delivery for perishables

· Coordinated and streamlined distribution

· Customs pre-clearing

· Reduces delivery and warehousing costs