The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A DEL Zotto manager has denied undercutting two Grand Bahama concrete operators to force them out of business, saying rivals who want suppliers to charge the same price are asking for socialism, not a competitive market.

Jamal Gomez, a manager at Del Zotto, formerly Gold Rock, rejected allegations by Glennett Fowler, of Heroic Concrete and Concrete Products, and Washington Smith, of Smith Construction, that the company was deliberately lowering its prices to drive competitors out.

Ms Fowler and Mr Smith said on Monday that since Del Zotto returned to the market, it had been undercutting their prices and approaching customers after they had secured or pursued jobs, offering to do the work for less. They also alleged that company representatives had threatened to keep up those practices until their businesses were forced out of the market.

Asked about the alleged threats, Mr Gomez questioned why the company would make them.

“For what? Why would we do that?” he said. “It makes absolutely no sense to us.”

He said the company supported fair competition but opposed what he described as calls for suppliers to charge uniform prices, arguing that this would undermine competition and deprive Bahamian consumers of lower prices.

“We are engaged in fair competition. I don’t know what their problem is,” Mr Gomez said. “They want one uniform price, and that’s a socialism, not a competitive market.”

Mr Gomez denied that Del Zotto was undercutting its rivals and said: “The quality of products that we produce and the service that we render is superior”. He said customers weigh quality and service, not just price, when choosing a supplier.

“People don’t just leave because of prices; people leave because of quality. And so, if their service and their quality are on par, then we can have a conversation,” he said.

“I cannot see me and them being in the same boat,” he said.

Mr Gomez argued that consumers should not have to pay more to protect competitors’ profit margins, comparing the situation to shoppers buying goods online rather than from local stores because of price.

“These owners want their profit margin to be so sky high, out of the roof,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that he did not know the profit margins of either Ms Fowler or Mr Smith, could not say what level of profit they sought, and therefore could not determine whether Del Zotto was undercutting them on that basis.

Del Zotto sells ready-mix concrete for $192 per yard and concrete blocks for $2.10 each. Mr Gomez said ready-mix prices depend on the delivery location.

Ms Fowler and Mr Smith said the impact on their businesses had been severe. Heroic said it had laid off 20 of its 32 employees over 18 months, while Mr Smith said work had become so scarce that he was using personal funds to meet payroll.

They have called on the government to investigate and to consider measures to ensure fair competition in the ready-mix concrete and concrete block industry.

Latrae Rahming, communications director in the Office of the Prime Minister, could not be reached for comment.

Del Zotto shut down its Grand Bahama operations in 2022 after a bitter dispute with the Grand Bahama Port Authority and its Grand Bahama Development Company affiliate over access to aggregate. At the time, up to 130 jobs were said to be at risk, and Prime Minister Philip Davis urged the Florida-based Del Zotto family to reconsider. The company returned to the market in 2025.

Heroic, which invested $8.2m in its Grand Bahama plant, began producing ready-mix concrete in 2023 and launched concrete block production in December 2024, when Ms Fowler said the island had been without locally made blocks for some time.

The Bahamas has no competition law to deal with complaints such as predatory pricing. A draft Bahamas Fair Competition Bill, which proposed creating a Fair Trading Commission to investigate anti-competitive conduct, was drawn up in 2018 but has not been enacted.