Built to bridge American protein and Caribbean hospitality
Meridian Provisions & Trade is a U.S.-based principal trader built to connect American protein producers with the Caribbean’s hospitality kitchens. The company is structured to move premium meats, poultry, and provisions from U.S. plants to the resorts, hotels, and restaurants of the Dominican Republic and the wider Caribbean—with cold-chain integrity and compliance managed end to end.
The most reliable bridge in the cold chain
“To be the most reliable bridge between U.S. protein producers and Caribbean hospitality kitchens—delivering consistent, food-safe, compliant meats, poultry, and provisions with uncompromised cold-chain integrity.”
Meridian is built as a principal trader, not a broker: it takes ownership of the product, and with it responsibility for quality, temperature, and compliance from origin to delivery. The model is end-to-end import management—sourcing at U.S. plants, cold-chain transport, customs and sanitary clearance, and direct delivery to hospitality buyers—run asset-light, without the overhead of owned fleets or facilities.
- Principal trader — takes ownership
- End-to-end import management
- Direct-to-HRI
- Asset-light
A market expanding exactly as Meridian launches
Several forces are converging at once.
Duty-free
CAFTA-DR — qualifying U.S. protein, since Jan 2025
- 11.6MDR visitors, 2025
- 16%tourism share of GDP
- 17K+hotel rooms in the pipeline
- $13.4Btourism investment, FITUR 2026
As of January 1, 2025, CAFTA-DR is fully phased in—qualifying U.S. protein now enters the Dominican Republic duty-free, removing the last tariff barrier between American plants and Caribbean kitchens. At the same time, tourism is at record strength: the DR welcomed roughly 11.6 million visitors in 2025, tourism accounts for about 16% of GDP, and a pipeline of more than 17,000 hotel rooms—alongside some $13.4 billion in tourism investment signed at FITUR 2026—points to years of continued growth. Meanwhile, local protein supply can’t keep pace: African Swine Fever has constrained domestic pork, and premium beef isn’t produced on the island at the scale or grade hospitality demands. Duty-free access, record tourism, a resort pipeline, and supply-constrained local production add up to a market expanding at exactly the moment Meridian launches.
A market that already runs on U.S. protein
U.S. share of DR imports
- Pork~92%
- Beef~94%
- Poultry~74%
The Dominican Republic’s protein supply already depends on the United States. U.S. product accounts for an estimated 92% of the DR’s pork imports, 94% of its beef imports, and 74% of its poultry imports—the market runs on American protein. Local production can’t close the gap: African Swine Fever has hit domestic pork, and the grade of beef that resorts and fine-dining kitchens require isn’t produced on the island at scale. Meridian is built to serve that market directly—sourcing the U.S. product hospitality buyers already rely on and managing its journey to their door.
Built around five disciplines
U.S.-plant sourcing discipline
Product specified to hospitality grade and sourced at FSIS-regulated U.S. plants.
End-to-end cold-chain integrity
Temperature owned and documented from plant to plate, not handed off.
Regulatory & compliance mastery
FSIS, DIGEGA, DIGEMAPS, CAFTA-DR, and NORDOM-53 handled as a core competency.
Direct-to-HRI
Built to sell direct to hotels, restaurants, and institutions—not through layers of distribution.
Mix discipline
Built to compete on reliability and consistency, not the lowest price.
From DR protein trader to the Caribbean's import partner
Today
DR protein
By geography
- Jamaica
- Bahamas
- Trinidad
- Leewards / Windwards
By category
- Seafood
- Dairy
Meridian’s near-term focus is narrow by design: premium protein into the Dominican Republic, done exceptionally well. The longer arc is to become the Caribbean’s preferred independent foodservice import partner—expanding by geography as relationships mature (Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad, and the Leeward and Windward Islands) and by category (seafood, dairy) once the protein foundation is proven. Growth follows trust: each new market and category is earned by reliability in the last.
Built for this moment
A bridge built for the Caribbean’s table
Meridian launches into a market that is growing, premiumizing, and newly duty-free—built from day one for the reliability that hospitality sourcing demands.