Idea 128 of 500. Cluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
Fusion pop-ups and supper clubs
The mechanism, from the book
Dilmah says it earns over 3 times the national average price for tea, because it does its own blending, branding and packing. The proof has been sitting inside the industry all along.
Every idea in cluster 6 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Host one supper club in a borrowed space, a friend's garden or a café on its closed night, with a set menu mixing Sri Lankan dishes and another cuisine you cook well. Sell 16 seats in advance through social media and a guesthouse noticeboard. If it sells out and guests ask when the next one is, you have a monthly event and a list of names.
- Who pays first
- Residents and visitors in a city or tourist town who want an evening out that is not another hotel buffet.
- What leaves today
- Sri Lankan food is sold cheaply as rice and curry; a sold-out supper club is proof it can carry a premium, which every food exporter needs.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
What a brand and an owned variety are worth, from the kiwifruit growers - Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
The island's spices: pepper, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg
More from cluster 6
Idea 128 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.