Idea 131 of 500. Cluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
Value-added cinnamon: ground, capsuled, oil, branded consumer packs
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
Buy 1 kg of good quills from a peeler you trust, grind some, fill some into capsules at a shared kitchen, and pack both in retail packs with the grade and the district on the label. Send sample packs to two health-food shops and one Sri Lankan grocer abroad and ask for a trial order at a stated price. Their order tells you which format to make first.
- Who pays first
- A health-food shop or grocer abroad that wants true cinnamon with a named district on the pack, not an anonymous bulk grade.
- What leaves today
- The island holds the world's true cinnamon and much of it leaves as bulk quills; the grinding, packing and brand add the value elsewhere.
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 131 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.