Idea 132 of 500. Cluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
Jaffna crab and cuttlefish curry as a chilled export dish for the Sri Lankan shops abroad
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
Cook one batch of crab curry and one of cuttlefish curry, pack them in sealed trays, and have a food technologist check how long they keep chilled. Then ask the chilled-food buyer at two Sri Lankan supermarkets abroad what shelf life, packaging and price they would need to stock them. Their written requirements become your specification and your first target order.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan supermarket abroad whose Sri Lankan customers miss Jaffna crab curry and cannot buy it ready-made where they live.
- What leaves today
- Jaffna crab and cuttlefish leave frozen and raw; the curry, which carries the region's name and the higher price, is rarely exported finished.
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 132 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.