Starter Kit. Idea 142 of 500. Cluster 6
Ready meals for Sri Lankans abroad, cooked in Sri Lanka, frozen and shipped in bulk
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.
The first step
Cook three dishes that Sri Lankan families abroad miss most, freeze them in sealed trays, and have a food lab check how well they hold after a month. Then ask a Sri Lankan caterer or supermarket abroad how many trays they would take each month in a shared frozen container, and at what price per tray. A monthly quantity and a price are enough to plan the first shipment.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan supermarket or caterer abroad that wants authentic home dishes for less than it costs to cook them locally.
- What leaves today
- Money that Sri Lankans abroad spend on Sri Lankan food goes to cooks and kitchens abroad; frozen meals bring the cooking, and the wages, back to the island.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Standards Institution. Ask what standard frozen ready meals for export should meet.
- Sri Lanka Customs. Ask what papers frozen meals need to leave the country.
Check before you spend
That the kitchen meets export food standards, that the frozen chain holds all the way, and what the buyer country requires for meat or fish.
Find out these three numbers
- What do Sri Lankans abroad pay for a ready meal?
- What does freezing and shipping cost per meal?
- How many shops abroad would stock them?
A comparison from the book
Sri Lanka. Appendix
"A sale is worth something once. A customer who can reorder from"
A family abroad that reorders every month is worth far more than one sale.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.