Starter Kit. Idea 143 of 500. Cluster 6
A cookbook and video series in English that becomes the standard reference, with the products linked
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
Film three short videos this week, each cooking one dish in clear English, with every ingredient named and where to buy it. Post them and put a link to a product, a spice mix or a jar, beside each. After a month, count the viewers, the comments asking for more and the clicks through to the product. Those numbers show whether the series can sell the goods.
- Who pays first
- A home cook abroad who follows the videos and buys the spice mix linked below them so the dish tastes right.
- What leaves today
- Without a standard reference in English, the recipes spread abroad but the spices and jars are bought from whoever is nearest.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Ask whether they promote Sri Lankan food abroad and could feature the series.
- Data Protection Authority. Ask what rules apply if you collect viewers' email addresses.
Check before you spend
That the recipes are your own or credited, that the cooks agree how they appear, and that product links are honest.
Find out these three numbers
- How many people search for Sri Lankan recipes in English?
- What does filming one episode cost?
- Which producers would pay to be linked?
A comparison from the book
Sri Lanka. Appendix
"If you are not findable online, nobody can help you, buy from"
Being findable online is the cheapest part of the whole business.
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.