Idea 145 of 500. Cluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
Pepper as a single-estate product with the estate's name on the jar
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
Agree with one pepper grower to buy this season's crop from a single named plot, and pack it in glass jars with the estate's name, altitude and harvest month on the label. Put jars on the tables and in the shop of a guesthouse nearby for a month. Then send two jars to a fine-food shop abroad and ask for a trial order. A reorder proves the name adds value.
- Who pays first
- A fine-food shop abroad whose customers already buy single-origin coffee and chocolate, and will pay for pepper with an estate name.
- What leaves today
- Pepper leaves the island as an anonymous bulk commodity, so the estate that grew it earns the lowest price in the chain.
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 145 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.