Idea 228 of 500. Cluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
Cardamom, cloves and nutmeg from the Kandy hills as single-origin retail products
The mechanism, from the book
The imitation out-earns the original. Vietnam earns more from cassia than Sri Lanka does from true cinnamon, because the cassia arrives on the shelf as a product and the cinnamon arrives at the port as a bale.
Every idea in cluster 11 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Buy small lots of cardamom, cloves and nutmeg from 3 growers in the Kandy hills, pack them in labelled pouches with the grower's village named, and send samples to 5 speciality spice shops abroad. Ask whether they would list a single-origin Kandy range and at what price. The proof is one listing and a price per kilo.
- Who pays first
- A speciality spice shop abroad that sells single-origin pepper and chilli and wants spices with a named hill origin its rivals cannot match.
- What leaves today
- The hills' cardamom, cloves and nutmeg leave in mixed sacks, so the origin that could earn a premium is lost at the first sale.
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. FourThe Same Failure, Four Times
Why cassia out-earns true cinnamon - Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
The single desk that ends undercutting and funds brand and quality
More from cluster 11
- 221Cinnamon quills in retail packs with the grade printed, since almost no consumer knows the grades exist
- 222Cinnamon sticks as a branded gift, tied and boxed, sold at every airport in the world where we have a shop
- 223Cinnamon-leaf and bark oils bottled for the aromatherapy trade under a Sri Lankan name
- 224Cinnamon-infused honey, sugar and salt as a range
- 225A "true cinnamon" education campaign run by producers, aimed at bakers and chefs abroad
- 226Cinnamon farm stays in the south-west, where the peeling is the show
Idea 228 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.