Idea 274 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Frozen tropical fruit pulp for the smoothie chains of the world
The mechanism, from the book
The smallholder sells raw to a collector at the gate and the collector sells to a packer who puts his own name on it. Denmark's farmers got rich the day they owned the creamery.
Every idea in cluster 14 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Pulp and freeze a small run of mango and passion fruit, then ask a local smoothie bar or cafe to use it for a week and record how it performs against what they buy now. Take the result, the cost per kilo and the manager's comments to food importers abroad by email. A trial order from the cafe and a price enquiry from abroad are the two signs you need.
- Who pays first
- A cafe or juice bar buying fruit pulp by the carton, which needs a consistent taste all year and cannot risk a bad batch.
- What leaves today
- Tropical fruit leaves the island fresh or not at all, and the pulp that smoothie chains buy all year is made elsewhere.
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
Denmark's co-operative dairies and the binding contract that held them
More from cluster 14
- 271A farmers' co-operative dairy in the hill country selling cheese and yoghurt under its own brand
- 272Buffalo-milk mozzarella and ghee for the hotels and for export
- 273Fruit and vegetable drying: mango, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit and okra as premium snacks and soup mixes for Europe and the Gulf
- 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at ten times the commodity price
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearable
- 277Mushroom farms supplying the hotels, since most are still imported
Idea 274 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.