The spice industry was valued at $16 billion in 2019. The demand for freshness and quality has continued to grow steadily as the soup and gourmet food demand becomes a lifestyle in many countries. In Kenya for instance, demand for spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger have become extremely popular. This popularity continues to grow as families demand savoury taste in their dishes.
Packaging your own combination of herbs and various spices and selling them is a rewarding venture. Business enthusiasts say that the cost of starting herb and spice business is roughly between $2,000 and $10,000. The cost notwithstanding, this venture can be run from the confines of your home to reduce startup costs.
A smart entrepreneur understands that a profitable venture goes beyond registering and getting a license to run your business. Having a well laid plan is key to amassing profits. A plan is essential because it will help you map out unique attributes of your business. Below are some of the strategies to help you run a successful spice business;
- Bottling and Labeling
You can buy ready-made plastic bottles and design a unique label for your spices. Depending on your budget, mason jars work perfectly when it comes to storing and labelling your seasoning. The glass bottles look neater and more professional as compared to plastic bottles. If you are targeting upscale customers, stay away from plastics.
Moreover, your label should have a business logo, the name of the seasoning, main ingredients used, which food one can cook with the spices and an allergen disclaimer. This information is important as it helps a customer to determine whether or not your spice is compatible with their health needs.
2. Purchasing Supplies in Bulk
Try and strike deals with special herb and spice farmers. This will help you make purchases in bulk for your seasoning needs. Big tip when choosing a preferred supplier, compare prices with other farmers with the same product. This helps you save on finances as you can buy more for less and even ask for discount on large orders.
3. Make Unique Recipes
To start you off, limit the number of your seasoning variety to range between 5 and 10. This gives you room to perfect mixing, measurements and labelling. In business, being a Jack of all trades is a sure way to run you off entrepreneurship. Hence, working with a small number of seasoning varieties will give you room to learn and relearn issues to deal with spices.
4. Provide Samples and Create Opportunities to Taste Test
To have a smooth breakthrough, you need to be in a position to go out and seek patronage from your prospective customers. Come up with opportunities for people to taste meals cooked with your spices. You can host a luncheon and make all meals using your tasty spices. As your guest eat and ask you the secret to such sweet meals, encourage them to purchase your seasoning.
Consequently, you can set up a booth at your favourite mall and package your spices into small packaging for give away. Include your phone number and necessary location details on how they can access the product should they happen to like it.
5. Advertise Your Products
In this digital disruption era, you don’t want to invest in write ups and fliers. You can instead decide to print recipe cards and post pictures of your meal on cooking groups in social media. This is the easiest and cost-free mode of marketing your products.
Additionally, create a social media profile to engage your online customers. This way, prospective clients know you are an authentic business set to do legitimate business. For customers not on social media, write a small recipe book and encourage your acquaintances to share with friends and family with a promise of amazing discounts with each referral.
6. Utilise Digital Marketing
Still on having a vibrant digital presence, get in touch with professionals to help you create a website with user friendly options on how to place online orders. With your already established social media profile, post a link to your website every now and then to create buzz about ‘dialling a spice’.
Grab your customers’ attention by creating posts that offer product discount to attract new customers and create food recipes on your blog section to retain old customers. With such a vibrant digital marketing strategy, your seasoning business will grow exponentially.
