Online Spice Business

[UnshakenNeedsStirring]

Hi, Just wanted some advice from fellow mumsnetters. I am thinking of starting an online business of selling dry spice mixes to create dishes at home. I will also have a website and video tutorials on youtube. I plan to print out the ingredients list and paste at the back of the packaging(eco friendly) with a link to the website where you can see how to create a dish. Think butter chicken, butter paneer, sag aloo, bombay potatoes etc. I plan to have a good mix of vegan, vegetarian dishes as well. Something for everyone. Plan to sell via etsy or Amazon or Ebay as well as my website. What do you think of this? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks

Anyone?

How do you plan to compete with companies like simply cook?

There are already companies that do this. Do you think there's demand for more?

I like this idea but as PP said, there are already quite a few people doing this online including some big names. One way to distinguish yourself and build a name might be to start local and sell at farmer's markets etc- if I were buying spices like this online I'd go to one of the bigger businesses but I can well imagine myself buying a spice paste or mix from a stall and would like the fact I was supporting a small business. Would this appeal at all?

Firms like Spices of india sells spices and have free recipes.
Zahda Saeed started running courses in her home, eventually published a book and now has videos on YouTube. She also had a DVD out at one point.

Hi, I was planning on doing special mixes. The ones that already exist do not use the spices we do use back home, like dried fenugreek leaves and celery seeds. The lesser known spices like Black Stone moss. All these herbs are not only delicious they are also essential to maintain a healthy body and have many ayurvedic uses as well.

Thought Spices of India had shut down? They also sold the prepacked mixes like MTR, MDH and Shaan. My spices mix will be roasted and ground to order in small quantities. Will be essentially made to order and dispatched quickly to minimise loss of flavours.

Yes, I will definitely start small. The business is essentially gong to be run from home. I dont even have a garage. I can make space in my spare room to store my spices and then roast,grind and mx them.

I dont think they are my competition. I will only be providing the spice mix for recipes and not the whole ingredients list. Most of my recipes will be quick and easy to follow. Wilt you tube videos explaining the step by step process. Takeaways are expensive and eating out even more so. But people who love food would still want to cooka nd indulge in a good tasty dish. Due to the cost of living crisis people might want to cut down on eating out, but those who still love their food will want to satisfy their urges still? I am hoping these cooks will be my client base?

A bit like the spice tailor? I like the idea but I find those very expensive so I'd buy yours if they were reasonably priced!

Crikey it sounds labour intensive, how much will you charge once you've factored in postage etc?

I think people who are really into Asian cooking use the Asian supermarkets and stock up at low prices, people who aren't as bothered but tubs of spice mixes at the supermarket.

I use The Spicery a lot and think they do this sort of thing well.

Yes but think more exciting recipes. Stuff that you cant easily buy here. But dishes like Pav Bhaji, indian street food, basically lots of veggies mashed ina n unctuous mix of butter and spices! Im sur I will be able to sell at a reasonable pice. I bought some on Amazon ,a small tin of generic spice mix for 7 quid. Was awful

Yes, I was thinking if The Spicery too. They started small but have grown a lot. I think it would be impossible for one person to offer the same range.

I will check them out. Thanks

This will not make me a millionaire. I will still have to do my day job tbh. The spices lose their flavour very quickly. The aroma of freshly ground spices is amazing and the taste is great too. I was thinking, if I keep the price at a tempting range then people might ant to try something new and make dishes to impress their friends and family. I have trailed some of my spice mixes with my friends and they all have been amazed at the aromas whilst cooking.

It sounds like a niche market you'd be catering to - people who are aware of "lesser known spices" and want to cook with them. Most people just want convenience e.g. a meal box with all the ingredients including the spices and instructions. I wouldn't want to buy the spices from you, the rest of the ingredients from somewhere else and then look on your social media for a recipe demo. It's just too much faff.
Also making up the mixes to order doesn't sound like the most efficient way of doing things.

Agree, its not efficient to make a mix of spices to order. But the whole point is to be able to give the customer a special spice blend for 1 recipe. The rest of the ingredients aren't onerous to find. Chicken, lamb or beef, or vegetables, tomatoes, and butter or oil, cream or yoghurt.

It seems like you don't have a price point in mind yet. You really need to factor in ingredients, time, wastage, postage etc. It may be that it's just not viable, no matter how wonderful the spices smell.

I do have a price point in mind. And Postage is easy to calculate online. There just isnt a big enough margin, that's all. I wouldnt be expecting thousands of orders anyway. And this will just be supplementing my income and not a business which will help me retire anytime soon.

Very similar to Simply Cook who send out a box of 4 lots of 3 spices to make a meal with your own meat and veg, there boxes cost about a tenner. They were recently bought out by Nestle. www.nestle.co.uk/en-gb/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/nestle-acquire-uk-based-recipe-company-simplycook

As a niche thing it may work. Many customers these days require you to put a step by step video of the full recipe on Youtube.
It may prove to be a lot of time and effort for teeny rewards.

Do a lot of research on your competitors.

Well tell us the price then 🤔. You've asked if anyone would use your service, but missed out the vital information on how much it would cost. How could anyone possibly say if they'd use it or not otherwise?

@PestorPeston thanks I wasn't aware of this. Will spend some time on Researching what else is out there.

Simply Cook
The Spicery
Just Spices
Spice Queen
Mama Dor
Big Bang Spices
The Spice Tailors
Mrs Bal Birsing
Spice Kitchen (my favourites)
Spice Pots
Spicentice

The list goes on - that's a quick Google for spice kits. You're going to be up against lots of competition, so you'll need to be squeaky clean for food hygiene (get your council authorities done), impeccable packaging, make sure you know exactly what you're doing with allergens, labelling etc, transportation, costs, RRP, profit margins, doing advertising or doing stalls at events etc.

You can't just make up homemade mixes and sell them without lots of additional elements in place.

TERRE EXOTIQUE sourced from farmers around the world. Note the non plastic packaging www.souschef.co.uk/collections/terre-exotique and the price points.

www.justspices.co.uk/bestsellers.html
freshlyspiced.co.uk/shop