Mini mail order spice business?

May 29, 2006
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Wondering if anyone would be interested in getting hard to find spices by mail order shipped within the country. I have a Dominican friend in the spice business now and I looking for ways for her to expand her product line and client base. Right now she packs and sells the little packs you see in small colmados, but it's a lot of work since she vends directly to the shops who often want credit.

For example, I brought down a sealed pack of American style breakfast sausage seasoning, enough for 25 pounds of pork, the same sold to supermarkets in the US for store made sausage. She could repack it into 25 small bags then sell for 30-45(?) pesos each, or five bags for five pounds for say 100-150pesos each. I can source any spice to ship to her in any volume, restaurant grind pepper, seasoning for Italian Sausage(Hot or Mild), Curries, Chili Powder... anything. I have online sources for bulk spices, a lot fresher than what's here, and much cheaper than retail in small bottles.

What spices are especially hard/impossible to find? My list would include OldBay, Montreal Steak Seasoning and >good< Chili Powder to start with, but I really don't know what's hard to find anymore. I think there's a market in expat businesses as well, for example Celery Salt for Caesar's.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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Wondering if anyone would be interested in getting hard to find spices by mail order shipped within the country. I have a Dominican friend in the spice business now and I looking for ways for her to expand her product line and client base. Right now she packs and sells the little packs you see in small colmados, but it's a lot of work since she vends directly to the shops who often want credit.

For example, I brought down a sealed pack of American style breakfast sausage seasoning, enough for 25 pounds of pork, the same sold to supermarkets in the US for store made sausage. She could repack it into 25 small bags then sell for 30-45(?) pesos each, or five bags for five pounds for say 100-150pesos each. I can source any spice to ship to her in any volume, restaurant grind pepper, seasoning for Italian Sausage(Hot or Mild), Curries, Chili Powder... anything. I have online sources for bulk spices, a lot fresher than what's here, and much cheaper than retail in small bottles.

What spices are especially hard/impossible to find? My list would include OldBay, Montreal Steak Seasoning and >good< Chili Powder to start with, but I really don't know what's hard to find anymore. I think there's a market in expat businesses as well, for example Celery Salt for Caesar's.

i consider myself to be one of the spice guys on this island. my apartment looks like a spice cupboard. you name it, i have it. i get it all by shipping it in. there is just too much stuff you cannot get here. forget things like sage, and savory. Mopax used to do it, but stopped a while back. now it is Amazon for me.

i am not so sure that the repackaging of bulk spice would work. it is true that something like Montreal Steak Seasoning, which is cheaper than a broom abroad, sells for an arm and a leg here. Lawry?s seasoned salt, which is dirt cheap in the US, is something i would not even look for here. Old Bay is on the shelves, but forget the price. you would be better off making your own clone version.

i once thought about getting the main ingredients for stuff like a clone of Emeril?s Essence, and selling it in small bottles. then i looked in the supermarkets, and all you can find are those saazon completo things, which are 90% salt, 5% MSG, and some black pepper. i really do not see Dominicans buying a really serious thing like Old Bay in meaningful quantities. not when you can buy a sopita cube for 5 pesos.

i have a few pounds of AC Legg on the way. this should be fun.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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If the question is would Dominicans be interested the answer would be no. Very few like food that is spicy. They believe that heavily spiced food will hurt them.

Would I be interested? The answer would be yes.

Not enough for a business.
 

jd426

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Dec 12, 2009
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Montreal Steak seasoning is very good on FISH,. all kinds of Fish.. fast and simple. Its awesome on Salmon btw.
but I also dont think the Dominican Palates are used to many different kinds of Spices from around the world.. they kind of stick to basics.. I once even had to explain what green Peppercorns in a sauce were. She says, but they are GREEN, how is that possible , so I explained De hydration vs Sun dried, etc... And she is a very good cook. I know thats not a pouch spice but just illustrates how Dominicas are not very sophisticated .They not French thats for sure.
And I dont get the whole POUCH thing.. but certainly see how those companies can make a lot of money in the DR.. Its amazing to me how Dominicans refuse to buy Larger Containers of Spices.. . but that is definitely how they do it. eventhough they cook every single day.
Someone had mentioned "they stay Fresh" in the pouches.. i guess that could be true. but i dont think its the reason.they just cant do "unit cost" in their heads..
My question would be are you going to gear this business to Americans and Canadians et al, for their Favorites or to Dominicans..
Good Idea, as a Business if you figure out what your exact bisiness model will be.. but if you give Calmados CREDIT you will be doomed before your even start .
I dont think your probem would be in SELLING them, they sell themselves, your probem will most likely be distribution and getting PAID on time.
Interesting Idea..
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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As I have stated before, "The DR is The Island that Spice Forgot". Trying to sell those spices here won't work. Here salt, sugar and cooking oil are basic food groups.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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I bring down all my own spices, and maid uses them all. Maybe I have a DDDM, lol. She calls them 'chemicos' [sp??? quimicos??].

I just packed a giant 24 oz. carton of Paul Prudhomme's Blackened RedFish Magic - good on everything.
 

DRob

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Aug 15, 2007
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There might be enough business to persuade mom-and-pop vendors in expat-heavy areas to open up a "spice rack," which is a little kiosk or corner with hard-to-find spices (and maybe hot sauces and such). I can see than going over well in SD, the East Coast and Las Terrenas in particular. Spices don't spoil overnight, and it's not hard to sell to people who get excited over finding some reasonably priced seasoning or sauce readily available in Wal Mart, but harder to source in Cabarete.

If she does it, I'd set up a booth at events that draw expats (like the Cabarete Jazz Festival), and let them 1) buy inventory and 2) know where they can get more.

I'd also think up a "home grown" dominican hot sauce or seasoning, and sell to tourists. Doesn't matter if the Dominicans themselves don't use it. Or do you think Hawaiians actually walk around with those tacky shirts and grass skirts?
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I'd also think up a "home grown" dominican hot sauce or seasoning, and sell to tourists. Doesn't matter if the Dominicans themselves don't use it. Or do you think Hawaiians actually walk around with those tacky shirts and grass skirts?

That might be an idea, but that very idea of Dominican Hot Sauce has me laughing. It would be even more "phony" than a Hawaiian shirt business in Hawaii.

That said, from a sales and marketing perspective it makes a huge difference on business volume and bottom line if the locals purchase the product.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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yahoomail.com
Supermercados National has a LOT of imported spices from around the world, American, Spanish, and Italian name brands included.
Hot Sauces too!

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DavidZ

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Aug 29, 2005
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If you're looking to DR1 as your customer acquisition base...I'm in!

I'd be most interested in: good cumin, chili powder, cayenne. cinnamon, turmeric (especially whole rhizomes), white pepper, curry, Chinese five-spice (and other Asian seasonings), Tony Chacere (Or Paul Prudhomme/Emerill type Cajun seasoning).
 

chic

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Nov 20, 2013
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remember variety is the "spice"of life....ill take two of each...and do you have any salt...or forget that it already comes in the ketchup... but what about "pepper" do they have a lemonpepper???
 
May 29, 2006
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There's a wholesale warehouse in her town that literally has tons of each colmado product. If she can be become a supplier for them she could up her income tenfold and then not deal with colmados trying to buy on credit from her. I did a walk through on the place last week, and my best guess is they had 40 tons just in canned milk. That's about two 20' shipping containers worth. They were offloading 20tons of flour when I was going by.

I was thinking of ex-pats and expat restaurants for the mail order gig. You don't save anything by doing your own spice blends because you buy in smaller amounts and in terms of sales, I think ppl want tried and true vs someone else's attempt to copy a recipe. I'm going to want some of the breakfast sausage blend myself by the time I leave next week. When I buy Montreal Steak Seasoning, I get it for about $6/pound wholesale. It's not the spices you pay for as much as the fancy packing for a one once jar.

I almost became a spice vendor myself about eight years ago, and the woman who offered it to me was making over $100K a year, three years into the business. She ran it out of her house and had about 1000 different products total. Now she has a real warehouse and does well over a million a year in sales. I almost went for it, but I showed a copy of her terms to a lawyer friend who said they were no good. She'd hit 25-30 restaurants a day on a four week loop with about $30 per stop and a 50% profit.
 
May 29, 2006
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I have a friend in the US with an Amazon site. I can prob piggy back my products there with delivery limited to the DR until I get my own site up and running. Aside from spices, I want run a line of USB/Bluetooth supported products I can ship down to her, and some other goodies. SO glad I had the gizmos this trip, esp the two power packs to power up my tablet. Basically, I'm wanting to market the unobtanium products that are small enough to ship from the US and the items that are marked up too much..

What's the deal with kitchen towels?? Looking for them today and I think they wanted $RD 350 for a three pack at Janet's in Cabarete. You can get same thing in a dollar store in the US..

Left this at home by accident. If you live near a BJ Wholesale, you can get them for $20. Runs for a couple hours on a charge with a Bluetooth link.

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[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RXA46N2/ref=twister_B00RZCRCF2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
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May 29, 2006
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Saw how the operation works and I'll bring in some equipment on my next trip, one of those vacuum sealers a digital scale and maybe an impulse sealer.

I'll have her break down the bulk spices into smaller units of 4oz - 16oz, then vacuum pack them in another bag. Her big goal is to be able to buy a whole 50Kg sack of the spices she buys then she'd save half of her costs. Her bags now are really simple five peso bags. I was asking why she didn't upgrade and she says it's all about speed. She can do 1000-1500 bags a day with a profit of just over a peso per bag.

One of the big spices here is Pink Salt. You add it to pork marinade.

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