Our client, Spice It Up, is a Cape Town-based company that supplies restaurants and caterers with quality authentic Indian spices. It was founded as a small business in 2007 and has grown into a large company that supplies a wide range of spices and related products to the catering industry. By collaborating with one of Mumbai’s biggest spice exporters, they have been able to grow into a successful business. Read more about Spice It Up and their journey to getting where they are now, as well as what they have learned about importing and exporting to and from South Africa.
1. Can you please share a bit of background information about your business?
I was in IT for most of my life, and owned a business that specialised in IT training, software development, and network installation and support. I started a small spice outlet. In 2010 I left the IT industry to focus on growing the spice business into a household brand. We moved to bigger premises and increased the range to cover all spices, grains and related items.
Three years later I met one of the biggest spice exporters from Mumbai who was visiting South Africa and we became good friends. He started developing a wide range of our own branded spices in new packaging and sent a container down to us. This took off, but we would run out of certain items that we would then have to wait months to restock because we could not just order one or two items, which created a problem. A few years later we diversified and focused on four specific spices and imported only those in bulk. We would total 21 tons per container and then supplied bulk packers and blenders in the Western Cape. Focusing on a few items allowed us to capture a very niche market, allowed us to grow and become known as leaders in that particular range. We have also been supplying restaurants and caterers over the years, and pride ourselves in the quality of spices that we sell.
2. Which countries do you export to or import from?
We have been importing from India for the last 12 years, and we export to Namibia and St Helena Islands (through an export buying agent).
3. When did you realize your business was ready for exporting/importing? What were the key indicators?
We started off originally just with retail, we have a store in Goodwood, Cape Town.
When I met one of the biggest spice exporters in Mumbai in 2013, he guided and assisted us in importing specific spices from Mumbai. Him being the leading manufacturer of certain items allowed us to be a small extension of his business in South Africa catering for a niche market.
4. Can you share some tips for finding and researching international markets for export, or international suppliers for import? Where did you find your best leads?
There are a lot of food fairs that take place, you should attend them to see what is happening with the rest of the market.
Finding the right supplier for you is important. I won’t change suppliers as ours has been supplying us for the last 12 years.
5. What was your biggest initial fear or concern about exporting/importing, and how did you address it?
I was concerned about doing the licensing for importing and exporting, exchange rates and having the right clearing agent, and that is where Import Export License came in.
6. Did you encounter any unexpected obstacles, and how did you adapt?
Some of the major obstacles we had initially were Customs holding our containers for inspection. We sat with our clearing agent, and he said if we import more than two containers a year from the same supplier then customs don’t need to inspect them each time.
Reducing costs was another problem as we had to pay a R5,000.00 security deposit to Customs for the container to be sealed and sent to our agent’s premises. The clearing agent then had to contact the Customs official to come and do the inspection, which was an added cost of R450.00. After that the security deposit was paid back in 3 months.
7. Did you attend trade shows or participate in international business development programs? If so, can you mention any that were helpful?
I attended trade shows, but did not attend any international business development programs.
8. What advice do you have for aspiring exporters or importers in South Africa?
Be patient and build a good relationship with your supplier.
