# British Import & Spanish Export



## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Hi everyone, I would love to have your views and advice. I am researching the possibility of setting up a business that would serve the expat community in France and Spain, delivering British products and then exporting French and Spanish products to be sold on a market stall. Im mainly talking food and drink products. I know there are supermarkets that sell British products but can you get everything you want?. All views welcome, negative or positive. Thanks.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I would die for a Jones Pork Pie!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Nice Hepa but the van might struggle to get to the Canaries!!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Captain Leaky said:


> Nice Hepa but the van might struggle to get to the Canaries!!!


and I think that's the point...........

if you live in an 'expat' area you probably _can_ get everything you want - those who really can't will probably be off the beaten expat track, so it's maybe not practical from your point of view


there was a poster here recently who wanted vegetarian/quorn foods - he lives on the Costa Brava 

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/122851-vegetarian-food.html


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Have you researched the cost of moving this stuff to and from the UK? These costs have to be built into the final selling price of course and if it pushes that price up too much then you wont be competitive.

As said, most things are easily got here anyway now if you know where to go


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Captain Leaky said:


> Nice Hepa but the van might struggle to get to the Canaries!!!


I know. Don't know about the rest of Spain, but proper English or Danish bacon is hard to find. Also Colemans Mustard, Paxo stuffing, Oxo cubes, Malt Vinegar, Proper Tea bags, Heinz salad cream, Herrings, mind you having said all that I'm probably in the remotest location in the whole Spanish territory.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Hepa said:


> I know. Don't know about the rest of Spain, but proper English or Danish bacon is hard to find. Also Colemans Mustard, Paxo stuffing, Oxo cubes, Malt Vinegar, Proper Tea bags, Heinz salad cream, Herrings, mind you having said all that I'm probably in the remotest location in the whole Spanish territory.


most of those are available in our local _Spanish _supermarket!!


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Thanks xabiachica for your views.

There is a massive difference between the Spanish mainland and the Canaries but maybe Spain might be too far, certainly to begin with, I have seen this business work in France.

Vegetarian food in Spain, good idea, i know from experience there isn’t much/any veg food in Spain.

Do you live in an expat community, do you buy British products, do you miss any British products.

I can see bringing back French & Spanish produce a winner, i live near to a posh market town and can see that going down well.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> most of those are available in our local _Spanish _supermarket!!


or (God help me) Iceland


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Stravinsky said:


> or (God help me) Iceland


and probably cheaper there


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

No i have not worked any of that out yet Stravinsky, early days, just doing a bit of market reasearch first. If there are not any products people struggle to get there is no point going any further.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I have to fly to Gran Canaria, just to eat soused herrings, its all jamon serrano, chorizo, and papas arrugadas with mojo sauce here. There is a fair selection of German products here, that is because the locals think all foreigners are German. I was addressed in German today in the middle of Valverde, the guy speaking to me may have learnt a couple of new English words:focus:


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Captain Leaky said:


> No i have not worked any of that out yet Stravinsky, early days, just doing a bit of market reasearch first. If there are not any products people struggle to get there is no point going any further.



I think there may be products, but maybe not enough
Then you have to advertise it, get to expats so they know you are there, but then you have to get the product to them from wherever you have imported it to.

I think quite possibly you are a little too late I'm afraid, its all been done already


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Are you going to compete with all the mail order sites on the web? 

Plus you have to worry that at some point Amazon.uk will start shipping food abroad. 

Of course there is the old joke about hockey in LA.

There are 500,000 Canadians in LA so hockey will do great.

Problem is 499,000 of them left Canada because they hate hockey -)


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Stravinsky said:


> I think there may be products, but maybe not enough
> Then you have to advertise it, get to expats so they know you are there, but then you have to get the product to them from wherever you have imported it to.
> 
> I think quite possibly you are a little too late I'm afraid, its all been done already


You could be right Stravinsky, im just trying to think of a career change, without working for someone else as i have ran my own plumbing company for a long time now,knees are starting to creak.


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

I get you Nick


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Few English expats here, we are two of the five English residents.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Welcome back Captain Leaky, we have missed you! 

But I'm afraid there is nothing I need that I can't get locally or on Amazon. 

"There isn't much vegetarian food in Spain" - apart from some of Europe's finest fruit and vegetables? 

Someone on here recently expressed a craving for non-meat burgers and hot dogs. But I can't imagine there would be enough non-vegetable-eating vegetarians around to warrant bringing over a van-load.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

We live a fair way from most *groups* of expats but there are a few around. There are a couple of British-food shops plus there is Iceland (shop not country). In addition there are a couple of people running vans to and from UK.

We have just had some Sainsbury's Red Label teabags (apparently, according to SWMBO, they are the best for iced-tea [yuk]) brought from Uk at €13.75 for two of the 240bag size - cost of goods in UK £7.38 €8.15). So you would have to compete on price.


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

Like everyone else, I have no wish to crush your idea,but I would urge you to think it through. Do you have a customer base at both ends? Where are the outlets going be? Are you only going to ship dry goods or chilled/frozen as well? What size of vehicle would you use? (if Overseas/Iceland can put 2 44tonne refridgerated trailers here per week and afford to run them back empty, how can you compete with their prices?)


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## GUAPACHICA (Jun 30, 2012)

Captain Leaky said:


> Thanks xabiachica for your views.
> 
> I can see bringing back French & Spanish produce a winner, i live near to a posh market town and can see that going down well.


Hi - I used to live near a genuine English market town, very well supplied with high quality foodstuffs, mostly either very local or from the surrounding area. A friend has a wonderful stall in the regular food market - selling only Spanish olives and olive oils - along with generous tastings of each! The stall itself was especially commissioned for the purpose, craftsman- designed and constructed - so very attractive. The owner spends part of every year travelling through Spain, meeting the producers, tasting their products and choosing those she wishes to sell! (I've told her she has an almost perfect lifestyle, lol!). 

All those olives and oils are from small producers - and as 'organic' as possible - an absolute requirement for anyone hoping to impress potential customers in that particular food market! She also sells these products in other similar venues, within her area. Farmers' markets and country fairs are proving very lucrative - she now has many repeat customers, always keen to hear more about the producers concerned, and, of course, my friend has visited every one, so can give detailed, first-hand descriptions of the farms, the growers and the processes involved - supported by photos, and even video clips, on her notebook computer!

I would love to set up a similar enterprise - but couldn't bear to live back in the UK - even with long trips, each year, to Spanish olive farms and co-operatives! What do you think?

GC.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Proper chillies can be hard to find - the Spanish (here anyway) hate chillies (and lamb - no connection) so we now grow our own. A lot of fresh herbs readily available in UK cannot be found here and I'm not talking about corriander, basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley etc, I'm talking about things like fresh dill, lemon thyme etc (you have to taste my home-made lemon thyme ice-cream to properly understand my yearning although we have recently discovered lemon verbena which can be grown here so we are going to try that), decent oregano. There ius an excellent herb and spice stall in the covered market in Malaga but we are so busy at the moment we can't afford the time to get to it (which is curious considering I am spending more than half of my time cooking). Anyway, back to topic, my point is that on a positive note there is ALWAYS something that people need especially things that they don't realise they need. I saw a story on BBC news this morning (web) about a practically bankrupt guy who came up with the idea of wristbands that lit up in time to the music at rock concerts etc. Coldplay liked them and used them first at a concert in Madrid and now he's made a fortune. Not my idea of fun but good luck to him. Market research is essential but as I always say on these threads, whatever your idea, be prepared to change it 100% to something that works!! Keep on researching and just maybe you'll come up with a winner....


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Talking about Lamb.

The lambs here are killed before the leave their mothers and start eating grass, consequently they are very tiny and extremely expensive. Whereas the lambs in Yorkshire are not slaughtered until the are one year old, they are a lot bigger and far cheaper.

I suggested to a farmer friend, in Yorkshire, that he should form a co-operative and try to export his lambs to the Canary Islands, he resisted preferring his traditional methods and lower prices.

I used to eat in a restaurant in Yorkshire, Trio of Lamb, consisting of three huge lamb chops, mint sauce, new potatoes, and fresh veg, I told a restaurant owner here, he thought it was a brilliant idea, alas the only chops here are very tiny and come from of all places New Zealand, and are expensive.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

thrax said:


> I'm talking about things like fresh dill, lemon thyme etc (you have to taste my home-made lemon thyme ice-cream to properly understand my yearning although we have recently discovered lemon verbena which can be grown here so we are going to try that), decent oregano.


We don't have dill but we have wild fennel everywhere in early spring, which is almost as good. You can harvest the new fronds and freeze them in ice-cube trays.

Lemon thyme plants can often be found in garden centres, and can be kept going for years if you're careful. It's wonderful in tomato sauce, substituted for ordinary thyme, with delicate flavoured things like aubergines. Ice cream sounds amazing!

Decent oregano - great bunches of it hanging from the ceiling in our local greengrocers!

For chillies, the hottest I've found is dried guindillas. They come in little jars in the spices section in Mercadona. You can also put them in a jar of oil to flavour it and use it to brush round the edges of pizzas.

Sorry Cpt Leaky, your thread has been hijacked into yet another foodie thread


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I still haven't found oregano that tastes anything like the variety I used to get in UK. Fennel is a good substitute for dill but sometimes it just isn't right. I've never seen lemon thyme in any of the garden centres here and we've been to dozens. Just lemon verbena. We can get Scotch Bonnet chillies but their use is a bit limited and they don't really have the flavour of a decent bird's eye chilli or a chipotle. Jalapeños I find a little bitter in flavour and again are limited in use; I even tried soaking them in a sweet, local olive oil for three months but it didn't do much good. However, I am not worried, as many friends visiting have brought me a huge supply of all kinds of chillies which I blanch and then freeze. I've got literally thousands of the little bu%%ers. Stock cunes are another gripe of mine. Most professional kitchens use them and only the top ones bother to keep different kinds of stocks boiling away. I make stock whenver I have bones left over from practically anything and reduce it until when it cools it turns to a jelly (the marrow setting point) and then freeze it. But I simply won't use Spanish cubes as they seem to be packed with more salt than the red sea. Just Buillon (probably spelt incorrectly) are by far the best but I will use Knorr if I can get them although not ideal.


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Alcalaina said:


> Welcome back Captain Leaky, we have missed you!
> 
> But I'm afraid there is nothing I need that I can't get locally or on Amazon.
> 
> ...


Thank you Alcalaina but enough of the sarcasm, I'm sure you have not missed me .

I should have made myself clear, when I said Vegetarian I meant the false meat products.

Now think carefully are you sure there isn’t anything that you can’t get locally and surely you would rather support a small company over the global dominance of Amazon.


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

GUAPACHICA said:


> Hi - I used to live near a genuine English market town, very well supplied with high quality foodstuffs, mostly either very local or from the surrounding area. A friend has a wonderful stall in the regular food market - selling only Spanish olives and olive oils - along with generous tastings of each! The stall itself was especially commissioned for the purpose, craftsman- designed and constructed - so very attractive. The owner spends part of every year travelling through Spain, meeting the producers, tasting their products and choosing those she wishes to sell! (I've told her she has an almost perfect lifestyle, lol!).
> 
> All those olives and oils are from small producers - and as 'organic' as possible - an absolute requirement for anyone hoping to impress potential customers in that particular food market! She also sells these products in other similar venues, within her area. Farmers' markets and country fairs are proving very lucrative - she now has many repeat customers, always keen to hear more about the producers concerned, and, of course, my friend has visited every one, so can give detailed, first-hand descriptions of the farms, the growers and the processes involved - supported by photos, and even video clips, on her notebook computer!
> 
> ...




Great input GUAPACHICA :clap2: 

You have got my brain thinking.
Love the concept.In fact love it so much i will have to get back to you as i want to get on with some research.


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Alcalaina said:


> We don't have dill but we have wild fennel everywhere in early spring, which is almost as good. You can harvest the new fronds and freeze them in ice-cube trays.
> 
> Lemon thyme plants can often be found in garden centres, and can be kept going for years if you're careful. It's wonderful in tomato sauce, substituted for ordinary thyme, with delicate flavoured things like aubergines. Ice cream sounds amazing!
> 
> ...


Hey food away Alcalaina


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

Keep it coming people, really enjoying everyones input.


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## Captain Leaky (Jun 22, 2011)

GUAPACHICA

Any chance of more information, you can e-mail me at [email protected].
Eg what part of the country does your friend sell in etc


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