Spicekit the right recipe for success

Harjeet Singh and his wife, Darshpreet Kaur, came to Canada with the goal of starting their own business. Within months of arrival, they had a growing catering business with $8,000 to $10,000 monthly earnings. Unfortunately, that’s not the business they intended to begin.

The couple engaged in the spice trade when living in India, and Darshpreet took several classes from the government to learn how to mix and grind the spices for different flavours. It was this business they intended to launch in their new home after arriving in November of 2021, but it wasn’t their spices that customers ended up loving.

“The advice we received was to start in our local community and to provide some free samples,” says Harjeet. “So, we invested $50 ($15 for the spice packets and $35 for the food) and went to our local temple to hand out free samples of dishes made with our spices. All day, we offered free samples, but we didn’t sell a single spice packet.”

However, the following day, the couple received a call asking if they could prepare food for 80 people for $1,200. They received a $600 advance, which was the start of their catering business. They made $2,000 in profit within their first 10 days of operation.

The catering business was doing well, but it wasn’t what they wanted; they weren’t satisfied. It was a lot of work, and they wanted just to sell their spices. They turned to Georges Hana, their business counsellor at Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), for advice.

“Georges was like a lighthouse in the dark ocean for us,” says Harjeet. “He was the one who suggested we make a kit of the spices for each dish so we could save time when orders came in. This made our job much easier, and it’s also where the Spicekit name came from.”

The couple decided to take their pre-made spice kits back to the community, this time through a local farmers’ market, and once again, they offered free samples. They then used the feedback from these sessions to amend the spice kits to fit local tastes.

“That’s when we started to sell our kits, and once repeat orders started coming in, we knew we were ready to enter the Canadian market. We stopped the catering side of the business,” Harjeet says. “In our first month, we sold 2,000 packets, generating $10,000 in revenue from just that one farmers’ market. Soon, we added two more farmers’ markets. We now sell at Alderney, Seaport, and the Keith Brewery.”

Ironically, the continued growth of the Spicekit business has led the couple back to serving food. They sell a limited menu through their Alderney Market location. They recently signed a 10-year lease on a new location (325 Washmill Lake Drive, Unit 5) that will be part restaurant and part marketing facility for their spice business. The new location allows Spicekit to begin supplying larger retail outlets, such as Sobeys.

“ISANS has been our guide all along,” Harjeet says. “Georges is amazing, and we’ve taken several courses through ISANS. It was ISANS that named us New Small Business of the Year at their 2023 Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards. They supported us at every step.”

Spicekit’s virtual presence at Spicekit.ca already compliments the new physical location. Being online means the couple can sell their spices across Canada without leaving Nova Scotia. Signing the lease on their new space is another sign they see Spicekit’s future being based in Nova Scotia, adding to its economic diversity and creating jobs here at home.

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