Online Spices Seller Divulges Marketing Strategy for All to See

June 21, 2010 - PRLog -- Here, we have a rare peek into the marketing strategy offices of Dollar a Day Gourmet, a food savings and online spices site...

"Whatcha doin', Monk?" Pate just asked.

"I'm counting bay leaves..."

"Wow, you get all the exciting stuff to do. Why?"

"I just had to. I'm curious. McCormick Bay Leaves you get 0.18 oz for $6.29 at Shop-Rite in Bay Shore (11729). That's $34.94 an ounce! Ours are 98 cents an ounce. Are they that much better?"

"Thirty four TIMES better? They must be GOOOOOOD bay leaves..."

"Yeah, that's what I'm figurin' too. They must be like the best bay leaves EVER!"

"I'm sure that's it."

"...eighty nine, ninety, ninety one... ninety two! There! Done. Our one ounce bag of bay leaves has about 92 bay leaves in it."

"Hmmm... .18 of 92 is 16.56 bay leaves. That's 0.37983091787439613526570048309179 for each bay leaf. Like three for a buck."

"Wow. They must be REALLY good bay leaves..."

"Maybe they're really gigantic or something..."

"Nah, can't be. You know how small that .18 ounce bottle is? Besides I've used them. They just seemed like bay leaves to me... I mean they were good... but..."

"Well, maybe they've started getting some really special bay leaves?"

"This could be. But I seem to remember that they have always been sort of expensive, but I never realized HOW expensive until I realized that .18 of an ounce isn't an overwhelming number of bay leaves, as just indicated by my non-scientific and thus non-conclusive little study here.

"I mean, 16.56 bay leaves you can count on just fingers and toes..."

"Not me. I have webbed feet, remember?"

"Oops, sorry..."

"You use two bay leaves when you make a pot of beans, don't you? Isn't that one of your favorite budget saving low cost per serving recipes?"

"Yep...

Monk's Better'n Bush's Baked Beans - Stovetop style

Cost Ingredient
===== =======================================================
.79  1 pound dried great Northern beans -- soaked overnight
.10  1 teaspoon olive oil
.05  1 teaspoon onion powder
.05  1 teaspoon garlic powder
.10  1 teaspoon dried thyme
.02  1 pinch red pepper flakes
.33  1/4 cup brown sugar
.33  8 oz tomato sauce
.15  2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
.05  1 tablespoon mustard powder
1.00  1 FRESH hamhock OR some FRESH pork neck bones - not smoked. fresh is sweeter.
.03  2 DOLLAR A DAY GOURMET bay leaves
      3-4 cups of water, add more as needed

Directions: Slop everything together, add water to cover by at least 2 inches, simmer at low heat until beans are tender, four or five hours. Stir occasionally for fun. Add water as necessary.

Total cost $3.00 - 8 servings

$0.375 a serving

"Wow. The beans are 79 cents and the McCormick bay leaves would be 76 cents."

"Well, you can't skimp on bay leaves, you know. They're very important to the recipe."

"Of course they are. All I'm saying is that they must be REALLY, REALLY, R E A L L Y  good bay leaves."

"They sure must be."

"Maybe McCormick could offer three bay leaves for just 98 cents so people could feel good about the low price like ours."

"Nah, at $0.37983091787439613526570048309179 a bay leaf they'd need to charge $1.39. I mean, they must be working on an incredibly low profit margin to sell bay leaves THAT good for just 37 cents each."

"You're clearly right. Hate to see them lose money."

"Poor McCormick."

"Yeah... poor old McCormick. You know, you're pretty good at saving money and cutting costs. Maybe you could give them a few tips!"

"Nah... they probably have guys in suits workin' for 'em who figure all that stuff out in big
conference rooms with leather chairs and long fancy tables I bet. Probably got some real nice, expensive artwork on the walls, too. Not all these Elmo Machete cartoons and Kelly Choi, SteamyKitchen and Toni Trevino pictures like we got around here."

"I guess sophistication has its price."

"I guess it does at that. Face it, Pate... We're the small duck in a BIG pond when it comes to
spices..."

For more information on Dollar a Day Gourmet's 98 cent an ounce online spices, visit
http://www.dollaradaygourmet.com/Private-Label-Spices.htm.

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Dollar a Day Gourmet is the home of fantastic advice on how to save money on your food bills, innovative ideas to make life easier in the kitchen and better in the dining room, also THE place to get your very own private label spices for just 98 cents an ounce.