KENYA · GUIDE 0105 · EDITION 4.2
Garlic paste production in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Kitchens wanting a measured preparation ingredient. The offer to test is: Produce garlic paste through a validated food process.
Build garlic paste around a kitchen's use and delivery arrangement within an exact validated formulation, rather than improvising preservation to suit more distant customers.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Cost a small approved-process batch and ask cooks about texture, portioning and delivery.
The purpose of this test is to establish whether the buyer accepts the specified result, delivery arrangement and payment terms. An encouraging interview does not establish repeat demand. Ask what the buyer currently uses, what would make them change supplier and who has authority to approve the first order. Record a refusal as carefully as an enquiry so that unsuccessful offers do not disappear from the evidence.
Collect evidence specific to this offer
Record garlic source, approved formulation reference, peeled yield, packed quantity and buyer feedback, flagging recipe or distribution revisions for competent review before repeat supply.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Have cooks assess texture, portion removal and flavour in their usual recipe, while competent support reviews the exact process and packaging independently of taste preference. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Build garlic paste around a kitchen's use and delivery arrangement within an exact validated formulation, rather than improvising preservation to suit more distant customers. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Offer a clearly specified sample and written handling instructions supported by process validation. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Do not assume that garlic in oil or an airtight jar is shelf-stable. |
Decide whether to continue
Review the specification with the buyer before committing to tools or stock. A trial is commercially useful only if actual costs, rejected work, time spent and cash collected can be reconciled. Adding ingredients or changing containers to reduce cost can create an unreviewed product, so approval of one process cannot justify arbitrary later production changes.
If a buyer changes the required output, record a new scope and re-cost the test. Do not count a request for a different product as proof of demand for the original one. Keep personal contact details in your private records and use customer statements publicly only with permission.
Turn the example into a buyer test
Fictional garlic-paste trial for a restaurant buyer: one hundred 200 g sealed packs, twenty accepted kilograms, made from 24 kg documented garlic bulbs under a qualified food specialist's process. Four kg peel/sort/process difference is invented and must be replaced by weighing. Single-ingredient garlic only; no oil, water, acid or preservative is improvised. Storage temperature, distribution conditions and use-by must be validated for the exact process/pack before sale; this is not an ambient-preserved garlic recipe.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | No production for sale until actual storage/use-by, handling and release controls exist. |
| Output to inspect | Buyer receipt confirms required conditions; suspect or temperature-deviated product is held for qualified disposition. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | Paste weighs more than peeled garlic input |
Ask the buyer to describe one acceptable and one unacceptable result. Record the decision maker, price basis, quantity, handover point and payment date privately. A sample request, an encouraging conversation and an accepted order are different evidence. Keep the first commitment within your demonstrated capacity; no customer interview or successful trial is asserted here.
What a failed test should change
Check water/additive entries and scale tare. If the offer cannot meet that check, revise the specification or process before promising a repeat. Keep rejected offers and reasons in the same register as positive replies so that your record does not exaggerate demand.