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The Chinese Caviar Mafia đ
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Finlay Williams
September 04, 2024
2 minute wacky businesses, you can tell your buddies about đ§
When you think luxury food, you might picture champagne or truffles. But there's another heavyweight in the game, caviar. When it comes to caviar, Kaluga Queen is the big fish in a very small pond. KQ controls one-third of the caviar market globally and is the world's largest distributor. I found this super interesting and I think you will tooâŠ
Source: Google Trends
Government funding and cross breeding đ§
Kaluga Queen isnât just another food company. Founded in 2003 by Hangzhou Qiandaohu Xunlong Sci-Tech Co. Ltd, with backing from the Chinese government, theyâve found the secret to mass-producing caviar at a price point that has completely edged out traditional European/Iranian/Russian producers. KQ introduced a new type of caviar by cross-breeding Beluga and Amur River Sturgeons, bringing down the cost of caviar by ignoring traditional methods. Theyâve not just disrupted the industry - theyâve rewritten the frikin rules.
99% of businesses grow by either sticking to tradition or breaking away entirely. Kaluga Queen has married the two. They took ancient Chinese aquaculture methods and paired them with modern tech, creating a process thatâs both high-tech and steeped in tradition. They then patterned these methods and started to absorb the biggest damn clients in the world.
Kaluga Queenâs Thousand Island Lake in Hangzhou (4/5 the size of Singapore)
What are the nuggets? đ
đ Origin: After the inception of the parent company, the Kaluga Queen brand was born in 2005 after CITES (a governing body that protects endangered species from mass global trade) put a restriction on farming wild caviar from the Caspian Sea (once the source of Russia + Iranâs caviar), creating an opportunity for caviar farming startups to take market share from Russia and Iran.
đ Secret Supplier to Germany: Kaluga Queen has been quietly serving as the secret supplier to many German caviar companies. While German brands slap their own labels on the tins, itâs Kaluga Queenâs caviar inside. By becoming the backbone of their competitorsâ products, Kaluga Queen has turned the industry on its head, this move paid off in a big way in 2011âŠ
đ Pivotal Moment: KQ put in their first tender for airline Lufthansa in 2009, they were rejected âPeople thought it was a joke for Chinese to produce caviarâ. In 2010 their second tender was rejected, yet by then German caviar distributors had unknowingly been using KQ products for several years but with other brands labels on the tins. In 2011 when KQâs third Lufthansa tender was rejected their German distributor came clean and told them it had been KQâs caviar the whole time. After many blind tastings and convincing, In 2018 KQ took over from the Italian caviar producer as Lufthansaâs sole supplier.
đ Big Moves: Although KQ has seemingly conquered the rest of the globe, they believe their real opportunity lies on their doorstep. âWe set up a [sales] team in Shanghai in 2007, selling only several kilograms of caviar that year, [but] last year, the figure was several tonnes. While we started in Western restaurants in Shanghai, our real target is Chinese restaurants across China, as thereâs where real sizeable growth lies,â Xia, co-founder. China has never been a huge consumer of caviar, KQ wants to change this.
đ Funding: Kaluga Queenâs relationship with the Chinese government isnât just about cash - itâs a real partnership. The governmentâs support is about a shared goal, putting China on the map in the global luxury scene. I would say theyâve been successful in that endeavour lol.
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