§ Strategy · Pre-commercial
No-entity discovery
Landing page, waitlist, sample tastings, content. No attempt at real B2C sales yet.
- Cost band (AED, ex stock)
- 0–5,000
- Speed
- Control
- Digital fit
- Ownership
- Regulatory burden on you
§ 01 · In short
A respectable option if you haven't yet decided which path to commit to. Run a waitlist, sample tastings, chef / restaurant placements, founder content. Measure demand attribution with promo codes so it survives into the commercial phase. The trap: staying here too long — discovery without a commercial deadline becomes avoidance.
§ 02 · Pick this path if
- You're not yet ready to pick between partner-led and mainland.
- Budget under AED 15k for non-stock setup.
- You want to test brand messaging and channels before committing to SKUs.
§ 03 · Do not pick it if
- You already know which path you're going to run — stop stalling.
§ 04 · The stack
Where each operating role lands, traced from Spain to the UAE customer. The hidden risks in a UAE food launch live in this diagram — in particular in whoever owns seller-of-record and the customer data.
Spain
Your exporter entity. EORI on every shipment.
Crossing into UAE
Selling in UAE
Owning the customer
UAE customer
The end buyer. Data, loyalty, reorders — all flow from here.
§ 07 · Live open issues
Questions this path can't be fully costed without. See the full open issues log.
- How long to run discovery before committing?
- Is sample distribution via tastings legal in the chosen venues? (Usually yes for private events; verify for public.)
§ 08 · Sources cited
Compare against