Food Consumption Patterns Part 2

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in large plastic bags of 40 or 60 individual bags, each of which retails for 5 gourdes (US $0.11 or
1 Haitian dollar or HTD). Given those quantities, distributors said they would need a margin of 10
to 20 gourdes per 40- to 50-bag case or sack, and their client would need to a margin of 50 gourdes
per case or sack (see Table 3).
This is consistent with reported
margins for other snacks.
Marche Ti Tony, for example,
reported a 3% margin for cases
of cookies such as Salix, which it
purchases for US $14.75 and
sells for US $15.25 (one case has
17 sleeves, each with 6
individual packets of cookies),
and Casino (a case has 21 sleeves
of 6 individual packs of cookies),
which it buys for US $17 and
sells for US $17.50. Its margin
on cheese puffs is 10% (purchase
Table A14-4: Restocking rates for top-selling snacks
Snack type and top 3 brands
Ave. units
purchased
Days to
restocking
Cookies (n=40)
1-Maxi (n=22)
2-Tempo (n=9)
215 13
3-Casino (n=4)
Crackers (n=41)
1-Bongou (n=12)
2-Coctel (n=12)
305 12
3-Guarina (n=9)
Chikos (n=38)
1-Chiritos (n=17)
2-M.Jumbo (n=5)
5733 14
3-Titatos (n=3)
of Mini Jumbo sack of 40 at 30 HTD (150 gourdes or US $3.26), and sells at 33 HTD (165 gourdes
or US $3.59). The retailer sells each of the 40 bags at 5 gourdes, making 200 gourdes for a margin
of 21% (before factoring in transport and loading/unloading costs). Similarly, Chiritos are
purchased at US $3.50 and sold at US $3.50, but the manufacturer (Stanco) offers Ti Tony a
promotion, providing 100 cases free for every 1,000 purchased, again 10%. Kay Salem reported
receiving the same promotion, but sweetening the deal further by purchasing at 30 HTD and selling
at 31 HTD, for a total margin of 13%. Varyete depot in Croix-des-Bouquets reported receiving no
promotion for a competing brand, but purchased the 40-bag sack at 30 HTD and selling at 35 HTD
(17%). The profit breakdowns reported on cookies and crackers in Mirebalais, Hinche, Verrettes
and Saint-Marc followed similar patterns, with margins of 2% to 3% reported on sales of cases of
the best-selling cookies and crackers from wholesalers to retailers. For Bongu salted crackers, for
example, a wholesaler who purchased a case of 40 sleeves with 12 packets each for 180 HTD
would sell it for 185 HTD (3% margin). A second tier wholesaler/retailer could then sell the 40
individual sleeves of 12 packets for 5 HTD each (200 HTD total, for a gross profit of 15 HTD or
8%). The individual packets of crackers were sold at the rate of two for 5 gourdes (or 1 HTD).
This brings 6 HTD per sleeve, for a gross profit of 1 HTD (20%) per sleeve.
Summary
Tier 1 margins describe the mark-up charged by a high-volume distributor in Port-au-Prince. Tier
2 describes the mark-up for a buyer who then sells the case by selling the sleeves within the case,
which typically hold six to 12 packets of cookies or crackers (this step is absent with Chiritos and
other cheese puffs, which are sold in large plastic bags containing 40 or 60 individual bags).