Spice route: Logistic journey of spices in retail supply chain perspective

The aim of this paper is to report the findings of the study of the routes and the distance traveled by spices from the farming location to the consumer in traditional and organised retailing. This research study is primarily exploratory in nature, and the research instruments include interviews and survey through questionnaires with players in the spice supply chain. The study is to track the spice routes by the retailers for assessing the current state of the supply chain management practices, and evaluate 'food mileage' clocked by them. 'Food miles' is a relatively recent concept in retailing and result of this study reveals that significant increase in food miles in the case of organised retailers. Longer food miles of spices are an indicator of the shift towards organised retailing. The speed at which spices reach their destination as well as the time taken between any two points was not observed. This is the limitation of this study, and also the scope for further research. The research study is not aimed at finding the factors related to the food mileage.