When Burlap and Barrel Co-Founders Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar saw the news about Trump tariffs unfolding last week, the spice importer, which works with more than 30 countries, decided to turn its routine spring promotion into a “Tariff Sale.”
“We saw that there was an opportunity to really give our business a leg up, going into all this uncertainty,” Zohar told Retail Brew. Burlap and Barrel imports a host of spices from places like Vietnam, India, and Indonesia that have been slapped with tariffs.
Burlap and Barrel announced discounts of up to 20% across all items on its website last Thursday to run through Tuesday. Founded in 2016, Burlap and Barrel sources spices like black pepper and cinnamon from farmers around the world. The spice company supplies to both celebrity chefs and home cooks in the US.
Retailers have been pushing shoppers to buy ahead of Trump’s tariff announcements since November of last year. Some smaller and scrappy retailers started holding “pre-tariff” sales, soon after Trump won the election, asking shoppers to make purchases right away.
For Burlap & Barrel, the strategy seems to be working with sales of royal cinnamon up 500% and sales of black peppercorns up 1,000% compared to a regular day at Burlap & Barrel. “We’re seeing people ordering spices by the pound on our site,” Zohar said.
Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
The spice company, which receives shipments on a weekly, sometimes daily basis, has a shipment including ginger, garlic, onion powder, and lemongrass expected from Vietnam this week, Zohar told Retail Brew.
“This idea that a tariff is going to be borne by somebody else outside of the United States is just not true,” Zohar said. “We as an American company, Burlap and Barrel, are going to be the ones to get the bill from the US government.”
To keep spice supply chains running, Burlap and Barrel will not raise prices, instead it will pull back expansion plans; it was planning to release an advent calendar this year, but a lot of that packaging was going to come from China, so the spice manufacturer has put a hold on it. The company was also planning to add new spices to its portfolio, however, Zohar said, they’ve had to slow everything down.
“The history of spices is the history of travel around the world, is the history of things growing in other places and coming together into our kitchens to make this really global kitchen and that’s right now what’s being axed,” Frisch added.