Developing a certifiable standard for Nordic caviar
Russian caviar is considered one of the finest delicacies in the world. The industry is huge and is
often referred to as „the black gold“, by fishermen and exporters around the Caspian Sea.
Russian sturgeon caviar has built a worldwide reputation in a way that the product itself has
become a “brand “. The Nordic countries have traditional experience in producing caviar from
different fish such as: salmon, trout, capelin, lumpfish, vendace, and burbot. But the Nordic
countries haven’t managed to put its caviar on the map in the same way as the Russians have.
The Nordic caviar is simply a commodity and it has no particular outstanding reputation to go
along with the label stating which fish it is from. How can we make our caviar be more than just
a commodity and earn a recognizable quality stamp to build a reputation on the world markets?
Let us look at what the Russians did. There is an important endorsement that goes along with
the Russian caviar that makes it fetch premium prices. It is not difficult to find sturgeon caviar at
moderate prices from several exporters, even from Russian vendors. But the important
classification that must go along with Russian caviar in order to be “real” Russian caviar is the
constituent “quality control” stamp: CIBPO (a cooperative from soviet time, now JSC Russian
Caviar on exported products). The best way to understand it, is to see it as an „iso 9000“
certification of the Russian caviar, that guarantees that the product meets certain minimum
quality and manufacturing process requirements - for instance.: harvesting, handling, cleaning,
salting, canning etc. No fine restaurant in the world, with any reputation and respect for itself
will touch Russian sturgeon caviar without the cooperative’s quality seal on the tin.
STATE OF THE ART
The Russians have basically had a virtual monoply in this market for over a century. Only
recently (post Soviet break up), the Iranian and Kazhakstan producers have tried to gain market
from the Russians. They have to some extent succeeded, however they have not really managed
to build it into a solid "brand" and diversified "experience" such as the tradition and style
associated with Russian caviar. And in relation to competition with the Nordic producers, the
Iranian and Kazhakstan caviar is also concentrated on the sturgeon species.
I NNOVATION POTENTIAL / NOVELTY
This project adheres to the classical innovation principle of “adding value to a basic commodity
product”, through quality control, branding, and diversifying it into a new customer experience.
No alliance of fish processors have made a unified "seal of approval" for producing caviar from
other fish species than the sturgeon, and thereby challenged the Russian oligarchy, and virtual
monopoly on luxury caviar. It is a visionary and bold attempt to pursue a completely new market
segment, and compete on the lucrative high end market of caviar, and thereby innovate the
entire Nordic caviar industry.
This makes sense, since the process before the caviar reaches the tin has an absolute effect on
the final taste. For example salmon caviar in itself can be as diverse in taste as a selection of red
wine. Salmon caviar is not simply salmon caviar. In order to create a loyal customer base our
region needs to make sure that we can present a consistent, recognizable, trustworthy, and safe
product. Another point is that Russian caviar is sold as an experience. Knowing that you are
actually eating caviar that costs a fortune per each small teaspoon that you consume is an
important part of the experience that ads to the taste. You will not get this experience unless it
has the real quality stamp on the tin. It is a little bit like wearing a perfect counterfeit copy of a
DolceGabana shirt, it just doesn’t make you as satisfied as the real thing, even if you cannot
really tell the difference.
ABSTRACT
Russian caviar has built a worldwide reputation. Nordic caviar is simply a commodity. The
Russians have basically had a virtual monopoly on this exclusive label. No alliance of fish
processors have made a unified "seal of approval" for producing caviar from other fish species
than the sturgeon, and thereby challenged the Russian oligarchy, and virtual monopoly on luxury
caviar. In order to create a loyal customer base our region needs to make sure that we can
present a consistent, recognizable, trustworthy, and safe product. We need to create a luxury
experience to go along with our Nordic caviar.
OBJECTIVES
Our goal is to develop a Nordic standard and quality seal for caviar produced in the Nordic region
and escalate Nordic caviar into a global leading and recognized brand by customers.. The project
will aim at outlining the process description from manufacturing to marketing, especially
concerning quality control, processing and to some extent a harmonization of the taste and
experience provided to the customer. This will still leave room for traders who wish to simply
compete on the commodity market, the same way that you can still buy cheaper commodity
priced sturgeon caviar from Russia in a variety of brands and manufacturers outside of the
cooperative. Historically the Russian cooperative dates back to the Tsar times, and can to some
extent be historically compared to the Scandinavian term: By Appointment to the Royal Court.