A new digital marketplace is giving Aussie producers a new home to connect with consumers seeking food and beverage products grown or made in their own backyard.
The website Fair Foodie has arrived with a mission to celebrate Australia’s diverse food and beverage producers through an interactive platform, bringing farmers, chefs, providores, brewers, winemakers and other artisans together with local-loving consumers to help Australian businesses flourish.
Fair Foodie is the brainchild of Lisa Papallo who always wanted to launch a similar platform to highlight Australia’s regional food and beverage producers, but with necessary restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Australia, noticed farmers markets and their stallholders doing it tough. So she fast-tracked her plans to launch the service.
“Shopping local is very important to me, but with the temporary closing of my local farmers market during the pandemic, I didn’t have a place to purchase the usual pantry essentials I loved and that I knew were grown or made in my local area,” Papallo said. “Through Fair Foodie I’ve been able to connect with small, independent business owners – from dairy farmers through to brewers and food truck operators – all with immense passion about the products they make, but little by way of online or bricks and mortar storefronts. I saw this as a new opportunity to showcase these producers all in one place, giving them the opportunity to connect with more consumers and sell their goods.”
The Fair Foodie platform allows vendors to sign up, free of charge, and create their own personalised digital shopfront. Each profile features images, videos, descriptions, products and pricing managed completely by the vendor. Vendors also have the opportunity to list and promote their own events.
Papallo’s goal was to make the onboarding process simple for any producer without any lengthy application or approval process, regardless of how big or small the business was. “Many of these producers may not have experience building a digital storefront, so we want to make the process as easy and quick as possible to connect them with the Fair Foodie shopper. Rather than spending weeks or months building an expensive website, a small business can now have their own customised digital storefront within an hour,” Papallo said.
In terms of selling products through the platform, producers have the option of directing customers to their own web stores or, for a nominal 5% processing fee, utilise Fair Foodie’s secure shopping platform (powered by PayPal) for shoppers to place orders directly. All fulfilment is managed through the vendors on the platform, giving them the freedom to choose their preferred delivery service and timeframes. -more“ Fair Foodie gives producers complete control over how their products are sold and delivered,” Papallo said.
By cutting out the middleman and standard shipping charges, more profit goes into the pockets of producers. Major delivery platforms in Australia have recently come under fire for charging upwards of 35% commission fees to restaurants using their delivery services. And in the retail sector, stock quantities and margins required to be on the shelves of Australia’s major grocery outlets may be unattainable for most of most small, independent producers.
“The control of delivery by vendors on the site ensures that no hidden charges are worn by either the producer or consumer – putting more money in producers pockets and giving these business owners a fair go,” Papallo said. At launch, the Fair Foodie platform currently hosts approximately 25 producers across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, featuring a breadth of retailers from restaurants, food trucks, farm-fresh produce and cafes to kombucha makers, non-alcoholic spirits and baked goods.
Producers across Australia are invited to join Fair Foodie to host their own digital storefront. Any business based in Australia, creating Australian goods in the food or drinks industry, are welcome to join. In the coming weeks, Fair Foodie will announce its public launch, inspiring consumers to join the site and support local Australian businesses, local jobs, and their local community.
Interested vendors should visit www.fairfoodie.com.au and select ‘List Your Business’ to sign up today.
