Local Foods creates online farmers markets

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A startup software company in Eugene is building connections between organic food farms and consumers, and its new online tool — an organic food aggregator — could have implications for food delivery worldwide.

The company, Local Food Marketplace, was formed by Eugene software developer Doug Frazier and Mazzi Ernandes, a farmer and baker. It launched its proprietary e-commerce software in April 2008 by setting up a virtual farmers’ market at www.EugeneLocalFoods.com. Since then, it has attracted 12 partner websites in the United States and Canada.

“They had this idea to create this online farmers’ market, essentially, that would allow farmers to not have to stand at a farm stand for eight hours and waste stuff that goes bad while it sits out in the sun,” said Amy McCann, director of sales and marketing for Local Food Marketplace.

Through the Eugene Local Foods website, organic farmers within 100 miles could instead post available fare once a week, along with details about growing practices. Shoppers make purchases from a variety of vendors, who sell everything from wheat and vegetables to dairy products and pet food.

Once a week buyers and sellers converge on one of two places in Eugene — Ernandes’ Hideaway Bakery and Ninkasi Brewing Co. — where staff for Eugene Local Foods assembles the farmers’ deliveries into customers’ orders.

Farmers and buyers both say they like the model, which provides shoppers with greater access to locally grown organic food while also allowing farmers to cut back on driving time for deliveries, staffing levels at markets and product waste.

Shoppers, said McCann, “love being able to create their weekly shopping list with their recipes in front of them. They like being able to buy dairy, meat and vegetables — pretty much all local products — in one place.”

Jennifer Olsen, owner of The Mushroomery, a 14-acre farm in Lebanon, Ore., said the model is also saving time and resources on her farm.

“At first I thought it was just one more thing I would have to do on the computer, but it was so easy,” she said. “It takes just a couple minutes to list what you have for the week.”

Olsen said it’s just as quick to fill the orders using the website. Farmers are provided with simple checklists, and drop-offs are quick and hassle-free, with payments sent later by mail.

“I just check my order in the morning and then just run up and deliver it,” she said.

Olsen said it gives her peace of mind to know that customers will be satisfied with the food they receive when they order through Eugene Local Foods.

She said the site has also helped her reach out to customers that don’t usually attend farmers’ markets — typically people with busy families or who have other difficulties, such as disabilities, that impede their ability to get to markets.

McCann has been so enamored with the success of Eugene Local Foods that in 2009, when she was just a customer, she approached Frazier and Ernandes about licensing their software to other communities.

Since then, McCann has joined the company as its sales and marketing director (and third full-time employee) and the model has gained steam fast.

Partner sites run by licensees have popped up in five other Oregon locations — Corvallis, Bend, Aurora, the Rogue Valley and the Southern Willamette Valley. Seven other partners have pushed the concept east to North Carolina, north to Alberta, Canada, and south to San Benito County in California. New sites are being planned in Maui, Hawaii, and Lake County, Calif. Other potential partners are also making inquiries.

“Our goal is to have about 15 or 20 by the end of the year and then double again next year,” said Frazier.

Meanwhile, sales through the Eugene Local Foods site are doubling annually, now as high as 100 orders a week. While Frazier, Ernandes and McCann say it’s a labor of love — none are taking a salary from the business — Local Food Marketplace is angling toward future profits by garnering 2 percent to 3 percent of revenue from partner sites.

A busy week of 100 orders, which average about $30 each, brings $3,000 through the Eugene site. Sales in Edmonton — Alberta’s capital — often reach $9,000 during a busy week. In Santa Cruz, Calif., the site does about $6,000 per week when busy.

Frazier said the company aims to grow worldwide while revolutionizing the food industry one website at a time. Concerned with the health impacts of agribusiness and genetically modified foods, and with fuel consumption associated with agribusiness, Frazier said there are social and ecological benefits to helping people build community around local food.

“The cool thing about it is it’s a way for technology to actually create local revenue,” he said. “It really is helping out the local farmers and the people in each community, and we can do that without actually having to be in each community.”

Lee van der Voo, lvdvoo*at*gmail.com, is a freelance writer for Sustainable Business Oregon.