When you picture “locavore,” what imagery comes to mind? You probably picture someone eating a fresh, colorful array of farmer’s market vegetables, each of which are namely grown locally. At Branchfood, we love our fresh veggies just as much as anyone, but we believe being a ‘locavore’ extends beyond shopping the local farmers markets. Supporting local means supporting the entire food community, and there are so many sustainable and innovative businesses we're thrilled to work alongside of and support.
That’s why we are so excited to introduce you to our newest partnership, media-marketing firm Localvore Today! Coming soon, we will be announcing our monthly Community Table meetups through Localvore Today’s Events platform.
If you've already been attending Community Table, you can look forward to some new faces in the upcoming months. For those of you who have never been, it’s not too late to attend! Meetups are hosted on the first Thursday of each month. Community Table is for eaters, entrepreneurs, and students of food to connect and exchange ideas. A model created by Babson's Food Sol, the conversation is led by the collective for attendees to connect, share ideas, and support each other's work.
Who is Localvore Today?
At a first glance, it is easy to mistake Localvore Today for a deal’s platform similar to Groupon or Living Social. After all, the founder and CEO, Dan White, was once a Groupon employee himself. But the more Branchfood talked with Jacqueline Lachevre and Kayla Silver, Director and VP of the Localvore’s Vermont sales team, it became clear that they are in many ways the antithesis of Groupon. As Kayla said, “Dan left Groupon because he realized it wasn’t working for small corporations. He started the idea of Localvore Today with a market that was actually told ‘no’ by Groupon or living social.”
Localvore Today takes a personalized approach as a platform for sustainable, small businesses. Dedicated to linking local merchants directly to socially engaged consumers, they work hard to tell the stories of each business they work with and provide deals and promotions for their local audience.
This was clear talking with Jacqueline and Kayla, who both referenced many regular face to face visits with the business owners they work with. They are 'locals reaching out to locals', employees who know and understand the regional market they are working in. “We use the suite of services we have to meet their [small businesses] bottom line instead of crushing it,” said Jacqueline. “It’s a conversation more than a business deal.”
Where is Localvore Today?
Localvore took root in Burlington, VT but they have been selectively growing into other cities like Portland and Chicago and soon will be in Boston. In each city, community is a key word. It is important to Localvore that dollars earned and spent within the community promote their own community.
We think it's more than fitting that they set their sights on Boston for expansion, with our ever-growing food innovation sector. “People need to know that there are amazing farms, chefs, and small business owners in Boston who are all supporting a healthier and smarter business network,” said Kayla.
How does Branchfood fit in?
What sets Localvore Today apart is the unique goal of the organization. Jacqueline described their mission as, “social impact marketing, raising the economic status of the community and keeping money in the states that we are working in."
As she said, "I think there’s a lot for us to be working together on. Food innovation is a large part of the conversation in Boston. It’s a very excitable market, and I think that everyone I have spoken with in Boston has been very enthused about interacting with consumers the way Localvore does."