Up next in our Member Monday campaign is Insa Elliott, co-founder of Market 2day. Insa’s background in technology and business strategy led her and her co-founder, Stephanie Marmer, to launch a solution for making local food more accessible to Greater Boston community. The Market 2day app seeks to support the local food community and bolster sustainability by giving farmers a direct-to-consumer (DTC) delivery platform and allowing consumers to shop small.

Continue reading to learn more about Insa’s insights on making healthy, fresh, and local food easily accessible and don’t forget to check out her Instagram takeover on our Member Monday highlight! 

Market 2day strives to make local foods more accessible and convenient. Why is it so important to eat locally, for individuals and for the community? 

There is so much good in eating locally! But we like to highlight these points:

1. HEALTH — Food is more nutritious when it is super fresh! This is obvious with produce but it’s true for other foods as well. The food sold on our app doesn’t have preservatives and chemicals in it. It also tastes WAY better.

2. COMMUNITY — A strong society can feed itself. We need to support the capability to produce food locally for the health of our communities. This was illustrated perfectly during the pandemic when the local food system came to the public’s rescue as the mainstream food system collapsed.  

3. THE ENVIRONMENT — The way we currently produce food is not good for the long-term health of the planet. Part of the issue is the enormous carbon footprint created by food that is transported thousands of miles and stored for weeks. But agricultural practices for mass production also create havoc in the soil and atmosphere. We need to support food production that is regenerative and humane.

COVID-19 has changed consumer trends, from an increased focus on health to greater demand for grocery delivery. How has Market 2day adapted and grown from this?

Our demand skyrocketed when the pandemic hit. A lot of the demand was from people desperate to get food while the big-time grocery delivery services had really long delivery lead times. However, as the panic receded, we’ve kept a ton of our customers who have delighted in getting really fresh, delicious, local food. Getting good, nutritious food is an important form of self-care during these stressful times.

What advice would you give to an entrepreneur whose business is pivoting due to the pandemic? 

Talking to others, there seems to be a consensus that things will never completely go back to “normal,” if we describe normal as how things were in January 2020. Interestingly, our demographic has shifted so the median age of our customer is about ten years older than it was six months ago. If you adopt a new behavior for over 30 days, that behavior is more likely to stick; if my parents are shopping for groceries online, it is definitely a mainstream behavior now. With that in mind, food delivery is here to stay. I would recommend that an entrepreneur consider how their product links to one of these new behaviors and try to surf that wave.

Secondly, we’re going to be in this crisis for at least 18 months, and there will be different stages during that time. The first stage in Boston was panic, the second stage this summer was cautious relaxing, but there will be a third stage as people come indoors again or start considering how/when to return to work and school. We are going through the process of trying to anticipate these shifts and prepare for them. This would be a good exercise for other entrepreneurs.

You deliver to many locations across Greater Boston, from Lexington to Duxbury. How do you manage a complex system of perishable deliveries?

The way we manage our deliveries is by creating multiple markets with very specific and limited delivery zones.  We receive products the same day we deliver them. And when we deliver, our delivery routes are short so you don’t have someone driving around for hours and hours with perishables.  

Market 2day works with local vendors to deliver fresh, high-quality food. How has being a Branchfood member helped you connect with the Boston food community?

So many ways! First of all, I need to give a shout out to Branchfood’s founder Lauren Abda, who is really one of the best connectors I’ve ever met. She is always looking for a way to help and open a door for you. Secondly, being part of a community connected to a center of innovation like CIC has given us lots of platforms to promote ourselves. For example, my co-founder and I have both spoken and tabled at Venture Cafe. Lastly, the community members themselves are so inspiring. No one gets into food because they’re trying to make an easy buck! Food is something you do out of love and caring for your community, whether you have a special product or a special service. Whenever I attend a Branchfood event, the room vibrates with energy. It reminds me why I decided to take this journey.

What’s in store for Market 2day?

We are definitely focused on continuing to grow! We’ve recently expanded our geographic reach to the Metrowest suburbs. We are extending our commerce platform so farmers and food entrepreneurs who sell at markets can use it independently of our delivery service. We also have established a highly scalable operational framework that allows you to aggregate and deliver orders across multiple vendors and customers while maintaining a DTC model (and super happy customers!). We want to drive the adoption of this model as far and as wide as we can!

How can our audience support Market 2day? 

We are always looking for opportunities to collaborate! Our entire business is built on partnerships with farmers and food entrepreneurs. So if we can be a channel for you or if we can co-market or just share a kitchen, we’d love to talk to you.

Also, (obviously) if you need some beautiful, fresh, local food… you know who can deliver it to you! You can find our app on Google Play and the App Store.

Thank you to Insa and Market 2day for being this week’s Member Monday spotlight.

Interested in how a Branchfood membership can help you succeed? Learn more about our membership benefits, and stay informed with our newsletter. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for our next Member Monday takeover!