NeighbourFood provides an online marketplace for food producers to sell their products directly to the end consumer.
A 'host' organises a market for a local area, choosing the time and place for producers and consumers to meet and hand over the products that have been ordered using the online platform www.neighbourfood.ie.
Products
Products featured on the website include fruit and vegetables, bread, pastries, cheese, meat and beers.
Each week, the producers and consumers meet at a local venue, giving the end consumer the chance to engage directly with the farmer or food producer.
“NeighbourFood was built in 2018 in Cork, Ireland,” said Jack Crotty, co-founder of the business.
He discovered the concept in Italy and brought the idea home.
He found software developer Martin Poucher to help develop the concept.
The two spent the best part of a year working on it before launching in the UK in September and Ireland in December 2018.
Markets
“We have three markets up and running in Ireland now with another eight on the way over the summer,” Crotty told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Producers on NeighbourFood take home 80% of the sale price. The market host receives 10% and NeighbourFood receives 10%.
The cost of any promotions that are run on the NeighbourFood website are borne by NeighbourFood and the host; the producer will always receive 80%, the terms and conditions state.
"Winning the enterprise award would be such a shock, as we still feel as though this is all just starting, even though we have come quite a way in a short time,” said Crotty.
“The plan is to find the perfect host in each community. With that person, the whole concept works brilliantly.
"Finding that host is our biggest challenge. Some contact us, others we approach.
"Ultimately, we would love to see it spread across Ireland and fast as feels right.”
The sale of any large-scale commercially grown vegetables, non-organic imported fruit or vegetables, genetically modified products, intensively reared meat, imported fish or battery eggs are not permitted to be sold at a NeighbourFood market.
Awards
The National Enterprise Awards celebrate small businesses from across the country, focusing on start-ups, innovation and exports, with the finals taking place on 29 May at the Mansion House, Dublin.
There is over €40,000 in prizes to be won, with the overall winner taking home €10,000.
Terra NutriTech was last year’s winners, an ag-tech company that specialises in precision liquid supplementation for livestock.
Read more
Agricultural businesses in the running for €40,000 enterprise awards prize fund
Clonmel Covers 'inundated with work' making windbreakers for sheds
20 minutes with Padraig Hennessy, Terra Nutritech
Toy fields produced in Ireland is a 'worldwide opportunity'
NeighbourFood provides an online marketplace for food producers to sell their products directly to the end consumer.
A 'host' organises a market for a local area, choosing the time and place for producers and consumers to meet and hand over the products that have been ordered using the online platform www.neighbourfood.ie.
Products
Products featured on the website include fruit and vegetables, bread, pastries, cheese, meat and beers.
Each week, the producers and consumers meet at a local venue, giving the end consumer the chance to engage directly with the farmer or food producer.
“NeighbourFood was built in 2018 in Cork, Ireland,” said Jack Crotty, co-founder of the business.
He discovered the concept in Italy and brought the idea home.
He found software developer Martin Poucher to help develop the concept.
The two spent the best part of a year working on it before launching in the UK in September and Ireland in December 2018.
Markets
“We have three markets up and running in Ireland now with another eight on the way over the summer,” Crotty told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Producers on NeighbourFood take home 80% of the sale price. The market host receives 10% and NeighbourFood receives 10%.
The cost of any promotions that are run on the NeighbourFood website are borne by NeighbourFood and the host; the producer will always receive 80%, the terms and conditions state.
"Winning the enterprise award would be such a shock, as we still feel as though this is all just starting, even though we have come quite a way in a short time,” said Crotty.
“The plan is to find the perfect host in each community. With that person, the whole concept works brilliantly.
"Finding that host is our biggest challenge. Some contact us, others we approach.
"Ultimately, we would love to see it spread across Ireland and fast as feels right.”
The sale of any large-scale commercially grown vegetables, non-organic imported fruit or vegetables, genetically modified products, intensively reared meat, imported fish or battery eggs are not permitted to be sold at a NeighbourFood market.
Awards
The National Enterprise Awards celebrate small businesses from across the country, focusing on start-ups, innovation and exports, with the finals taking place on 29 May at the Mansion House, Dublin.
There is over €40,000 in prizes to be won, with the overall winner taking home €10,000.
Terra NutriTech was last year’s winners, an ag-tech company that specialises in precision liquid supplementation for livestock.
Read more
Agricultural businesses in the running for €40,000 enterprise awards prize fund
Clonmel Covers 'inundated with work' making windbreakers for sheds
20 minutes with Padraig Hennessy, Terra Nutritech
Toy fields produced in Ireland is a 'worldwide opportunity'
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