Food Marketplace is a startup company that aims to give small businesses a way to reach out to their consumer base via technology. Originally launched with food vendors in mind, the company soon expanded into confectionary. In November of 2016 Food Marketplace launched an even more interesting section—a place where publishers can promote their books, comics, web-series, newspapers and more for free.
It’s no secret that it can be difficult for publications—especially small publications—to branch out into a global market and find readers from across the globe but that is precisely what Food Marketplace aims to do. “I started this company out for food vendors,” explained Franco Lagudi, the Founder and CEO, “but it quickly occurred to me that we could use it for so much more. After all, when you go into most supermarkets there is a place to buy books and newspapers. Why not add those items to our community website which essentially works like a virtual supermarket?”
For thousands of years, local stores such as bakers and butchers have played a key role in communities. Franco Lagudi, a third-generation “Fruit & Vegetable Stand” owner, understands the value of small businesses and is dismayed by how steadily they have been pushed out of business by major retailers in the past decade. Food Marketplace was started with the mission of giving small and local, often family-run, businesses a chance to broaden their consumer outreach. Since its establishment in 2015, Food Marketplace has attracted dozens of vendors and has enjoyed rave reviews from users.
Initially based in Australia for local vendors of products like meats, fruits and vegetables, Franco quickly saw the potential and, in early 2016, added confectionary like cakes, lollipops, donuts, ice cream and more. The idea of branching out to a global platform for publishers came to him in the fall of 2016. “It’s a great place for independent publishers,” Franco explained. “They can sign up with our platform and set up a website—even linking it to their URL—for free but, if they want to sell their wares online through us, there is an annual fee of $3 a day.”
The platform is a great way to promote new products and sales. It is tailored to suit fiction publishers from novels to children’s picture books. To see an example of the easy-to-use interface, see here.
A link of all the categories on the Food Market website can be viewed here.
