Hi everyone,
At OFN Switzerland we’ve been in conversations with two initiatives that are interested in using the OFN platform, but their model is primarily B2B, selling to restaurants, catering services, or other food businesses rather than directly to end consumers. We’re still at an early stage and don’t have a fully defined feature list yet, but I think this is exactly the right moment to open a conversation here.
Reading the Procurement as a new OFN product direction thread, it’s clear that several instances are working with similar challenges and that some interesting work is already underway in the UK, France, and Canada. I’d love to explore a few things with the community:
Mapping what already exists across instances
As there are several instances running B2B or hybrid models I guess they have already built workarounds or integrations to fill the gaps, like accounting tools, external invoicing, custom reporting, etc. I’m also aware that @nicotentin is working on an ERP connection, which seems directly relevant here. Before thinking about new development, it would be really valuable to get a clearer picture of what’s already being done, even if it’s outside the platform itself. Which instances are most active in this space? What are the common pain points?
Development availability and roadmap
If through these conversations we identify features worth building, what’s the current capacity for development work in the coming months? I’m aware the product circle and global stewardship circle are the right places to raise this, but a rough sense of what’s feasible would help us manage expectations with the initiatives we’re talking to.
Potential funding contribution
It’s still early and depends on whether we can move forward with these two Swiss initiatives, but there’s a realistic possibility of having some budget available to contribute to development costs. I don’t want to over-promise, but I also think it’s worth naming this explicitly: if we’re asking for development work, we should be part of funding it. This could also open a conversation about co-funding across instances for shared features.
Building a working group
I’d love to know: which people or instances would be interested in joining a focused conversation on B2B use cases? I’m imagining something lightweight, a shared space to map needs, compare existing solutions, and identify where platform development would give the most leverage. It could sit alongside or connect with the procurement work already happening.
As a concrete next step, I’d propose gathering interest here and then setting up an initial call to pool what we know. Happy to help coordinate if there’s appetite.
Looking forward to hearing from those of you already in this space