Hey Folks,
I’ve been trying to pitch OFN in various spheres at least once a year for 3 years I think. There’s a joint chef/farmer guild in Charlotte, NC, the largest city in our state (pop. 2.3M). 100 members, probably 2/3 restauranteurs, 1/4 farmers, the rest weirdos like me.
A few farmers and chefs both seem stuck on prices being public (ie they prefer prices and volumes be discussed in private). This seems like a pretty major undertaking that their guild might have to take on. And something that I imagine is hard to put a dollar sign on… I guess it’d cost a few thousand bucks to develop a feature like that.
Hi Eric - we were on the google hangout together the other day - I’m Theresa. I’m trying to begin the process of launching OFN in Canada. In fact - one of the main reasons for me doing this relates to the question about price transparency that you pose. I am an organic farmer, and I currently sell through an online market (Bailey’s Local Foods). I set my price and they add a mark-up. But this is invisible to the buyer - - who often makes the assumption that what they pay is what I get. I also sell the same products directly to buyers at my farm - and sometimes the same customer buys from me and from the hub (Baileys) – and they are shocked at the world of mark-ups. I think making costs like this visible is actually a strength of OFN because it starts to challenge some of the basic market relations of the dominant food system - and I’d say thats a good thing. Really nice to meet you on the hangout - would be fantastic to keep connected here in North America.
