FoodTrade is a Bristol-based startup that provides a way for buyers and sellers of food to trade in real-time, save money by sharing logistics, and take advantage of seasonal availability online.
We were introduced to the company in February, when FoodTrade’s Lyndsey Knight presented at The Cleanweb event held in Bristol’s Engine Shed. (You can see a brief overview of this in the video below.)
FoodTrade was was born out of the desire to build a better, fairer food network, with honesty and transparency at the heart of trade.
“It’s a local food map,” Lyndsey Knight tells us, “so anyone, anywhere can find real food.”
“We wanted to make it easier for companies to discover great produce on their doorstep. We wanted change”
“We wanted provenance on display; a place for customers to demand where and what they want to eat,” Lyndsey continues. “We wanted to make it easier for companies to discover great produce on their doorstep. We wanted change.”
Success stories
This year FoodTrade launched FoodTrade Menu – an award-winning allergen labelling tool.
The tool can be used by restaurants and caterers to help them comply with new EU food regulations on transparency of allergens in their food.
The FoodTrade Menu tool creates a tailored menu for businesses which flag these allergens in their food to their customers.
FoodTrade recently entered its FoodTrade Menu into the Open Data Challenge, a national tech competition run by The Open Data Institute and Nesta, and it won!
The FoodTrade team: Lyndsey Knight, Ed Dowding and Therese Stowell
celebrate their Open Data Challenge win
“It was hard work, but worth every minute,” says Lyndsey. “I’m so proud of the whole team.”
Driving innovation in the South West
The South West was the ideal place for FoodTrade to set up, with lots of food companies based in and around the areas of Bath and Bristol, and wonderful eateries on our doorstep.
“We’re so lucky to be in the South West,” says Lyndsey. “We’re surrounded by miles and miles of brilliant food businesses, so it’s great for networking, events and, of course, fantastic places to eat! The South West has some of the countries best farms, dairies, community gardens, startups and beautiful countryside.”
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There are loads of local people and projects that inspire the FoodTrade team on a daily basis. “We’re excited to see what happens with the Bristol Is Open project – smart city technologies are being built to help people interact, work and play with their city. Bristol will be an open programmable city – just imagine what we could do!”
“We’re excited to see what happens with the Bristol Is Open project … Bristol will be an open programmable city – just imagine what we could do!”
So if you work for a food business or producer, why not head over to FoodTrade.com to create a profile so that others can find you.
And if you’re simply interested in finding out about food in your local area, visit the site to use the food search engine; you can use the platform to buy and sell home-grown produce too.
Many thanks to Lyndsey for taking the time to speak with us. You can keep up to date with their news and updates on Twitter @foodtradehq. And for more up-to-the-minute South West tech news, why not follow us on Twitter: @TechSPARKUK
