DirectFood.store - Securing the Food Supply Chain
Digital platform to connect consumers, restaurants, and local food producers.
Project Overview
The Problem
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians have seen disruptions to the food supply chain. Some products have been in short supply. Others have gone to waste with the downturn in restaurant business.
Moreover, producers accustomed to dealing with a single buyer were caught with no way to distribute their products and faced large financial losses. To maintain safety and physical distance, grocery stores have also had to limit the number of customers shopping at any given time.
Meanwhile, there is a growing demand for fresh food delivery through subscriptions, part of a trend of healthier, additive-free food with traceable origins.
How We Are Solving It
The DirectFood.store project is aimed at using technology to create a one-stop shop for consumers to source fresh food directly from local producers, all without warehousing, processing facilities, stores or other distributors.
Led by Wisebox Solutions, the project brings together i-Open Technologies, Novex Delivery Solutions, the farms of Nutriva Group and Berryhill Growers, and two restaurants, Eat Fresh Pizza and Mission City Pizza.
Food producers list their available goods on a new website. Consumers can browse and select what they want, and their order will be ready for pick-up by delivery drivers the next day. The farmer gets paid the following day. There’s even a subscription option for consumers.
The platform provides other advantages for local farmers and producers. They can sell based on freshness and convenience to a new market previously beyond their reach. They also have access to analytical tools to help them make more sound business decisions around planting and harvesting.
Restaurants can use the system to order and take delivery of local products. They then have the advantage of advertising fresh, local ingredients, and through the traceability and transparency enabled by technology, can share which farms provided the ingredients.
The trial is taking place in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. The plan is to expand across the province in late 2020 and expand nationally in 2021.
Project Lead
Project Partners
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"DirectFood.store is not only positioned to become the market leader in online grocery delivery, but we are also confident that our proven technology framework will address COVID-19 related contact-free shopping immediately while delivering a fully integrated online fulfillment system that will increase profitability for local grocers and suppliers. On behalf of Wisebox and the consortium that forms this partnership, I would like to thank the staff and committee of the Digital Technology Supercluster for their support to date and for presenting this opportunity to revolutionize consumer experience with easy and seamless access to fresh, healthy local food."
CEO, Wisebox Solutions Watch the Truly Farm to Table Video