The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Market magic as food firm’ s orders rocket
Saturday General Knowledge Crossword
A soarsmall specialist food producer in Auchterarder has seen its orders thanks to being part of a “click and collect” Neighbourfood farmers’ market project across Scotland.
Simplyflo, which specialises in authentic Lebanese cuisine, went from 35 to 250 orders a month by being part of the charity Forth Environment Link’s Regional Food initiative.
The programme has injected nearly a quarter of a million pounds into the rural economy – helping food and drink producers stay afloat at a critical time for the industry.
Simplyflo is just one of more than 110 Scottish food and drink producers who have had a lifeline from the initiative.
Thanks to the LEADER funded project, there are now six Neighbourfood markets running weekly local food collections; from Balfron and Killin in Stirlingshire and Peebles in the Borders, to Falkland in Fife and the Carse of Gowrie and Blairgowrie in Perthshire.
Florence Gebara from Simplyflo said: “We joined Neighbourfood in lockdown last year and now supply nine of their markets across Scotland, from Megginch Castle in Perthshire to Falkland in Fife.
“We love it as it brings us face-to-face with our customers, in a safe controlled environment, so that they can get to know us and see the passion that goes into the dishes we create.
“We’ve gone from 35 orders in our first month with Neighbourfood, to more than 250 orders per month.”
Pierre Leger of Crieffbased Strathearn Cheese Company said: “It’s great to be able to sell directly to the customers.”
“Neighbourfood has been brilliant,” said Megginch Castle’s guardian and Neighbourfood market host Catherine Drummond-herdman.
“Otherwise people cannot get their produce to market and then you lose the whole dynamics of the community as well.”
Another service user, Gavin Ramsey of Tay Bees and Honey, says Megginch is the perfect environment for bees due to its ancient orchard and varied habitats, producing many variants in honey.
He said: “That’s an angle you don’t get with commercial products in supermarkets in terms of the diversity of local honeys that you can find.”
Falkland Neighbourfood, has injected nearly £12,000 into the local economy since launching last June at the Centre for Stewardship.
Market hosts Falkland Estate have helped local food and drink producers sell more than 400 baskets of produce over the past six months at their weekly Thursday collection.
Lesley Duffy, who helps run Falkland Neighbourfood, said: “For local producers it’s really good, it’s giving them an outlet, it saves them time, it saves them money as they can just pop along here and deliver multiple orders to multiple customers.”
The Neighbourfood market model works on an 80/20 split, with producers keeping the lion’s share of the profit (compared to around 25/75 with supermarkets).
Hosts and the platform share the remaining 20%, with some markets choosing to reinvest their profit in emergency food supply during the Covid-19 crisis.
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