for local food cooperatives, farms and food hubs

This platform is designed to bridge the gap between local producers and consumers, offering an efficient, centralized system for accessing a diverse range of locally produced goods. Shop. Eat. Local. is an open-source project, available for anyone to access, use, and contribute to.

An Open Source Software Solution

  • For Market Managers

    Shop. Eat. Local. offers adjustable timed cycle options to help you organize and manage distribution tasks efficiently, ensuring producers and consumers enjoy a seamless exchange. Reduce checkout errors with our UPC system or let our software generate them for you, ensuring every item is accurately tracked and processed. In addition to online distribution cycles, we offer on-site sales and wholesale catalogs which operate independently, providing flexibility of sales without interrupting online operations. Gain insights into your sales with downloadable reports. Sort and view your data directly on screen, making it easy to track your success and plan for the future.

  • For Producers

    Shop. Eat. Local. provides an easy-to-use interface for listing products, managing orders, updating your catalog as your offerings evolve and connecting with a broader consumer base.

    Check out this walk through video of how it works to update your inventory and catalog.

    You can see an example of the Online Marketplace at The Iowa Food Cooperative.

  • For Shoppers

    Shop. Eat. Local. consolidates products from multiple producers into a single platform with multiple options for on-site pickup or home/satellite site delivery options. Advanced search functions including production practices make finding your favorite products straightforward. Producer profiles allow you to dive into the stories behind your food with detailed producer profiles featuring photos and stories.

    Check out this video to see how shopping has worked for members at the Iowa Food Cooperative.

  • Vibrant Producer Profiles

  • Transparent Production Practices

  • Simplified Catalog and Inventory Management

  • User-Friendly Shopping Experience

  • Efficient Distribution Management

  • On-Site & Wholesale Catalog Options

  • Error Reduction with UPC Codes

  • Comprehensive Sales Reports

Customize Your Site

  • Add your logos, business name and links back to your website for specific information about your marketplace.

  • Adjust the main navigation bar's link wording and destinations for intuitive site exploration.

    Customize the donate link destination, supporting your chosen cause directly through your market, with the option to toggle this feature on or off.

  • Easily update the contact email displayed on the main page for customer inquiries.

    Set up PayPal, Venmo and credit card options for secure online payments and provide a mail address for offline payments, catering to a wide range of payment preferences.

  • Location List: Directly link to your website or specific pages, offering more information or contact options. This list is fully editable within the site admin tab.

    Cycle/Phase Intervals: Super users can adjust the timing for different phases of your market's operation, ensuring the platform aligns with your distribution strategy.

    Categories and Subcategories: Fully manageable within the software, allowing you to tailor the product categories and subcategories to fit your market's offerings.

  • Utilize membership features including trial memberships and fees.

    Activate features for EBT customers, including identifying EBT eligible items and managing membership fees, demonstrating your market's commitment to accessibility and community support.

Pricing & Services

Launching your online market involves certain costs that are key to getting started and maintaining your platform. Below is an overview of anticipated expenses to help you plan and budget effectively.

  • This one time set up fee covers these essential services:

    • Hosting setup and configuration

    • Configuration of domain with the shop software

    • SSL certificate acquisition and installation

    • Payment gateway integration

    • Basic training on platform set up and management (5 of hours of consultation)

  • Monthly Costs:

    • Software Hosting

    • On-going System Maintenance and Upgrades

    • Additional Software Set Up Consultation

    • Accounting Set Up Consultation

  • If you have an idea for a feature change or upgrade we'd love to hear it. Bigger features options could be a multi-partner investment. We would love to make this platform as useful as possible!

    Contact lisa@cultivatefoodconnections.org

While we have originally piloted our Online Market Platform at the Iowa Food Cooperative our goal has always been to offer this software as a low cost, open-source solution to other local food markets.

This initiative is driven by our commitment to supporting our local food system and fostering community connections between producers & consumers.

Shop. Eat. Local. Open Source

The Online Market Platform code is an open-source project, available for anyone to access, use, and contribute to. Hosted on GitHub, our code is in a public repository. This means you can view, download, and even customize the software to fit your needs.

Obtaining the code for the Online Market Platform itself is completely free.

Let’s get a conversation started.