25 Nov UVic Student Startup Connects Farms to Foodies

I’ve been a Redditor for nearly 9 years now, and one of the first places I check in the morning is /r/VictoriaBC to catch up on what’s going on locally. One of the recent submissions there was from a team of computer science students from UVic showcasing their newest app to connect local farms to food makers here in Victoria. I thought it was a brilliant idea and something this Island could do with, so I reached out to get a little more information and help spread the word.

Say hello to beLocal!

I love the idea mainly because it promotes one of our most important industries here on the Island – well, that and the fact that we have amazing produce here! I managed to squeeze some of the team’s time last night over Skype and get in a few questions to find out what got them to this point, and where the app will be heading in the near future.

LuxuryBC: What is beLocal and what made your team decide to build the platform?

beLocal: beLocal (http://belocalvictoria.me) is an application created by a team of five senior Computer Science / Software Engineering students at the University of Victoria as part of the course CSC 485B: Startup Programming taught by Margaret-Anne Storey. Our team members all had a huge interest in food and sustainable eating before the course started, and we wanted to create a product that would help raise awareness about Victoria’s rich local food scene.

More than this, we were also inspired by the sense of community that local markets created, and wanted to make this same experience accessible to a larger number of people through an online presence as well as through social media. beLocal is the realization of that vision, allowing local farmers and food makers to connect with the community by posting company details, information about their products, and where they will be selling.

We have also made beLocal as easy to use as possible, allowing vendors to quickly add items and locations, and to easily tell their customers whether each of their products is in stock or out of stock. On the customer side, we implemented features such as the ability to both browse and search for products, and worked hard to digitalize the local market experience, giving customers an at-a-glance overview of which vendors are selling at a specific market, and what products will be available.

LuxuryBC: How has the feedback been so far from local food producers?

beLocal: The feedback from local food producers has been overwhelmingly positive! We’ve connected with a small number of them via reddit and our visits to local markets, and they’ve provided extremely valuable feedback that we’ve been working hard to get up on the live site as quickly as possible. Since the season is winding down, however, several of the producers we’ve spoken to have said that it’s a great idea, but that they’d want to talk more in the spring when they have products to sell. As a result, we’re still trying to get beLocal into the hands of as many vendors who sell non-seasonal products (eggs, meats, preserves, etc.) as possible.

LuxuryBC: What are the future plans for the app beyond the starting stages?

beLocal: This is still largely up in the air, but we know that we definitely want to grow this to be as large as possible in order to help producers in the community connect more with their customers. Some of the ideas we’ve thought about include producing newsletters featuring products/vendors from the site, partnering with someone (we’ve had preliminary interest from Pedals to Petal) to offer delivery services for vendors, featuring restaurants who source locally produced items, and adding the ability to rate and follow producers (to receive updates). Most importantly though, we care about our users, and would love to hear any feedback they have about missing features or suggestions for improvement!

LuxuryBC: How can local food producers get in touch and get involved?

beLocal: The easiest way for local food producers to get in touch is via email ([email protected]). We’re more than willing to meet with any vendors from the Victoria/Cowichan Valley area during the off season to help them get on board if they’re unsure of how to start! For customers, the easiest way to stay informed about our progress is via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/BeLocal-Victoria/529601947175739) or Twitter (@beLocalVictoria). Any suggestions/comments can also be sent to our email!