New Online Food Marketplace Set To Bridge The Gap Between Independent Food Producers And Consumers
News provided by Pressat Wire on Wednesday 12th Feb 2014
‘Like Etsy, for food’: the platform features only the best food and drink producers and drives thousands of potential buyers to their online shopfronts.
A new online food marketplace Yumbles (www.yumbles.com) has launched, created to bridge the gap between small independent food producers and consumers across the country. The marketplace features only the best, handpicked food products, providing sellers with access to a first-class ecommerce platform to manage their online orders and increase visibility of their product to the growing numbers of Yumbles buyers.
The marketplace was created in response to the ever growing number of food producers in the UK in recent years, a phenomenon that has seen more Brits than ever trying to realise their dream to make it as a foodpreneur.
Food markets have also been booming. In the last decade, the number of farmers’ markets in the UK has more than trebled, with more than 750 regularly occurring markets across the country, according to the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA). In addition to farmers’ markets there are a great number of independent, artisan markets and festivals that are popping up, which is great news for producers. However, there are significant limitations to only being able to sell at markets: how much buyers can purchase is often dictated by how much they can carry and markets are usually held just once a month. Competition for stalls is also fierce and waiting lists are increasingly long.
Other options for expanding these small food businesses include setting up online shops or trying to get products stocked in one of the big four supermarket chains. Both methods can be prohibitively expensive, and time consuming.
So it's not surprising that the biggest barrier to market is finding distribution channels for their products, independent producers often only reach consumers within a thirty mile radius as they are only visible to a tiny percentage of potential customers. The founders of Yumbles wanted to enable talented, independent producers to reach and connect with a much wider audience nationally, allowing food lovers to try new foods they may not otherwise have been able to source.
Yumbles was founded by husband and wife team Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri, neither of whom are strangers to growing online marketplaces from scratch. Simos co-founded the UK’s leading online services marketplace PeoplePerHour whilst Katie was formerly Head of Operations at both Gumtree, an eBay company, and PeoplePerHour.
Yumbles has already been dubbed the Etsy of food, providing a safe, secure ecommerce platform. Each seller can list their products on their Yumbles shop using an easy self-service online tool, while Yumbles drives traffic and manages customer payments amongst other services. The platform even accepts the virtual currency, Bitcoin.
Simos Kitiris comments:
“We have launched Yumbles with a clear vision; to enable talented food producers to turn their passion into thriving businesses with significant consumer reach. Our mission is to re-imagine food commerce in ways that better empower consumers and producers alike.”
“We’ve already had a great response during our pilot period and we are now opening the gates to more food producers. We’re discovering exciting, talented artisans on a daily basis and we can’t wait to showcase their innovative food to the Great British public.”
-Ends-
Notes to Editors:
1. Farmers’ Market figures for the year 2003 = 201 and figures for the year 2013 = 750. Both figures sourced from FARMA.org.uk
2. About Yumbles:
Launched in December 2013, Yumbles (www.yumbles.com) is an online food marketplace connecting food lovers with the UK's best independent food and drink producers. The company was founded by husband and wife team Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri. Formerly from various top online marketplaces and technology businesses, they are combining their passion (borderline obsession) for great food with their professional expertise to bring a new and exciting way to buy independent, original foods and learn what to do with them.
3. Both Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri are available for interview and we can provide high-res screenshots of the website if required.
For more information, please contact:
Aylish Jarvie
T: 07535 937357
T: 01935 509857
E: aylish@voxpopspr.com
A new online food marketplace Yumbles (www.yumbles.com) has launched, created to bridge the gap between small independent food producers and consumers across the country. The marketplace features only the best, handpicked food products, providing sellers with access to a first-class ecommerce platform to manage their online orders and increase visibility of their product to the growing numbers of Yumbles buyers.
The marketplace was created in response to the ever growing number of food producers in the UK in recent years, a phenomenon that has seen more Brits than ever trying to realise their dream to make it as a foodpreneur.
Food markets have also been booming. In the last decade, the number of farmers’ markets in the UK has more than trebled, with more than 750 regularly occurring markets across the country, according to the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA). In addition to farmers’ markets there are a great number of independent, artisan markets and festivals that are popping up, which is great news for producers. However, there are significant limitations to only being able to sell at markets: how much buyers can purchase is often dictated by how much they can carry and markets are usually held just once a month. Competition for stalls is also fierce and waiting lists are increasingly long.
Other options for expanding these small food businesses include setting up online shops or trying to get products stocked in one of the big four supermarket chains. Both methods can be prohibitively expensive, and time consuming.
So it's not surprising that the biggest barrier to market is finding distribution channels for their products, independent producers often only reach consumers within a thirty mile radius as they are only visible to a tiny percentage of potential customers. The founders of Yumbles wanted to enable talented, independent producers to reach and connect with a much wider audience nationally, allowing food lovers to try new foods they may not otherwise have been able to source.
Yumbles was founded by husband and wife team Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri, neither of whom are strangers to growing online marketplaces from scratch. Simos co-founded the UK’s leading online services marketplace PeoplePerHour whilst Katie was formerly Head of Operations at both Gumtree, an eBay company, and PeoplePerHour.
Yumbles has already been dubbed the Etsy of food, providing a safe, secure ecommerce platform. Each seller can list their products on their Yumbles shop using an easy self-service online tool, while Yumbles drives traffic and manages customer payments amongst other services. The platform even accepts the virtual currency, Bitcoin.
Simos Kitiris comments:
“We have launched Yumbles with a clear vision; to enable talented food producers to turn their passion into thriving businesses with significant consumer reach. Our mission is to re-imagine food commerce in ways that better empower consumers and producers alike.”
“We’ve already had a great response during our pilot period and we are now opening the gates to more food producers. We’re discovering exciting, talented artisans on a daily basis and we can’t wait to showcase their innovative food to the Great British public.”
-Ends-
Notes to Editors:
1. Farmers’ Market figures for the year 2003 = 201 and figures for the year 2013 = 750. Both figures sourced from FARMA.org.uk
2. About Yumbles:
Launched in December 2013, Yumbles (www.yumbles.com) is an online food marketplace connecting food lovers with the UK's best independent food and drink producers. The company was founded by husband and wife team Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri. Formerly from various top online marketplaces and technology businesses, they are combining their passion (borderline obsession) for great food with their professional expertise to bring a new and exciting way to buy independent, original foods and learn what to do with them.
3. Both Simos Kitiris and Katie Kitiri are available for interview and we can provide high-res screenshots of the website if required.
For more information, please contact:
Aylish Jarvie
T: 07535 937357
T: 01935 509857
E: aylish@voxpopspr.com
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Pressat Wire, on Wednesday 12 February, 2014. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
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New Online Food Marketplace Set To Bridge The Gap Between Independent Food Producers And Consumers
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