Local Food Marketing Requires Conversation

As many of you know, we made a decision to take down our on-line store in early 2013.  Rising compliance

costs were the main issue, but we also realized that we like to talk to our customers.  Local Food Marketing is not a ready-to-order on-line venture.  Each of our customers have unique products, locations and communities.  Often it takes a "real" conversation to determine what is needed.  For that reason, we have opted to fall back on our original business model, which is taking orders via phone and e-mail.  No credit cards, no on-line orders.  We'd like to speak with you one-on-one and personally help you with your marketing needs.  We are trying to keep our costs down while keeping a personal touch in our business.

We now have many of our products on-line for viewing.  Just click on the "Our Products" page and under the headings Banners, Tote Bags, Note Cards and Price Cards, you will see what we have to offer.  More of our product page details are on the way.   Thanks for your support and your patience while we make this significant change to our website.  

Contact Information:

Joan Rozelle

Eat Local Food LLC

jrozelle@eatlocalfood.com

734.341.7028

Eat Local Food Banners

We are making great progress on our Eat Local Food on-line catalog!

I'm excited to announce that Eat Local Food vertical banner designs and pricing are available on our website.  Just click on the links to view our beautiful banner designs and pricing.  To order, please call us at 734.341.7028 or email us at jrozelle@eatlocalfood.com.

We appreciate your patience and your support while we make changes to our website and catalog.  Thank you!  There is more to come soon....

Get Creative: Marketing Local Food in Schools

It's late in the school year, but now is the time to look ahead to next year.  While all your teachers, administrators and parent volunteers are still available, it's the best time to consider changes in your local school food program for the 2013-2014 school year.

Here are some questions to consider:

• What are your goals for your school's local food program?
• Who will head-up and serve on your local food committee next year?
• How often will the local food committee meet?  When?  Where?
• What are your school food fund-raising plans for your school next year?
• What are your plans for marketing local food in your school next year?  
• How can you engage students, teachers, parents, administrators and community leaders to get involved, participate and co-market your program?
• How will you reach the community at large?  
• What are your plans to engage the community in a collaborative marketing effort?
• How will you measure your local school food program's results?  How often with the measurement take place?  Who will receive a report on the results?

All these questions, and we haven't even addressed food acquisition yet....here's a link to a fantastic resource for information on food acquisition, partnering techniques, financing, nutrition, etc.  The National Farm to School Network offers 20 minute webinars on a variety of topics.  Past webinars are available for download.  Called "Lunch Bites" they are designed to be short, information packed presentations to help guide you through the maze of offering a healthy school food program.
You can also search your state for involved groups and organizations that provide resources to assist you in your local school food planning.

Here's a discussion on marketing local food in schools:  Get Creative:  Marketing Local Food in Schools.  I co-authored and presented this talk with Michaelle Rehmann of the Food Systems Economic Partnership of SE Michigan (FSEP) at their 2010 conference.

And here's a link to another presentation I gave which discusses responsible marketing to children and healthier school fundraisers.  Kids are the Customers:  Marketing Local Food in Schools was presented in 2010 at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Detroit.

I hope you find this information to be helpful.  Good luck in your efforts to create a healthy and successful local food program in your school!

Contact Information:
Joan Rozelle
Eat Local Food
jrozelle@eatlocalfood.com
734.341.7028