Timeline
June 2017 - June 2019
Areas of focus
UX Design · Service Design · Strategy
Description
The Good Food Collective is a project of Headwater Food Hub - a mission driven B-Corp that connects a network of small sustainable farmers to both individual and wholesale buyers. The GFC serves individual and family customers directly through weekly deliveries of fresh local foods to their homes, communities and workplaces. To see more of my work for Headwater, click here.
After years of growth in their “local food shares”, the Good Food Collective was plateauing and starting to shrink. As the farm to table market got more competitive, crowded and confused with everything from single farm CSA’s to multinational meal kit companies fighting for the grocery store alternative dollar while vying to tell the best “local” story, I led the team through a program redesign to make the GFC more flexible, enjoyable and convenient for members and business partners.
WHAT WERE THE MEMBER'S THINKING?
GOOD FOOD IS:
We had tremendous brand loyalty built up over the years from our core members. They believe in the mission of GOOD FOOD, and they understood what that meant for the community.
However they also had a lot to say about the difficulties of the program, website and payment process. Through in person interviews, online surveys and focus group discussions, important questions and issues were surfaced.
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A NEW MEMBER EXPERIENCE
On our new website and ordering system members were able to sign up for recurring subscriptions, browse the market for one off purchases, or create custom harvest-to-order veggie boxes.
Information Architecture for the site and ordering platform, which utilized a combination of off the shelf software and web design to create a seamless user experience.
Members also received weekly emails with recipes and information about who grew their food, along with farmer forecasts and new products.
DEFINING OUR VALUE
I went back to the core of their mission; making good food easy by connecting people directly with weekly deliveries from local, sustainable farmers. Based on listening to member feedback, watching food delivery and retail trends and testing program prototypes I made 3 main changes and many incremental adjustments.
3 PROGRAM CHANGES I MADE
YEAR ROUND
Switching from pay up front, locked in "seasons" to a truly year round weekly membership program allowed the company to consistently keep members, continuously work with suppliers and sustain more stable employment. This also forced to plan extensively with our farmers to extend their crops as much as possible, and create relationships with a regional network of similar minded food hubs.
A FULL LOCAL DIET
Expanding from weekly boxes of vegetables and a handful of "additional" offerings to include regular meat shares, fresh bread and coffee, eggs, dairy and other staples helped the program satisfy more of our members needs. We also expanded to include value added products such as honey, kimchi, kombucha and snacks, broadening our network of local supplies and supporting farmer's diverse activities.
FLEXIBLE & EASY
I implemented several new program a more convenient and flexible member experience. From different options and sizes and the ability to pause on any given week, to being able to select exactly what goes in their box from their phone, we made eating local food a more frictionless experience.
RELIABILITY FOR FARMERS
At the same time that we made our program more convenient for our members, we worked hard to make sure this didn't cause inconsistency issues for our other most important stakeholders: farmers.
PLANNING LOCAL PRODUCE YEAR ROUND - THE WEEKLY BOX
In order to deliver a weekly “share” of locally grown produce from a network of 30+ organic & sustainable farmers you need to balance crop planning with seasonal changes, member feedback with farmer needs and a fluctuating member basis with a static budget.
Our goal was to create a wonderful box of organic vegetables each week that highlighted the best of the season, worked well for our network of farm's current operation, and delighted our members with variety and quality.
I helped to create both internal and external tools for planning, documenting, receiving and delivering these weekly veggie boxes, from crop planning documents to packaging designs, recipe emails and social media documentation.
CROP SCHEDULE
WEEKLY SHARE PHOTO
A VALUE TO DELIVERY PARTNERS
In addition to program and UX redesigns, I oversaw the marketing and operations of the GFC for over a year. Here are some measurable impacts I achieved with our business partners:
PRIVATE DELIVERY
Added over 30 new delivery sites, securing key relationships and subsidy programs with large companies. Managed relationships with volunteer Site Coordinators at over 80 businesses, institutions and neighborhood groups.
HOME DELIVERY
Doubled size of the home delivery program and made it consistently available to a growing segment year round. Created fee structure, returnable packaging system and driver policies.
COMMUNITY MARKETS
I expanded on the existing community popup markets to include regular events at places such as breweries, gyms, and community centers, and introduced tasting events and collaborations with other local food companies.
To see more of my work for Headwater Food Hub & The Good Food Collective, click here.