Foodzie: Marketplace for specialty foods.
Wed, December 31, 2008 at 11:34 AM in Startups 
Foodzie a place for artisan foods and a really well designed online store.
Foodzie solves the marketplace and aggregation problem for niche food sellers. As an online aggregation marketplace, Foodzie gives artisan food sellers a venue, and consumers choice, which is key. Sellers can't do this on their own and everyone loves a specialist.
Since they're development with TechStars they've gone on to receive 1m in founding and are looking to become the default distributer for niche specialty foods that have distribution concerns. (That's all well and good since they won't make much as exotic dancers.)
The design of their markeplace is first rate and I'll be interested to watch and see how they keep the simplicity as they begin adding content. One of the problems with marketplaces is that often new items are hidden, replicating the very problem online that they're looking to address... namely shelf space and visibility.
Information is only found two ways, through search, in which case you already need to know what you're looking for, and by browsing, when you only know that you need 'something'. Search is a technology challenge, browsing more of an aesthetic one.
I'm guessing that one of Foodzie's goals is to make niche food sellers aware that they now have this new aggregated marketplace. They seem to be a good young team and I certainly wish them well while they try to achieve scale and prove that a big market exists for people who want olive oil that's 'Grown, pressed and bottled 100% in Sicily' or 60% stone ground chocolate (is that good?).
Reader Comments (1)
Thanks for the great post and Happy New Year!