Food For the Rest of Us is not “just another” food blog or website, touting and spouting all manner of food knowledge and culinary tips via blog, videos, pictures, and other social media or web 2.0 tools.
The purpose of Food For the Rest of Us is to bring the people involved with growing, harvesting, fermenting, foraging, or otherwise making food and the things that make them or their food unique to you, and, in turn, get you to go to them.
But ... why?
Long story short, regardless of any production process or mechanical manipulations, the value of something is determined by what the consumer is willing to pay, not what the producer wishes to charge.
In other words, what something is worth, a product’s value, is entirely based on perception: what you, the consumer or client, thinks a product is worth.
OK, but, how does this relate to Food for the Rest of Us?
One of the best ways to add value to a product, especially food products, is by establishing the product as being better, unique, or otherwise desirably unique.
Traditionally, this is done through branding, packaging, and mass media marketing. But, when you are dealing with products that are largely uniform in shape and color, have no or little packaging, quickly loose value due to consumption or decomposition, and depend upon entirely subjective, personal, or other fickle measurement such as taste or flavor to establish value to a consumer, these traditional methods can only go so far and often stop dead in their tracks at the grocery store door or farmer’s market exit. They also tend to be very expensive, requiring many producers or associations to band together in order to collaboratively fund and promote the traditional efforts. All said, this type of approach usually offers the most benefits to “the big guys,” leaving the “little guys” to either enjoy the trickle down trailings or fend for themselves.
But what if there is a way for the "little guys" to reach out to the same audience as the "big guys" without having to pay their way or loose the opportunity and ability to tell their own "little guy story" and what makes them special and desirably unique?
Thankfully, with the arrival of social media and Web 2.0, the “little guy” now has the ability to easily and affordably reach out, engage and interact with people unlike any other time in the past.Using blogs, video blogs, pod casts, wikis, facebook, twitter, myspace, webinars, and other tools the “little guy” can now use a mobile phone or computer to tell their story, build relationships, and talk with thousands of people, showing each and everyone of them how and why they and their products are unique, special and therefore worth the extra effort and value.
So, drawing from my career as a chef and merging with my experience with communication strategy and information design, Food For the Rest of Us works with the people making food to use social media, Web 2.0 and other communication tools to efficiently and effectively get their story our, telling people why their product is special, desirably unique and worth the extra little bit of effort or time.