This project capitalizes on a billion euro market that to this day remains very fragmented. Despite consumers increasingly favoring customization, uniqueness and experiences, and an increasing demand for contextual and sourcing information on foods, there are still thousands of small independent producers and suppliers of food-related activities that have no easy way to market.

GourmetOrigins.com combines a social guide and a marketplace where food enthusiasts can discover the stories of high quality foods from across Europe, buy directly from the producers and book food-related activities and experiences. In short, it facilitates access to the long-tail of quality foods.

The business monetizes the market primarily using sale commissions on the food products themselves, as well as through other food experiences such as tastings, food tours and cooking lessons.

Alternative revenue streams include:

• Premium food producer listings, enabling producers to promote themselves on the site (we already had sales of premium accounts).
• A platform for affiliate marketing partners, lead generation and highly segmented advertising (for foods and food-related services such as specialized travel, targeting the foodie community)

GourmetOrigins.com is currently preparing to relaunch a dramatically richer version. The long-term goal is to become the platform of choice of the traveling foodie, the place where he will be able to find everything about his favorite foods.

The team

GourmetOrigins.com was started in London by Miquel Ros and Alex Wareing. Both founders’ combine very complementary skills and backgrounds, that include several years’ experience in product development in the information management industry, web design and international trade at top level institutions and companies.