Eco EditorGreen perishables are now big business. With global public concern for the environment polling at record highs (UN/DP-Oxford – The People’s Climate Vote, 2021), interest in ethical CSR (corporate social responsibility) credentials growing, and localisation, organics, vegetarianism, and veganism cited by experts as ‘quick fix’ solutions to the climate crisis? There’s never been a better time to get into making and marketing earth-friendly, meat-free consumables to a growing crowd of enthusiastic, eco-conscious consumers. Here are 5 things to consider when setting up your eco-friendly food brand.
Five Things to Consider When Setting Up Your Vegan Food Brand
Local Ingredient Sourcing
Two of the largest sources of CO2 per item are international freight shipping and sourcing from factory farms. By moving your fruit, nut, and vegetable production on-shore and closer to home, you’ll cut costs, reduce emissions, and help smaller-run farms, greenhouses, and orchards to thrive. You’ll gain the right to advertise yourself as a local produce supplier, too, boosting your profile and opening up select, prestigious markets.
Reaching Your Target Customers Effectively
Who’s going to see your end products and branding? How will they purchase goods from you? While they may seem like the obvious answer, partnering with a supermarket chain is far from the only route to eco-friendly success. Grocers, specialist suppliers and stockists, online-only retailers, veg and vegan cafes and restaurants, and farmer’s markets can all help you reach the parts of the market broader retailers will often miss. Pick your associates carefully and reap the rewards.
Low-Impact, Toxin-Free, Recyclable Packaging
The packaging that your finished products ship in is crucial to get absolutely right. Make sure to avoid including non-disposable plastic, toxic inks, and anything microbead or glitter-based to avoid undermining your entire project. Use cardboard and starch paper, vegetable-based, biodegradable inks, and glass (where safe) to avoid pitfalls. You don’t want your brand new food going viral on social media for all the wrong reasons.
Attractive Branding, Colours, Graphics, and Logos
Once you’ve decided what your packaging actually is, it’s time to make it actively appeal to shoppers. Hire professional commercial artists and graphic designers to develop a visually distinctive layout, branding, and makeup that suits what you’re trying to sell. Modern eco-friendly consumers increasingly value products that balance graphical style, production quality, and tasty ethical substance. Anything that reminds people of plants, water, and nature is fantastic.
Pick a Sans Serif Font – The Big Green Clue
Did you know that consumers subconsciously associate san serif font with progressive, green values? Sans serif fonts remove jagged edges and sharp ends from letters, producing a crisper, cleaner, flowing typeface. By picking a type that suits your natural enterprise, you can build clear links between ‘green’ and your company’s name and slogans in the minds of the marketplace. Visit our friends over at Font Bundles to find your perfect sans serif font here. We also particularly like Font Bundles as they have just gone carbon neutral.
Green Food Brand Building: To Sum Up
Buy and source local, use organic and smallholder farms, and use recyclable and sustainable packaging and inks. Pick the best-matched stockists and (small) shops for your goods, and build your brand with a sans serif font and attractive ad materials. Avoid ethical gaffes and accusations of hypocrisy by avoiding using plastic, damaging pesticides, long-haul freight, and toxic materials in your pro-eco products.