Catalysing Local Food, Globally

- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -

Catalysing Local Food, Globally

1 November 2012

Kiwi software company, Bucky Box, are on a social and environmental mission to disrupt the global food system and this week they’ve announced the public release of their software for local food distribution.

The social enterprise company aims to level the playing field against the industrial food distributors such as the large supermarket chains which account for 99% of where we get our food.

Bucky Box is a web-based application targeted at local vegetable box schemes, community-supported-agriculture and food co-ops, and has been doing private trials for 18 months.

Community Connector, Sam Rye commented, “We’ve put a lot of work into making the software simple and easy to use, yet it’s pretty sophisticated under the hood - it captures two years of learnings and conversations with local foodies all over the world. We were amazed at how much interest there was both in New Zealand and overseas.”

The local food movement has been growing in New Zealand, and is already in full flight around the world especially in the countries where food has become highly industrialised such as the US, UK & Australia. Rooted in the idea that farmers should get a fair deal, many people are unable to afford fruit and vegetables, and our over-reliance on cheap oil throughout food production, storage & transport, the movement sees farmers & entrepreneurs taking up the challenge to cut out the middleman and go direct to consumer.

“Whilst getting a box scheme up and running in Auckland, I started looking around at people all over the world doing the same thing, and realising how inefficient we were being by running things with spreadsheets & scraps of paper. Having a background in software development from the first smartphone days, I realised we could do this better. Early indications from our beta testing shows about 80% reductions in admin time and we’re still launching new features.” says Will Lau, the founder of Bucky Box.

The story goes that Bucky Box found it’s team at the disruptive incubator, Enspiral in Wellington, where they established an innovative social enterprise structure which will see a 67% profit share back into the local food movement through collaborative partnerships.

“We wanted to ensure our intentions were clear and that we didn’t end up extracting value out of the very people we seek to support - small scale farmers and the lifeblood of all local economies; small businesses & entrepreneurs. So, we set up this new style of business model we call social enterprise.” said Lau.

"We're incredibly excited to be based in Wellington where we can feel a new kind of business emerging in our networks. Social innovation is indeed alive and kicking in the Creative Capital, and we're stoked to be a part of that, something that people can point to and show what 21st century business will look like." said Rye.

Bucky Box has already received international recognition from the likes of Fast Company and Springwise, and is set to launch the software globally from 1 November.

Find out more about Bucky Box at www.buckybox.com or join the conversation on their Twitter feed.

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http://www.buckybox.com
http://www.buckybox.org
http://www.twitter.com/buckybox
http://www.facebook.com/buckybox

About Bucky Box
Bucky Box was formed as a social enterprise in 2011 with a vision to catalyse local food, globally.

With a mission to ‘bring about a human food system that supports the collective long term health of all living systems’, Bucky Box is a new type of business.

The software is beautifully designed & intuitive to use; it tackles online ordering, customer database, packing & delivery logistics and payment reconciliation. It is offered on a software-as-a-service basis, and can be used in any country in the world with an internet connection.

Bucky Box is part of the Enspiral group – a social innovation accelerator and eco-system based in Wellington, New Zealand

For more information, visit: www.buckybox.com or ‘The Mission’ page:www.buckybox.org

ENDS

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