Innovation

Freshlink is an innovation in itself. The way Freshlink has been established and the way in which it operates means that Freshlink is helping to achieve four of the SDG’s. Freshlink’s business model “decreases the distance between the producer and the consumer,” and, it is through this approach that they can continue to improve the food industry, as well as food system innovations and infrastructure. By prioritising local suppliers, Freshlink provides a platform where local farmers have access to sell their produce all year round. In addition, by providing their customers with convenient and affordable access to local and seasonal wholefoods, Freshlink is helping to increase their customers' health and well-being. The structure of Freshlink also allows them to keep general waste, organic waste and the use of natural resources to a minimum, further supporting both SDG 12 and SDG 13.

Inspiration

From the age of 18, Jesse dreamt of setting up a traditional grocery store. Jesse grew up in rural New Zealand and would describe his upbringing as “rich.” Growing up, Jesse and his family “rarely went to town, never stayed in accommodation, or ate out,” but they “had it all.” Each day they would milk their cow to get milk, cream, and butter, his mum made all their own bread, they raised their own meat, and their vegetable garden supplied his family of seven with fresh fruit and vegetables. They truly lived off the land.

When Jesse was a little older, he became obsessed with the Foursquare Man, a New Zealand icon for a brand of nationwide grocery stores. He “loved what the man represented” as he looked like your traditional local grocer. It was this image that inspired Jesse to become a traditional grocer himself. After University, Jesse moved overseas, and the idea kept brewing. Several years later, Jesse moved to Wanaka where he came across a company called Freshlink which was owned and run by a recent high school graduate. At the time, the owner of Freshlink was selling a small selection of fresh produce out of a garage. Starting as a school economics project in 2017, the young entrepreneur was looking to sell his business. The timing couldn’t have been better; Jesse bought the business and opened Freshlink Grocer in its current form in January 2021.

Overall impact

Freshlink is a grocery store that provides wholefoods to the Wanaka community all year round. Roughly 80% of Freshlink’s customers are locals, with the remaining 20% made up of visitors to town. Freshlink’s mission is to “decrease the distance between the producer and the consumer,” which links directly to its second agenda. Freshlink achieves its mission by stocking produce from as many local sources as possible, which means that it can come straight from the farm to the store.

Freshlink strives to provide only local produce to its customers. However, as certain products are not yet grown in New Zealand, it is currently not possible for everything to be sourced regionally, or even nationwide. Freshlink hopes to change this. It can be hard for new growers to get access to sell their goods, so Freshlink provides them with a platform to easily sell their produce to customers. Freshlink ultimately hopes to inspire new growers around the region. In doing so, Freshlink is helping to build resilient infrastructure, and foster innovation, which is helping to achieve SDG 11.

Business benefit

Freshlink is a for-profit business that, in its current form, was “cash flow positive within 14 months of opening.” Albeit small, Jesse also pays himself a weekly wage. In addition to Freshlink's two main agendas, their third agenda is financial sustainability. Freshlink achieves financial sustainability in several ways. Firstly, on the odd occasion, they have to “flex a little bit on their local agenda.” Although supplying local produce is their second agenda and what they ultimately strive for, not all of their products are “locally" grown. A huge portion of their customers are attracted to shopping at Freshlink as it stocks household staples such as bananas and ginger. However, these are two foods that are not yet grown at scale in New Zealand. To keep these customers coming back, Freshlink strategically decided to source these products from the closest source outside of New Zealand until they can be purchased from within the country.

Financial sustainability is also achieved by making sure they are a convenient place to shop. Freshlink offers free parking right outside their store; the store has a generous amount of space for customers to browse; they are located on a busy street that many residents take to get to and from work; they also stock household staples so there is no need to go anywhere else. These are all strategies to incentivize customers and to ensure Freshlink's financial business model is sustainable.

In addition, as Freshlink only stocks seasonal fresh produce, when produce is in season, their prices are very similar to the bigger players around New Zealand. This is also achieved by keeping their profit margins down and having ripening processes onsite.

In 2023, Freshlink hopes to open a second store in New Zealand, further indicating that its business model is sustainable and replicable.

Social and environmental benefit

Processed foods are all around us, and it is almost impossible to avoid them when shopping for food. A huge number of studies have found that processed foods are associated with adverse health outcomes in adults such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, depression, and cardio-metabolic risk and asthma in children and adolescents (Elizabeth et al., 2020). Yet, unfortunately, processed foods are prevalent in diets worldwide (Elizabeth et al., 2020). Globally, poor health and well-being are two huge issues that have been recognised by the United Nations and SDG 3 aims to tackle them.

Freshlink tackles this issue by vetting & filtering products to create a “weightless” shopping experience for its customers. To achieve this, Freshlink works with each of its suppliers to ensure that only wholefoods reach their shelves. Jesse emphasizes, that “it’s that simple, if it’s not kai, you won’t find it in Freshlink.” This means that you will not find “food” with preservatives, stabilizers, or food coloring, nor will you find refined sugars or chemical and heat extracted oils. Through this filtering process, Freshlink makes a point to form strong relationships with their suppliers, who more often than not, have the same approach as them. Forming strong relationships is a prominent part of Freshlink's business model as they aim to keep the whole supply chain as transparent as possible for their customers. This means they know exactly where all their produce comes from, and this information is available to their customers. As a result of this filtering process, customers shopping at Freshlink can rest assured that all the hard work has been done for them, making their shopping experience calmer and less overwhelming. In addition, it means that each customer leaves with an array of wholefoods, enhancing their health and well-being.

One main social benefit that Freshlink hopes to achieve is “that children in schools have more focus in the classroom from eating wholefoods.” Studies have shown that additives such as synthetic food coloring can cause irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbances in children (Rowe & Rowe, 1994). Freshlink provides parents with an alternative grocery shop that, is not only a calmer and less overwhelming experience for them but, is also a place where they can buy foods that will increase their child(ren)’s attention span, rather than decrease it.

Minimising waste and having the least impact on the environment as possible are values ingrained in Freshlink. When fruit and vegetables are nearing close to their use-by date, Freshlink puts them on sale to incentivise customers to buy them. They also place meats and fish in the freezer to extend their shelf life and reduce the price to stop them from getting wasted. Additionally, Freshlink has partnered with a local food truck that can use up produce that may not sell. An example of this is turning surplus apples into apple sauce. Freshlink has also partnered with a local farmer, John McRae at Glendhu Station, who has a worm farm and compost system. This means that any waste produced by Freshlink is turned into organic fertiliser. This fertiliser is then used to enrich the soil on the farm to grow vegetables and raise meat. This is a truly circular approach and supports SDG 12, which aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

In addition to organic waste, general waste is also very minimal. At Freshlink, customers are encouraged to bring their own bags and containers, as almost all fruit, vegetables and dried goods are package free. You will not find a single-use plastic bag offered at Freshlink, and, on the odd chance something is packaged, it is generally compostable, recyclable, or reusable. Receipts are also all electronic, further reducing waste. This approach supports SDG 12 too.

SDG 13 highlights that we must take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. To reduce the overall demand for energy, land and water, the UN advocates for using more fresh and local foods. Freshlink’s two agendas support this approach. Supplying mainly local and seasonal produce also means that transportation and storage of goods are kept to a minimum. By keeping transportation and storage to a minimum, Freshlink uses less finite natural resources such as fossil fuels. Processing of goods also uses a huge amount of finite natural resources. However, as Freshlink only stocks wholefoods, their foods require little to no processing, meaning that they use much fewer natural resources than other grocery stores.

References:

Elizabeth, L., Machado, P., Zinöcker, M., Baker, P., & Lawrence, M. (2020). Ultra-processed foods and health outcomes: A narrative review. In Nutrients (Vol. 12, Issue 7, pp. 1–36). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12071955

Rowe, K. S., & Rowe, K. J. (1994). ORIGINAL ARTICLES Synthetic food coloring and behavior: A dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated-measures study.

Interview

Jesse Herbert, Founder