Today’s retail environment

A lot of food retailers feel like they’re being pulled in two different directions by new breeds of tough customers.

On the one hand, the lingering recession since 2008 has produced bargain hunters looking for discounted prices and choices. On the other hand, the rise of consciousness about the environmental and health consequences of food choices has bred a generation of shoppers who want to do the right thing.

In this situation, a number of dynamic, successful and high-profile retailers have looked to partnerships with LFP.

We can help

LFP is a charitable organization dedicated to educating the public about the need for new partnerships along the food chain – from field to table — to promote Certified Local Sustainable foods.

Local sustainability can’t succeed as a solo act of farmers or processors or retailers or shoppers, each acting on their own. This understanding, and the fresh faces and ideas that come with it, helps producers, retailers and customers help each other.

Notwithstanding the intense pressure from tight budgets, the force is with LFP partnerships.

What it means to Partner with LFP

The LFP certification system helps consumers to identify farmers who commit not only to ecologically responsible production, but who also commit to offering safe and fair working conditions, providing healthy and humane care for livestock, protecting and enhancing wildlife and biodiversity, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases, and fostering a strong local economy.

By becoming a LFP partner, you commit to sourcing from 5 to 15 Certified Local Sustainable farmers and processors throughout the year, subject to seasonal availability.

If you need assistance locating a particular Certified Local Sustainable food item, we’re here to facilitate the relationship between you and our certified producers.

After you pledge your commitment, we support your commitment to Certified Local Sustainable food to consumers through various channels including – social media and other web-based outlets, relevant community events, and through our consumer awareness campaigns.

We also provide you with Point Of Sale (POS) material so that consumers can easily recognize those food items which are Certified Local Sustainable in your store.

If you’d like to talk more details about what’s required to partner with LFP, contact Chris Trussell at 416-699-6070, extension 227 or chris.trussell@localfoodplus.ca.

More Reasons to Partner with LFP

People join partnerships because they need services they can’t get on their own, or because they find it too expensive or complicated to buy those services in the competitive marketplace, which doesn’t always respond to special values and needs.

LFP is Canada’s only full-service networking and partnership organization for the fast-rising local sustainable food sector. We are a high-energy roll-up-our-sleeves group that’s eager to help you make real food system change.

Here are standard LFP services:

  • LFP partners get identified as a partner on the LFP website, a busy site in its own right, which also has traffic driven to it via Facebook postings and Twitter feeds. When customers are looking for local sustainable providers, chances are this is the first place they’ll look.
  • LFP partners get mentioned when journalists call LFP for leads on a story about new and interesting local and environmental projects on Earth Day, during harvest season, and at other times when media do specials on local sustainable events. LFP has excellent relations with the media, and LFP staff are often the first to be called by journalists on tight deadlines.
  • LFP partners get mentioned when LFP leaders give presentations on major themes related to local sustainable food.
  • LFP partners bask in the light of LFP’s dynamic branding of local sustainable food. It’s well-recognized that LFP put local sustainable on the map. When a partner posts the small but attractive LFP logo near an entrance, passers-by will know the logo stands for the real thing.
  • LFP partners get trouble-shooting services. Local sustainable is new, and is linked to increased public awareness of controversial issues – from animal welfare concerns to worries about hormones and genetic engineering. LFP partners are one call away from having someone who can give informed answers.
  • LFP partners can access training sessions and packages for staff that equip them to pass on interesting and heart-warming stories behind local sustainable food. Customers are delighted by such stories because they don’t get that transparency or enthusiasm from the conventional food industry.
  • LFP partners get opportunities to start positive conversations with new customers. Many LFP restaurants directly identify the specific LFP producer on their menu, because customers like to link a name and face to the Certified Local Sustainable food they’re eating.
  • LFP partners get access to LFP’s attractively-designed Point of Sale educational materials that can be displayed during in-store promotions.