How did we start with Novel Foodies?
My girlfriend and I got together just before Corona and have been a couple since that time. Especially because of Corona it was a hard time for both of us, as we were spatially separated from each other. Christina lives and works in Austria and I work professionally in the UK and Germany. In the time pick time of Corona, we could not see each other partly for more than six months. Therefore we decided to work on our common idea and so our heart project with the name Novel Foodies was born.
Try something new with Novel Foodies
We both always want to go out of our comfort zone and discover and try something new. That’s why we decided to look for something we both are no specialists in. We thought it would be easiest to start by selling a simple product and distributing it. Honestly, we both had no clue how complex and complicated some of the steps are. At least we found a product in less than two weeks. Without the biggest research, our choice falls on Baobab fruit powder.
What is Baobab?
Baobab – this is the name of the majestic baobab tree of the African savannahs. Almost all parts of the baobab tree have been used by the Africans for centuries to produce traditional medicines. The fruits of the “magic tree” can be transformed into a baobab powder that has an extremely positive effect on health, is rich in iron, provides antioxidant polyphenols and, thanks to its high content of well-tolerated fiber, has a beneficial effect on the intestines, helps with weight loss and lowers blood sugar levels.
What is Novel Food?
Sounds sexy? We think so too. “Novel food is any food that has not been used for human consumption to a significant degree in the European Union before May 15, 1997, and that falls into at least one of the categories listed in Article 3 of Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283.”
Current status of Novel Foodies project
In the next chapter, I will share the latest status of the project and how far we are. Not everything that we wanted is working as expected:
Amazon
The biggest marketplace in the western world is not working in our favor. Selling products from Austria to Austrian customers on Amazon is a complete disaster. We got the feeling that Amazon doesn’t really care about small sellers who want to start on the platform. The prices to get listed or high borders with required certifications make it hard for small initiatives to get started. For us is Amazon at this point not the right platform because the obstacles are too high.
Instagram – Follow us @Novelfoodies
With the concept of Instagram, we want to consciously differ from what is currently on the market in brand communication. We decided to go in a new direction with the pop-art style. The design is bold, modern, flashy, and colorful.
“Pop art combines art and everyday life. Elementary features of pop art is the often trivial motifs known from everyday pop culture, media, and advertising. The motifs used are torn from their original context, isolated, and thus altered in meaning.” – Source: Kunsthaus-artes.de
Feel free to follow us on Instagram and stop by our web store.
Novel-Foodies.com Online-shop Live
Due to the fact that Amazon, unfortunately, does not work for us in Austria, we have decided to go an alternative way. We compared a number of online store-building kits. Actually, we wanted to set up the store with Shopify, but the service is quite expensive for us with a good 30€ per month. We may switch to Shopify at a later date, as the service offers many advantages. In the meantime, we were able to secure an offer from Jimdo, where we pay about 8 euros per month. Setting up the store was very easy and intuitive for us.
Our next steps
With the growing activity on Instagram, our next step would be to work closely with everday-day influencers to start promoting our Baobab fruit powder. Furthermore, we want to strengthen our SEO rankings and hopefully, we get Amazon running at a later stage.
If you like to give us feedback about the project please feel free to drop us a message on Instagram or over contact.