Eat Love Noosa
What began as a free online platform for locals to connect with Noosa’s food and drink businesses still operating during the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into a mobile collective of fantastic places to satisfy your tastebuds and an invaluable one-stop-shop for the foodie industry, as Ingrid Nelson discovers.
Whether it’s choice of cuisine, opening hours, dine-in, heat-and-eat or take away, EatLocalNoosa.com.au has everything you need to know about local dining options as well as a list of grocery stores and local food and drink producers right at your fingertips. But it’s so much more than just a directory.
The foodie website has grown over the past few months to include just about every category you could think of. From your favourite coffee roasters and bakeries to where to find the best eggs and dairy, if it’s a food or beverage business in Noosa, you will find it here.
Born from a need to find a solution for businesses to continue operating in a challenging environment and to let customers know they were offering something new; the project began as businesses started to reopen after the COVID-19 shutdown.
Many local wholesalers found themselves faced with an oversupply of stock, potential wasted food and job losses when the pandemic hit, leaving them with no connection to consumers.
“It quickly became clear that our entire local and food and drink industry faced similar challenges. So with the web development and marketing skills of the team at Social Tap, we found a solution to meet the needs of the local food and drink businesses whilst also providing an invaluable resource for our entire Noosa community,” says Alesha.
Backed by local industry groups including the Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN); Slow Food Noosa; Noosa Eat & Drink Festival; Country Noosa; IN Noosa Magazine; Tourism Noosa; and Noosa Council, Alesha says the true power of this project is in the partnerships.
“These industry groups have a combined network of more than 308,000 supporters so it allowed for immediate reach into the food businesses and foodies to encourage participation,” she says.
More than 70 businesses listed when registrations first opened and the numbers continue to grow as business owners recognise the value of the free virtual platform that is specific to Noosa and allows customers to find them with the click of a mouse.
Nathan Ramsay, owner of newcomer Somedays Pizza and part of the family-owned Noosa Harbour Fish Market said the initiative had been an invaluable tool for both businesses.
“It allowed people to know that Noosa Harbour Fish Market was still open for business after 20 years in operations and because we had just opened Somedays Pizza, it gave us great traction and helped us to tap into the foodie market,” he said.
Even with restrictions easing and businesses adjusting to the ever-evolving times, Alesha says the consumer-focused and industry-led initiative is still providing an excellent free resource for Noosa businesses and it is continuing to grow and evolve to include future listings for Private Chefs, food experiences and more.
“Eat Local Noosa is a one-stop-shop for our foodie industry and so many people are continuing to use it as an invaluable resource,” says Alesha. “It’s a great way for businesses to reach a broader customer base and for customers to have a central hub to find whatever they need to know about Noosa’s food and drink offer in one, easy-to-use location.”
www.eatlocalnoosa.com.au
