Archive for the ‘Site Updates’ Category

You can now add flowers to the list of products that you sell in your FoodHub profile so that potential buyers can find you!

We had received ample feedback from our members that we needed to include cut flowers (even though they aren’t food) within our product listings—and so, just in time for spring, we’ve added both cut and edible flowers to the FoodHub “taxonomy.” Currently, we have not listed individual flower varieties, but instead the larger categories.

We also recently added micro greens to the FoodHub product list. Anyone else suddenly hungry for a salad of greens and spicy nasturtiums!?

FoodHub will continually evolve to meet your needs, so please tell us if you can’t find a product that you buy or sell; if we’re missing an important certification or business type; or if we don’t list your farmers market or distribution partner. Let us know your request by either clicking the green Feedback button of the left side of the FoodHub screen or sending an email to connect@food-hub.org.

Photo by Taylor Schefstrom

At the very core of FoodHub is an extensive database that contains many moving pieces. When they are all in sync you can quickly and easily find the buyer or seller you seek to satisfy your needs for anything from dried basil to double-paper wrapped beef. One of the biggest pieces of that database is a hierarchical listing of products we affectionately call the Taxonomy.

When we launched FoodHub in Beta we had approximately 800 products in the Taxonomy. They only included meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. Now, thanks to the incredible support of our beta testers, intrepid interns and supportive partners, you will find nearly 1300 products, including beverages, grains & beans, baked goods, condiments and specialty products. Each of these products is married to a set of attributes so that, for example, you can find dried gala apples in a cello bag in addition to raw apples.

Our work is not nearly complete, however! Every other Friday we’ll be updating FoodHub with new products. Although it would be lovely to add them the moment you bring a new product to our attention, the database is a fragile thing. First, to ensure that we don’t jeopardize any of the data already in the system, we will batch additions and test them thoroughly on a development server. This means that we ask for your patience after you suggest a new product.

We’ve taken great care to make sure that specific varieties of fruits and vegetables are called out in the Taxonomy. However, we understand that scrolling through dozens of varieties when you enter products you buy or sell can be a cumbersome process. We’re working on a solution that will let you select a more general description—like Sweet Corn—and we’ll keep you updated on our efforts to streamline that process.

Please keep using the Feedback button or send an email to connect@food-hub.org with your product additions and suggestions. Your input guides our future improvements!

NEW ON FOODHUB

Marketplace – What had been our “product requests” feature is now “Marketplace.” Use this section to promote products you have for sale or, conversely, products you are interested in buying. (‘Marketplace’ is accessed from the tab above or from your personal ‘Dashboard’ page.)  This section works best when entries are time sensitive. For example:

• Sellers might promote a time limited special on winter squash or let buyers know that the window for locking in forward contracts ends on a certain date.
• Buyers might want to post information about product needs for an upcoming event or alert sellers to an item you consistently need but still can’t find (such as eggs in the case of Grand Central Bakery).

HotSheets – What had been “fresh sheets” specific to produce are now Hotsheets that accommodate information on all types of products for sale within FoodHub. Use this feature to let customers know what is “hot” or “special” on any given day or week. (Hot sheets are accessed from your personal ‘Dashboard’ or from the ‘My Products’ tab above.)

Delivery Range – It is no longer possible to name cities or locations in the delivery range box; you can only list delivery range information via miles from your principal location. (Delivery range information exists in the ‘Edit my Profile’ section accessed through your ‘Dashboard.’)

Welcome Idaho! – We’ve updated our list of farmers markets and distributors to include Idaho. (Information about which farmers markets and distributors you are associated with exists in the ‘Edit my Profile’ section accessed through your ‘Dashboard.’)

We’ll be making system improvements on a continual basis and will use this section of FoodHub as our principal means for letting you know what has changed.  Please don’t hesitate to send us your feedback at any time. We always love to hear from our members.

YES – thank you – we have heard you.

The feedback regarding FoodHub’s ‘My Products’ tab has been consistent across numerous types of FoodHub users. You want us to make it easier and faster to add products you buy or products you sell. Some of you want to be able to say I buy “potatoes” and leave it at that without having to detail the specific variety of potato you buy. Others want to be able to click through a whole sheet of products without having to detail information for each product they buy/sell one by one.

For what it’s worth, we debated and fretted and wrung our hands over this one for months pre launch.

One of the many things that sets FoodHub apart is its extensive taxonomy, built in partnership with you.  Thus, we need to make sure that in making it easier and faster for you to indicate your desire for potatoes, we still allow the potato producer who is really proud of his/her Pontiac Red Potatoes to indicate they grow this specific variety.

We’re working now on a solution that let’s us have the best of both worlds. It will probably be March/April 2010 before the new system goes live. We have to build it, then test it, revise it based on user feedback and then incorporate it in such a way that those of you who have already added products don’t lose your data.

We’re on it.

If you’d like to help us test the new system or have thoughts or concerns on this one, please don’t hesitate to be in touch or to post a comment below.