Good practice:

Trilogy of Platforms: sustainable food chains and development of the local food sector

The Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry intends to support and promote healthy food with regional focus. The enhancement of networking and the exchange of the individual players in the value chain are important in particular. For this purpose online platforms have been developed. The platforms provide an overview of the regional procurement situation in Bavaria and facilitate contacts for the purchase of regional foods.
The platforms are free of charge for the participants and user-friendly.
The Bavarian State Ministry aims to demonstrate the significant benefits of using regional products:
- short distances and a strengthening of the purchasing power of the region
- market transparency: who works with who, identify and strengthen regional circulation systems
- more detailed information on production and processing
- public, independent and non-profit offer
- only one registration for all three platforms

Regional products from regional suppliers can be found through the following platforms.
The main differences between the platforms are the target groups:
“Regionales Bayern” is addressed to consumers.
“Wirt sucht Bauer” is addressed to producers and gastronomy.
“RegioVerpflegung” is addressed to traders, producers and community catering/cantines.

For the continuation, public work, further development, administration and for questions at least 3 full time working persons are needed. The visibility of the website can be improved by advertising through farmers' associations, regional agencies, or public work.

This can be seen from the continuously increasing number of registrations and good website access rates. More than 3000 regional suppliers and producers are now registered (status Nov. 2021) and offer more than 800 different products. A survey of the Regio-Verpflegung domain (youngest website, online since the beginning of 2021) shows that a lively exchange is already taking place. One in five suppliers and consumers has already contacted another business about a new business relationship.

The challenge is to be simple in design and clearly arranged. The fundamental challenge is always to develop a high reach and to keep the exchange alive. The success of the platform and the benefit for regional producers depends on the constant development and activity of the members.

Digital networking possibilities and marketing in a free offer can help to secure the existence of small producers in particular.
Based on the principle of offering simple, quickly usable and free platforms, further portals are being developed. The platform "Lokal-Helden" (Local Heroes) was created during the Corona pandemic. Restrictions enforced as a result of the Corona pandemic have led to sales losses for all restaurant owners that have threatened their existence. On a virtual map of the platform, restaurants can register their offers (for example takeaway services) and consumers can use the search function to find registered restaurants in their area.
Link: https://www.lokalhelden.bayern/karte