FoodStore

During the pandemic, we were forced to close our physical restaurant. Everything moved online, so we created our own digital store. Although it started in response to an emerging crisis, FoodStore builds upon existing ideas of localizing food supplies and getting in touch with our farmers and our food (again).

A couple of years ago, we bought an expensive juicer to make healthy living a bit more convenient. But it turned out to be quite a hassle to clean, and the fruits and veggies also didn't chop themselves.. So a business idea arose! My wife started a little juice bar across the road from where we live (Davao City, Philippines).

Soon after opening, HQ (Healthy & Quick) also started serving vegetarian dishes and bites. It went well, they moved to a bigger location, and then the pandemic happened. So everything shifted to online delivery apps. Here in Davao, we basically have 2 big players for ordering food online: Food Panda and Grab. The respectively take 30% and 25% of your order for their service, and they don't seem to be running that hard for doing any promotion on your behalf (unless you pay extra). On top of that, they are not local businesses, so most of the money is siphoned into the pockets of foreign investors.

So we thought: let's just hire a rider and start our own online store. Turns out it's pretty hard to fight global capitalism head-on like that, but that doesn't stop us from trying. Although our platform is very specific (it uses the MODX CMS, Romanesco, a paid extra called Commerce, and it's tailored to the Philippines), I open-sourced it just in case someone else needs a little copy/paste inspiration for their own attempt.