Field Good is a grocery delivery disruptor that brings the farmers’ market to you

The Australian market hasn’t been kind to food delivery disruptors lately. In the past few weeks alone we’ve seen VOLY and Deliveroo collapse, while Milkrun has also reportedly had to let go of more staff. But that doesn’t concern Field Good, a grocery delivery service that delivers the local farmers’ market straight to your door.

Grocery chains such as Woolworths and Coles have been offering delivery for a few years now. Next-day and even under-two-hour delivery is slowly becoming the norm for these services, particularly in metropolitan areas.

Still, the last few years have also seen a market trend swinging towards buying locally. A number of factors seem to be contributing to this, including more local travel due to COVID-19 and a rise is veganism and Australians who are sustainability conscious.

Field Good is tapping into this by taking the produce and goods that can usually only be found at farmers’ markets and delivering them straight to customers.

And it’s not all fruit and veg. Field Good has partnered with a ride range of growers, makers and producers. Customers are able to order locally roasted coffee, handmade pasta, seafood and more than 1000 other items.

Field Good is about bringing community and fresh produce together

The company was started by Mark Power, the managing director of Goodwill Projects, which has been running multiple farmers’ markets and other events across southeast Queensland since 2006.

While the idea arose during COVID-19, when people couldn’t get to their local markets and food delivery began piquing, that wasn’t the main driver for the launch. At the beating heart of Field Good isn’t just a love for good fresh food, but inclusion.

“A lot of people want to go to their local markets and simply can’t,” Power said in a phone call with SmartCompany.

“Shift workers, nurses, parents who have children’s sport. You only have a six-hour window to get to your local market. So we thought, rather than just make this about COVID-19, let’s make it about the tens of thousands of people that want to be at their market.”

At the present time, Field Good delivers once a week, with customers getting their orders in by midday Wednesday. From there, farmers deliver the goods to a central Brisbane warehouse. There’s no frozen storage and minimal fridge storage because everything is fresh and there for the orders.

The deliveries then go out on Friday via its delivery partner HSD Home Delivery Service.

This is a long way from competing with grocery giants. but that’s not what Field Good wants to do.

“We aren’t price focused — we are totally focused on quality and service and it’s a commitment to support these genuine local growers,” Power said. 

“All the goods are in season and in some cases, we can compete on price depending on the seasonality or the line of products. It’s about having that touch point for people who want quality and something a bit unique that’s not mass produced either.”

Keeping it local for now

It’s still an incredibly new journey for Field Good, which is only in its second week of operation. But it’s already growing as word spreads. Starting with a couple of dozen orders in its first week, it has now seen its orders double in a single day.

Eventually, the aim is to get to 1500 orders a week, but the company isn’t looking to expand too quickly. As we’ve seen with the likes of VOLY and Deliveroo, quick expansion isn’t always the best course.

“We’ve tried to populate [the website] to be extremely service orientated and deliver that farmers’ markets magic,” Power said.

The company is also trying to differentiate itself from large-scale competitors, as well as app-based service providers where immediate delivery is the focus.

“When people visit our site they will realise this is absolutely about quality. It’s well-priced considering, but it’s simply not about having 40,000 items at the click of a button. We’ve tried to simplify,” Power said.

So for now, Field Good is sticking to 650 suburbs across Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. There aren’t any plans to push into other states, and the next goal is to expand to two deliveries per week.

“It‘s going to take time for us to get some critical volume,” Power said.

Power and I also swap stories about our own local farmers’ markets. In winter I love the lamb roast bowls that are created by a farmer who uses veggies from the produce bloke one tent over. In turn, Power tells me about a guy who doesn’t just sell bananas, but lets people taste them and explains the different varieties to curious kids.

“There’s this there’s this element of education that we call market romance,” Power explained.

“People talk to us about what their preferences are, why they come to us to the blazing heat and dodge dog poo on the weekends. It’s because they want quality and get to know the people that are growing their goods.

“That’s what we try to capture and deliver online, particularly for all those people that can’t necessarily get there every week.”