How To Grow Your Business and Build Your Networks with Ontariofresh.ca

Contact Us

If you cannot find an answer to your question, if you need help with your profile at any time, or if you have suggestions or questions about Ontariofresh.ca feel free to Contact us:

By email at info(at)ontariofresh.ca

By Phone: (416) 960-0001 x.310 (9:00 and 5:00 Monday to Friday)

You can also reach us by mail at:

Attn: Ontariofresh.ca

The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation

661 Yonge Street, Suite 500

Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1Z9

How To Grow Your Business and Build Your Networks with Ontariofresh.ca

Ontariofresh.ca is here to help you expand your networks and grow your business by connecting with other players throughout the food value chain in Ontario. Whether you buy, sell, produce, pack, process, distribute, or serve food, this tool can help you reach new suppliers or customers and connect with them to get high-quality local food on more Ontario plates.

Anyone can search on Ontariofresh.ca but the site is built for business. If you are interested in looking for agri-tourism, pick-your owns, farmers markets, and farm stalls please visit our consumer page: many regional food networks have done a wonderful job of assembling resources to help local consumers get to know their farmers and find fresh, local food. If you are a business, you can create your completely free profile on Ontariofresh.ca, search for and connect with other players, post short-term sales or requests on the marketplace, and much much more. For more information about how to use the key features of the site please select your area of interest from the menu on the right.

Creating & Editing Your Profile:

At a glance:

• Create a profile to sell (producer), buy (buyer), buy & sell (distributor), or build connections with the local food community (friend).
• Edit your profile any time by clicking "sign in" in the top right of the home page and going to "Edit My Profile" (Under the "Profile" drop down menu)
• Processors, packers, etc. can create either “producer” or “distributor” profiles depending on whether they are looking to source and sell, or only sell, food through Ontariofresh.ca
• Your profile is an opportunity to market yourself and your business to potential partners – provide as much information as you can, including a complete product listing, a detailed “about us” section, and information about how to contact you and do business.
• Upload photos, logos, and brochures or other information to make your profile even more eye-catching and useful.

The Four Profile Types:

How you use the site depends on your business and what you hope to get out of it. That will play a big role in determining what profile type is best for you.

Ontariofresh.ca features four different profile types. Because so many different kinds of businesses are using the site, the name may not sound like it applies to you, so take a look at the following descriptions to better understand what the different profile types mean.

Producer: For the purposes of Ontariofresh.ca a “producer” is anyone who wants to use the website to sell products, but is not interested in buying food through the site. Whether you grow fresh veggies or artisan grains, raise chickens, bake pies, pack beef, or make cheese, this is the profile for you. If you are a packer or a processor any products that you sell through Ontariofresh.ca have to be made with at least 80% Ontario ingredients by volume. It’s fine if you sell other products but Ontariofresh.ca can only be used to advertise, list, or promote products that meet this standard.

Buyer: A “buyer” on the site is anyone who only wants to use Ontariofresh.ca to buy Ontario food and is not interested in selling through the site. Whether you are a processor who does not have any products that meet the 80% guideline, a restaurant, a food service provider, or a retail store, this is the profile for you.

Distributor: This special profile was added after consultations revealed that many people were interested in using Ontariofresh.ca to both buy and sell Ontario food, or processed food containing at least 80% Ontario ingredients by volume. Whether you are a packer, distributor, processor, or wholesaler, if you are looking to find new suppliers and new customers at the same time, this is the profile for you.

Friend: Finally, we recognize that agriculture in Ontario and around the world is supported by a broader community that provides a variety of services and supports. From growers of seedlings to agricultural associations, to citizens who want to show their support for Ontario agriculture and the great food Ontario produces, Friend profiles are open to anyone who does not wish to buy or sell food through Ontariofresh.ca.

Creating Your Profile:

What kind of profile type you select will affect the questions that you are asked when you create your profile. If you create a producer, distributor, or buyer profile you will be asked to identify, among other things, your scale, the products you buy or sell, and what kinds of certifications you hold or require. All of these factors are reflected in search results – a buyer or seller looking for a new business partner can easily narrow down results and pick people who they know they will be able to do business with. Because of this, creating a complete, informative, profile is key to using Ontariofresh.ca effectively.

We have made every effort to make sure the product listings are complete and detailed but if you sell something that you can’t find listed please let us know right away by emailing info@ontariofresh.ca and we will make sure it gets added to the list!

Uploading Images, Logos, and Files:

You can make your profile more complete and engaging by uploading logos, photos, and product listings. When people search, your logo will appear beside your name and some key information from your profile. Your logo can be a great way to help people view your profile.

For both images and logos there is a size limit of 4 MB, so you may have to resize images. Also, because they will be appearing as a “thumbnail,” smaller images will look better on the website. The optimal size is 300 X 300 pixels but any reasonably small image will be resized automatically.

You can also upload word, .txt, and .pdf files as “resources” – these might include a product listing or brochure, some detailed information about your business, or an order form that you prefer to use when doing business. The same size limit applies to these files as to pictures.

Editing Your Profile:

To edit your profile sign in on the homepage by clicking "Sign in" in the top right corner. If you have forgotten your password you can reset it by clicking "forgot my password". If you have forgotten what email address you registered with, contact info@ontariofresh.ca for assistance.

Once signed in, click on "Edit my Profile" under the "Profile" drop-down menu in the top left. From this page you can edit all the information in your profile. Make sure to click "Save Changes" when you are done. To edit information about what you buy or sell, scroll down until you see tabs labeled "Contact" and "Buying" or "Selling" (just under the Upload Files options). These allow you to provide more detailed information about things like your food safety and traceability certifications, your product list, and the scale of your operation.

Search:

At a Glance:

• Search for buyers, sellers, articles, and marketplace posts through one easy interface – use the appropriate filters to find what you want.
• Find businesses near you: Log in or enter your postal code for best results, or make sure you "accept" the request from your browser to share your location information.
• Search according to any keyword – product name, business name, region or operations etc.
• Narrow down your search using a variety of filters – profile type, product, farm practice, scale, and food safety & traceability.
• Each filter narrows your search – selecting producers, conventional, strawberries, and beef under their different filters will show you producers who sell conventional products and sell both strawberries and beef

Buying or Selling?

The first thing to know is that buyers and sellers can both search for partners using the Ontariofresh.ca intelligent search. Some of the filters that appear when you first enter your search term are relevant only to one or the other. To view only the questions relevant to you, use the “What kind of business are you looking for?” filter. However, because buyers do not list every individual item they are interested in buying, but only broad product categories searching for individual products (e.g. carrots) will not necessarily bring up all the buyers who purchase vegetables. To find a buyer search by product category (“Vegetables” “Meat & Fish”) or other keyword then use the other filters, described below, to narrow your choices.

Narrowing your Search:

The search is extremely flexible – you can start by entering a product you are looking for (carrots or shiraz) or you could instead enter a region, the company name of someone whose products you’ve heard good things about, or the name of someone you met at a show. You can then narrow down. It is usually easiest to work your way down the list of filters from the top – Are you looking for someone to buy your product, or for a distributor, or for a producer? If it isn’t relevant you can leave that field alone but you will continue to see some questions that may not apply to your search. The next filter is what kind of product you are looking for. Select the product you are looking for (e.g. cherries) then view individual profiles for more details about varieties they have available. You can also pick someone who sells multiple things you’re looking for – want to buy your eggs and cheese from the same supplier? Just select both “eggs” and “cheese” under suppliers and only those will appear who sell both things.

Once you’ve selected your product or products you can use other filters to narrow down your choices, especially if you are still getting dozens of listings! What scale are you looking to buy at? Do you want kosher, halal, or LFP certified products? If you select multiple different farm practices (or scales, or anything else) the businesses that appear will be those who sell both. However, for people who sell, for example, both organic and conventional, you will need to contact them directly to find out if specific products are one or the other. You can also narrow your search according to certifications

Marketplace:

At a Glance:

• Promote your business and buy or sell on short notice
• View current activity – posts are automatically removed after 2 weeks
• Look for what’s relevant to you – sort posts according to whether the poster wants to buy or sell, as well as by product category.
• Exciting and exotic Marketplace Posts will be shared with our 1500+ followers on Twitter

View the Marketplace:

To view the activity currently happening in the marketplace just click the “Marketplace” tab in the navigation bar at the top of every page. A few of the newest posts appear near the top of the page (and on the homepage) but you can also scroll down and view every post made in the last two weeks. Because the marketplace is for short-term sales, like an online classified, posts are automatically removed after two weeks. When you are viewing the Marketplace you can sort posts according to whether the poster wants to buy or sell, and according to the product category (vegetables, meat, etc.). By clicking the “my connections” button you can also view all the postings by your contacts on Ontariofresh.ca. To return at any time to seeing all of the current posts click on “see all” on the far right of the page.

When somebody views your profile (or you view theirs) they will also be able to view all of your recent marketplace postings by clicking on the “Marketplace” tab in your profile. This will give people an idea of what you are up to and how engaged you are with Ontariofresh.ca.

Make a Post:

To create your own Marketplace Post click “Post Your Listing” – this button appears on the homepage as well as the marketplace page. Select whether you are buying or selling and write a brief description of what you are hoping to buy or sell. It might be helpful to include a brief note about how you would like people to contact you, especially if the contact information is different than the primary contact listed in your profile. When you post your listing the site will automatically return you to whatever page you were looking at before.

We will also be re-posting some unusual, exotic, or exciting Marketplace Posts over our Twitter feed so our 1800+ followers can learn more about what is fresh and in season on Ontariofresh.ca.

If you make a great connection, let us know! We would love to share your story in our Newsletter.

Connecting & Sending Messages:

At a Glance:

• Save time by keeping a handy list of who you’re interested in doing business with
• View Marketplace posts from your connections all in one place
• Connect quickly by visiting someone’s profile and clicking “Add to your conections”
• Visit your profile and check your Pending Requests regularly so you don’t miss opportunities to do business.
• Send messages to potentail business partners either from their profile or your inbox.

Connecting:

Because buying and selling food has a lot to do with relationships, Ontariofresh.ca includes a function to help you keep track of who you are interested in doing business with, so that you do  not need to search from scratch every time. You can view people’s profiles and send them messages without adding them as a connection, but if you want to keep track of buyers or sellers with a lot to offer you can visit their profile and click the “Add to Your Connections” button under their logo. This will allow you to send an invitation directly to them to become a connection. You can view a list of all of your connections at any time by clicking the “connection” button that appears in your personal navigation bar when you are logged in to your profile – you can also remove a connection at any time.

When you view your own profile a notice will appear if someone wants to add you as their connection – you can approve or disapprove each connection by going to the “Pending Requests” section of your profile. Make sure to check your profile regularly so you do not miss opportunities to build new business relationships!

Messaging:

You can use the messaging function to send direct, private messages to other users. From their profile you can click "Send a Message" under their profile picture and compose your message. Alternatively you can go to your own Inbox, which will appear in the menu bar when you are logged in to your profile, and send a new message from there. Make sure to log in regularly to check for messages!

News & Resources:

At a Glance:

• Keep up to date with local food developments and access key resources dealing with research & innovation, food safety & traceability, business development & marketing, and recipes & menu planning.
• Search for News & Resources using the main search or navigate using side menus in the News and Resources pages.
• Contact us at info@ontariofresh.ca if you have resources you would be interested in sharing with the Ontariofresh.ca community.

These two dynamic sections will tap into the pulse of the local food movement in Ontario and provide a forum for knowledge sharing and networking.  Beyond simply providing news about local food, areas of focus within the News and Resources sections include research and innovation, food safety and traceability, business development and marketing, and recipes and menu plans showcasing fantastic Ontario products.

The Ontariofresh.ca team is committed to sharing best practices and showcasing leading innovations, trends and news from across the agri-food sector in Ontario.  If you have “News” or “Resources” that you would like to see published on Ontariofresh.ca, please contact us (hyperlink to contact us page). News and Resources are fully searchable and will appear together with profile and marketplace results when you search Ontariofresh.ca

You can navigate among the different news and references in a variety of ways. When you first go to the “News” or “Resources” page you will see all the most recent additions but menus along the left hand side of the page allow you to navigate by tag (like “local food infrastructure”), by date, by content type (blog, recipe etc.), by category, or by particular blogger. We have several fantastic bloggers who have agreed to share their interesting and informative work with the users of Ontariofresh.ca so be sure to check them out!