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Eat Local Huron’s story begins in the heart of Huron County, Ontario, a region rich in agriculture but lacking a centralized way for residents to access local food year-round. Previously, sourcing local products meant visiting multiple farmers' markets — each with its own vendors and seasonal schedule — or driving from farm gate to farm gate.
For over a decade, the dream was to build a program: “We all thought, wouldn't it be great to be able to get all of this great stuff that's being made in the county all in one spot?” shares Chris Spaleta, one of the founders and Chair of the Board at Eat Local Huron.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst: farmers' markets were closed, and small-scale producers struggled to connect with customers. Meanwhile, residents eager to support local farmers had no efficient way to find and purchase fresh, local products. Eat Local Huron was born to bridge the gap between local producers and their community through a contactless delivery service. What began as a pandemic response quickly evolved into a vital food network supporting over 50 local producers and serving countless customers across Huron County.
"We knew the demand was there — people wanted to support local, but there was no easy way to do it," said Chris. "Starting Eat Local Huron was about making it as simple as possible for both customers and producers."
Managing a diverse group of 50+ producers—ranging from vegetable growers and meat producers to artisanal food makers—posed significant logistical challenges. Each producer has their own product types, prices, and inventory, making order management complex.
Eat Local Huron’s team needed a solution that could:
When exploring software options, Eat Local Huron discovered Local Line. Local Line had everything they were looking for: supplier and producer management, seamless ordering from multiple suppliers at once, easy exports for packing orders, and access to a hands-on customer support team.
"We liked that Local Line was local, too," Chris recalled. "It meant the support team understood our business, our region, and our goals—and that gave us confidence."
With Local Line, Eat Local Huron found a platform that could manage producer accounts, track inventory, and streamline the order cycle—all while being cost-effective for their nonprofit model.
Each week, producers log in to their Local Line accounts to update inventory, manage orders, and prepare products for delivery. Since Eat Local Huron covers the platform's costs, producers—many of whom are small-scale farms—gain access to an online sales channel without additional overhead. This model allows even the newest and smallest producers to participate.
"A lot of our producers had never sold online before," Chris explained. "With Local Line, they don’t have to pay extra fees or manage their subscription. It lowered the barrier for everyone to get involved."
"The system makes it so simple," said Chris. "Producers know exactly what to bring each week, and we can pack and deliver everything in one day. It’s streamlined and easy for everyone."
In late 2023, Eat Local Huron expanded its operations by opening a physical storefront in Goderich. This development introduced new complexities — managing in-store inventory, tracking sales, and ensuring producers were still paid efficiently.
Instead of complicating their existing system, Eat Local Huron adapted Local Line to make orders for their physical location using their own online storefront.
By creating a dedicated "Eat Local Huron Store" account in Local Line, their team places wholesale orders from producers just like any other customer. These orders were seamlessly tracked, and payments are integrated into their end-of-month producer payouts.
The best part? For producers, nothing changes—they continue to use Local Line as usual, while the Eat Local Huron team enjoys a simplified inventory and payment system.
"For our producers, nothing changed," Chris said. "They didn’t have to learn a new system or change how they fulfill orders — we just adapted Local Line to fit our needs, and it worked perfectly."
When asking Chris what the key benefits of Local Line are for their team, he shared:
Local Line’s platform has been instrumental in enabling Eat Local Huron’s growth. With streamlined operations and simplified logistics, the nonprofit has scaled effectively without adding extensive overhead or demanding additional staff time.
"We can run our whole system with way fewer hours of labour than you'd imagine it would take," said Chris. "Most of it is handled automatically online. It's great."
Their small but mighty team can now dedicate more energy to customer engagement, organizing community events like farm crawls, growing their physical location, and expanding their product offerings—all while ensuring producers get paid on time efficiently.
"We started this to make it easier for people to support local," Chris reflected. "With Local Line, we’ve been able to do that without overwhelming ourselves or our producers. It’s been a game-changer."
Eat Local Huron demonstrates how the right platform can empower small teams to manage complex operations efficiently. By integrating Local Line into both their online and in-store sales systems, Eat Local Huron has built a resilient, scalable business model that continues to support local farmers and connect communities to fresh, local food.
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