The Food Repository, an online store that puts small, artisanal producers in the spotlight, has now launched a permanent bricks and mortar store on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. We chat with their Founder, Joni Marcelis.
Tell us about The Food Repository.
At The Food Repository, we’re all about supporting small, local artisan food producers. Nearly everything we source, from food products to beeswax wraps and ceramics, has been made by hand in someone’s home kitchen, or at the very least started there.
We reckon that food made in small batches, with good quality ingredients, tastes better and is better for you. When you’ve got one or two food products that are made by a small business with one or two people, they’ll try and source the best ingredients, they’ll taste test every batch to make sure it’s perfect, and they’ll look for packaging that’s better for the planet.
We’ve got a small store on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne that opened earlier this year and delivers Australia wide via our online store. We’re all about connecting our customers to the producers, so if you pop instore you’ll most likely be told a few stories, and our website has background stories about every product and producer, which will give you cool insights about how the products came to life.
We’ll be celebrating our first birthday soon, and I feel so lucky to have been able to showcase more than 100 different producers and their products to our ever-growing community.
What inspired you to start The Food Repository?
Before moving to Australia, I spent 6 years living in London, where shopping streets are lined with food chains and clothing chains. I just love how many independent stores and cafes still exist over here, and immediately fell in love with the food. The quality of food here in Australia is simply exceptional, and I love that there are still lots of little producers all over the country making food by hand, the artisanal way.
While I loved visiting all kinds of health food stores, I quickly realized they pretty much all stock the same stuff. It might be organic and natural but a lot of it is still mass produced, and the people in the stores wouldn’t often be able to tell me much about the products.
I wanted to be able to get that weekend farmers market experience on the high street, which is what kick-started this journey.
Tell us about your career and background.
I’m originally from Belgium, and have lived in a few different countries across Europe before I decided to call Australia home in 2013. I was working for a financial software company at the time and was lucky enough to get an opportunity to move from dreary London to sunny Australia. I jumped in with both feet and just packed up, as I had never even visited this side of the world, and don’t regret it for one second.
After a while, I found myself less and less enticed by a corporate career in finance and started daydreaming about weekend farmers markets, until one day I decided to fill my days with food.
Describe a typical work day for you.
I work in the store most days but as Fitzroy is a neighbourhood that wakes up a little later than others I’m lucky enough to have a few hours at home before I start the day in store. It’s as important to me that I look after myself and not just after the business, as I wouldn’t be able to give it my all otherwise – so the first few hours of my day will involve cooking up some healthy meals for the day, perhaps a yoga class, and a few good cat cuddles.
Saturday mornings I often head to the farmers market nearby to pick up orders from our producers. I really cherish those fleeting moment chatting to them and learning more about the products.
While in store, I focus on running the store – topping up the shelves, sending out online orders, maintaining the website, balancing the books and chatting to visitors – while at night I’ll spend a few hours working on growing the business.
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Starting a business is an incredibly rewarding experience, and you’ll know yourself inside out within a few months as you’re in charge of everything – you’ll know pretty quickly what you’re good at and what you’re not good at! But it can also be lonely and stressful at times, especially when you’ve got an issue and you can’t just turn around and ask someone. Work up a little community and surround yourself with ‘colleagues’: a mentor, other small business owners etc. to help you through the rough patches.
Everything takes a lot longer than you think it will take. There’s no way to know what it means to be in business until you’re in business. I definitely underestimated this and sometimes think ‘what the hell did I get myself into’. But the reward you feel whenever someone gives you a compliment or tells you they love everything you do? Better than anything you’ve ever felt before.
Trust your gut. Sometimes things won’t make financial sense or people around you might think they’re silly. If you feel really strongly about it, do it anyway.
Invest in technology early on. The beauty of today’s world is that we’ve got some pretty good software out there that will make your life a lot easier. It might a small investment upfront but will pay off in the long run. Start your business with the mindset of growth. Having invested in a website, inventory system, point of sale system and accounting system that all talk to each other seamlessly, I was able to quickly train up someone to help me out in store when I needed it.
What’s next for you, and The Food Repository?
I’m exploring additional ways of being able to help small food businesses grow, as that’s really where my passion lies!
