What Open Food Network does

Open Food Network is an international not-for-profit organization that provides open source ecommerce marketplace software for farmers, food producers, and community food hubs. Founded in 2012 (with predecessor activity dating to 2011 as Eaterprises Australia) and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the organization operates as a federated network of 20+ country-level instances governed under a shared community pledge structure. The core product is the Open Food Network Software Platform — a full-featured marketplace application built with Ruby on Rails and released under the AGPL license, supporting subscriptions, product import, inventory management, payment integrations, multilingual functionality, and supply chain transparency features. The platform is used by 2,500+ enterprises across 15+ countries, with 389 food co-operatives in the UK alone.

The organization's revenue model is unconventional for software companies: it charges no transaction fees, collects voluntary contributions from users based on what they can afford, and is primarily funded by philanthropic grants from foundations including the National Lottery Community Fund, Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn, VicHealth, MACIF Foundation, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. A small core development team of 11-50 employees works remotely across the UK, Australia, Catalonia, Portugal, the Philippines, and France. Growth occurs through a community-led GTM motion where local instances are launched by passionate individuals in new geographies who adapt the platform to local needs. Key customers are SMB food producers, food hubs, food co-operatives, and community food enterprises — there are no enterprise anchor customers. Recent strategic initiatives include the Data Food Consortium open data standard partnership, regenerative agriculture directories, public sector procurement projects, and food subsidy pilots, extending the platform beyond pure marketplace software into broader food system infrastructure.

Name

Open Food Network

Legal name

Open Food Network

Website

https://openfoodnetwork.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Open Food Network is an international not-for-profit providing open source ecommerce marketplace software for farmers, food producers, and community food hubs, serving 2,500+ enterprises across 15+ countries through a federated network of locally-governed country instances.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Marketplace Software

NAICS

Other Specialty Food Retailers (44529), Community Food Services (62421)

SIC

Wholesale-Groceries, General Line (5141)

akta.pro primary industry

Grocery & Specialty Food Marketplaces (CRAFABAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wholesale-to-Business Online Ordering (B2B Food E-Commerce) (AFAIAMAD), Specialty & Artisanal Online Food Marketplaces (AFAIAMAG)

Keywords

• Open source ecommerce
• Food marketplace software
• Local food systems
• Community food hubs
• Agricultural technology platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Melbourne

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Voluntary Contributions: Users are invited to contribute on the basis of what they can afford and the value they feel they are receiving from the platform. This model is designed to support small-scale farmers and producers while enabling them to network and share distribution costs.
2. Platform does not charge transaction fees: The platform does not take fees from transactions - payments go directly to producers. Revenue comes through voluntary contributions rather than transaction cuts.
3. Donations and Philanthropic Support: Open Food Network relies on donations and grant funding from foundations and organizations to support ongoing platform development and operations.
4. Startup Support for New Instances: New country instances require startup support including funding for deployment and ongoing operations, provided through partnerships with local organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Open Food Network provides an open source ecommerce marketplace platform that enables farmers, food producers, and community food hubs to sell directly to consumers, manage orders, coordinate logistics, and operate transparent short food supply chains. The platform is deployed through a federated model of independent country-level instances in 15+ countries, used by more than 2,500 enterprises. It is licensed under AGPL, charges no transaction fees, and supports features such as subscriptions, inventory management, payment integrations, and multilingual functionality.

Product overview

Open Food Network is a not-for-profit international organization that provides a unified open source software platform for building local food economies. The core product is the Open Food Network Software Platform — full-featured marketplace software for farmers, producers, and community food hubs to sell direct, manage orders, and coordinate logistics. This platform is supported by the OFN User Guide documentation system (available in 9 languages), community resources including action packs for schools and deprived areas, and the Open Food Network Community Forum for coordination. The software is built as open source under AGPL license and enables transparent, fair food supply chains across 15+ countries with 2,500+ enterprises.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Food Network Software Platform Full-featured open source online marketplace software enabling farmers, food producers, and community hubs to sell direct to consumers, manage orders, organize logistics, and coordinate short food supply chains. Used by more than 2,500 enterprises across 15+ countries.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2500+ enterprises using the platform globally
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• Data Food ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOFN is a lead partner in this collaborative initiative to develop an open standard for data exchange in food systems. The goal is to let farmers, marketplaces, and consumers easily and securely share information while upholding data sovereignty for small-scale producers.
• Tegonal GenossenschaftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in launching Open Food Network Switzerland, providing expertise in cooperative structures and alternative supply chains.
• SeedlingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in launching Open Food Network Switzerland, supporting the development of the local food network.
• UN FAO and INRAEmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOFN was highlighted in the 'Enabling sustainable food systems - Innovators' handbook' published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. This recognition validates OFN's role in building resilient local food economies.
• UrgenciminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOFN participated in Urgenci's 'The Social Economy, the Future of Europe' conference in Strasbourg, working with other social economy actors on advocacy for the European Green Deal.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Local Line: Local Line is a SaaS platform that helps farms and food hubs sell online, manage orders, coordinate distribution, and process payments. Like OFN, it serves small-scale producers and aggregators in the local food system, but operates as a venture-backed commercial business with subscription pricing rather than voluntary contributions.
• Farmigo (acquired by GrubMarket): Farmigo built software for food hubs and CSA-style distribution connecting farmers to consumers via online marketplaces and subscription boxes. It shares OFN's focus on aggregating multiple producers through a hub model, though it operated as a for-profit SaaS before being acquired by GrubMarket.
• Barn2Door: Barn2Door provides an e-commerce platform tailored for farms selling direct to consumers and wholesale buyers, including subscriptions, inventory management, and delivery coordination. It targets the same farmer and food hub customer base as OFN but as a paid SaaS product with stronger sales and marketing tooling.
• Katuma: Katuma was an early OFN-aligned cooperative platform serving Spain and Portugal that has since merged into the OFN ecosystem. It exemplifies the federated instance model OFN uses to expand into new countries while maintaining a localized brand and governance structure.

Broad incumbents

• Shopify: Shopify is the dominant general-purpose e-commerce platform used by many farms, food hubs, and specialty food producers as an alternative to OFN. While not purpose-built for short food supply chains, it competes for the same SMB food producers and offers significantly more polished tooling, integrations, and payment infrastructure.
• Square (Block) Online Store: Square Online offers small food producers a low-friction way to set up ecommerce sites with integrated payments and pickup/delivery options. It is frequently adopted by farmers and small food businesses as a simpler alternative to dedicated food hub platforms like OFN, particularly in the US.

Emerging players

• Cropolis: Cropolis provides wholesale and food hub management software that helps local food distributors manage producers, orders, and logistics. It overlaps with OFN's food hub functionality but operates as a paid B2B SaaS targeting wholesale buyers and institutional customers in North America.
• CrowdFarming: CrowdFarming is a European online marketplace that enables consumers to adopt a farmer or buy direct from regenerative producers, removing intermediaries. It overlaps with OFN's producer-to-consumer transparency and fair-payment value propositions, but focuses on individual farm subscriptions rather than multi-producer food hub aggregation.
• FoodCloud: FoodCloud is a not-for-profit that connects surplus food from retailers and producers to community organizations, addressing food waste and food insecurity. It shares OFN's community-led, mission-driven ethos and operates in similar geographies (Ireland, UK), but focuses on surplus redistribution rather than direct producer-to-consumer commerce.

Others

• GoodHire / GoodFoods: GoodFoods and similar specialty grocery ecommerce players operate in adjacent niche food distribution, sharing OFN's interest in transparent, local sourcing but typically serving consumers directly rather than enabling multi-producer hubs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/openfoodfoundation/openfoodnetwork
• Xx.com/OpenFoodNet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Open Food Network