Start-up support will be given to Northern Estonia picnic packages, the Kunda community pop-up shop, and the development of food gifts and an online store.
Northern Estonian food industry entrepreneurs, tourism developers and also community representatives participated in design seminars in January and February of this year. There were nearly 30 participants from Harjumaa and Lääne-Virumaa. In the Häkaton-style seminars, business solutions were developed for better delivery of North Estonian food to consumers. A hackathon is a focused group work where innovative solutions to problems and opportunities for innovation are sought with the help of a top-level supervisor or mentor. The design seminars in the local food industry in North Estonia were supervised by Gerda Mihhailova, a lecturer at Pärnu College of the University of Tartu, program manager of the master’s program in service design and management.
The design seminars took place within the framework of the Leader project “Northern Estonian food culture – tastes on the table” initiated and led by the NGO Development Chamber. The participants were selected for the seminars as a result of the collection of ideas organized last fall – they were asked to submit ideas for providing food packages, picnic packages, food gifts, as well as creating additional value for the farm shop or tourist point or for adding to the food offer of the region to some other activity.
6 of the 8 ideas presented were selected. The authors of the ideas had to assemble a team of up to five members to develop their ideas at the seminars. The teams also had to do their homework.
The third meeting of those who participated in the seminars was on March 1 at Anija Manor, where the teams presented the prepared business solutions. The presentations were evaluated by a committee made up of representatives of the Leader activity groups participating in the joint project of North Estonian food culture. After the discussion, it was decided to give support, or seed money, to three ideas to start activities. The grant money is 13,000 euros in total, 10,000 of which was contributed by Arenduskoda, the rest was added by the partners.
In addition to the lead partner Arenduskoja, the NGO Ida-Harju Koostoökoda, the NGO Põhja-Harju Koostoökogu and the Lääne-Virumaa NGO Partners and the NGO PAIK are participating in the joint project of the food culture of Northern Estonia.
Võitnud äriideed kaasavad kohalikke toidutootjaid
Eha Paas, project manager of the food culture of Northern Estonia, commented that the North Estonian picnic packs, the development of an online store and food gifts, as well as the idea of a Kunda community pop-up store, which were chosen as recipients of the grant, are broadly and well connected to the activities of the local food network: “They involve different parties, help create the conditions for local for food to reach consumers better. The teams had done extensive preliminary work. Now we specify the activities and support budget necessary to implement their idea. We will discuss future plans with these teams also on April 13, when there will be a meeting of North Estonian food label holders.”
Kaisa Linno, a member of the board of the NGO Lahemaa Turismiühing, and Maren Rits, the chef of the Sagad restaurant, presented the idea of ”Packs – picnic packs of local food from Northern Estonia”. Kaisa Linno told how the experience of the information point and pancake cafe that operated at the Loksa bus station last summer was that hikers or tourists who arrived in Lahemaa looked for an opportunity to buy food to take with them to nature in addition to eating pancakes. I mostly went to the store to buy pies. This gave rise to the idea of offering hikers the opportunity to buy picnic packs made by local food producers. They could be made by pre-order and according to the customer’s wishes, the content would be different, while the marketing and packaging would be the same, with the North Estonian local food label added to the packaging.
Chef Maren Rits said that picnic food has been offered in the Sagad restaurant for the last several years, simpler sandwiches can be made, as well as sets with, for example, elk meat or a selection of vegan food. In cooperation with the tourism association, a pre-order system could be put into operation, because it does not make sense to prepare such food packages just in case.
Kaisa Linno added that local food producers interested in making and selling picnic packs are invited to the Lahemaa Tourism Association meeting at Valgejõe Wine Villa on March 28 to discuss cooperation. Lahemaa Turismiühing organizes the Lahemaa Picnic Day on May 20, where it is planned to offer picnic packages of local food to the participants. Lahemaa’s picnic day is organized in cooperation with the leaders of Visit Tallinn, and according to him, everyone who wants to organize a hike in the national park with food for the people of Tallinn and other guests on that day, or who is expecting hikers to join them for a picnic, is invited to participate.
Katrin Kull, the landlady of Aru Mõisa and wine master, spoke about the creation of an e-store for North Estonian food at the meeting of Anija Manor. The e-shop is planned to be created in cooperation with Väike-Maarja Taluturu, where there is a warehouse, packaging and mail order experience.
Kaido Veski, the leader of the community life there, introduced the idea of creating a community store in Kunda. One of the first steps would be to test selling local products with a small pop-up van. This helps to bring together local food producers in the Kunda region and get to know the potential buyers and their product wishes.
