Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours; when we think about ‘community’, it’s a term that takes on many different forms. In a general sense, it’s a ‘grouping’ of people with something in common. You can be linked to a community because you live in the same suburb, and if it’s close-knit (communicating regularly and sharing daily life experience), the impact can be profound.

It’s a similar concept in the business world, with the foodservice and hospitality industry itself being one large community. It can also be divided into smaller subsections, where retailers or café and restaurant owners will each be part of their own specific groups, with shared interests unique to their business genres.  

Fine Food Australia has a community of its own and 2024’s anniversary year was particularly special.  Enterprises from all over Australia, and abroad, came together to celebrate with us – some having decades of experience and industry success, while others were in their first years of having opened just their doors.   

For young start-up ventures in food and hospitality, it’s critical to make meaningful connections with relevant communities as soon as possible. From loyal customers to social media followers, partnerships with local organisations and relationships with suppliers – these are the people who will help get a brand the notoriety it needs to secure its foundations and grow its success.   

One of the key reasons why businesses, from a wide variety of backgrounds, attend Fine Food Australia is to meet their community face-to-face, soak up shared knowledge, and gain the support that comes from making connections. New businesses were able to get tips from established brands on how to align with the community around them.   

Here were some of the conversations going on around the event:   

A Sense of Belonging  

These days, consumers who buy regularly from a brand don’t just want an anonymous transaction – they want to feel like they’re part of something more. Adding personal touches to a customer’s buying experience will help them to feel ‘seen’ by the brand they love.    

By focusing on connection, authenticity and shared experiences, you can create a vibrant, engaged community that not only supports your business but elevates it. In an industry that thrives on human interaction, creating a sense of inclusion and belonging is one of the keys to sustainable success.  

A business can encourage this growth by using several strategies. For example, they could tailor marketing content, addressing emails to individual customers using their actual name, or offer new merchandise options similar to what they’ve bought in the past. Regular customers could also be rewarded with special discounts as a way to say ‘thank you’!   

At this year’s Fine Food Australia 2024, Bertocchi, one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of smallgoods, created a strong sense of community during bump in prior to show opening by offering a free sausage sizzle on Father’s Day to staff setting up their stand.  Exhibitors and contractors gathered, stopped for a quick lunch break and took a moment. Simple yet meaningful, this was a great way to create community onsite and bring exhibitors together.  

Encouraging a warm and nurturing atmosphere between a brand and its customers will create a tight community that is reciprocal. Creating avenues for direct communication, to ask buyers what they’d like to see from the brand in the future, offer feedback on promotions, or write product reviews, will go a long way to ensure the longevity of their custom as your brand continues evolve.  

In this way, a business can lay the foundation for a strong relationship with their customers. The more consumers feel appreciated, welcomed and noticed, the more they will want to invest in that brand.   

Definition to Your Brand

When a business builds a community that shares the same values, it’s not just loyal customers that are created, but more of a ‘tribe’. Strength of identity, solidarity amongst members and an aligned passion for a dynamic concept, are all ‘tribal’ characteristics that can help a brand to stand out from the crowd. What’s more, when an exciting new culture is built around a brand, others tend to get curious and want to be a part of it too.  

It’s something that can’t really be forced, but there are ways a business owner can encourage interest to get things cooking, so to speak. A great place to start would be to take a look at the elements that make up the brand, identifying what makes it unique or special. Maybe terms like ‘sustainable’ or ‘organic’ are key to the business model, in which case, seeking out community groups aligned with these concepts would be a natural place to get some immediate attention.  

People also love to support businesses that feed prosperity back into the local community. Showcasing authentic connections with local suppliers, such as farmers and artisans, can set a business apart as a community-centred brand. Partnering up with recognised businesses in the local community, who share similar values, will help to establish your brand. You’ll have the opportunity to pool contacts and customer bases, learn from their experiences and use their prominence to get notoriety for your own brand.  

The Alternative Dairy Co. have mastered the concept of celebrating the successes of others in order to connect more deeply with their community. Their website features a unique storytelling section, creatively called ‘The Local Pour’, where independent business owners have been interviewed about their journey in hospitality. The articles are written with a personal and engaging feel, and readers gain a rare perspective on the real-life story behind a thriving and passionate hospitality business.   

Weaving local culture into a brand’s identity is a great way to add an authentic touch. Members of the local community will have a natural connection to this, aligning them with the brand on a deeper cultural level. To build on this, and encourage the wider community to feel involved, use social media and other marketing channels to offer education and insight into the company’s backstory, making it feel engaging and approachable. Through this, you’ll have organically created a unique group of followers who genuinely connect with your business – keep nurturing it and watch it grow.   

Connect with the Competition  

Getting the edge on competitors is always something to bear in mind when grappling for popularity with consumers, but there’s also value in fostering close relationships with your competition. It’s a difficult balance to achieve, but befriending other business owners in the same industry can be helpful in numerous ways. The world of hospitality can be a lonely place, and it’s something which is only fully understood when you’ve experienced it firsthand.   

Public health promotion charity R U OK? conducted noteworthy research into the mental health of hospitality workers, revealing that:  

80% of hospitality workers agreed mental health issues, such as feeling depressed, anxious or manic, are a challenge currently facing those in the industry.  

Isolation in hospitality is rife, and sadly it’s one of the biggest issues impacting mental health within the industry.   

Building a close relationship with other professionals, working in a similar field, could be just what keeps a struggling business owner going, especially in the crucial early stages of starting up. We need to do more to support each other and take the time to notice whether someone is finding it hard to cope with the pressures of running their business. R U OK? also disclosed that, according to their research:  

50% of hospitality workers in the last year said they had wanted someone at work to ask them if they were OK.  

Sometimes just a check-in with someone, making sure they have avenues of support and offering a sympathetic ear to listen to their issues, can be what might prevent someone from heading towards an emotionally ‘dark’ place.  

Even on a more light-hearted level, simply making time to go for a drink with another local business owner can be a valuable connection with reciprocal benefits. Instead of facing challenges in isolation, sharing stories (of success and failure!) might just be the secret ingredient to long term success when it comes to work life balance.  

Serve Your Social Media Community  

You can think of online social platforms as a virtual gathering place for your brand’s community, and it’s an incredibly powerful space. Use it to map and share your journey by posting behind-the-scenes moments, celebrating achievements and showcasing positive customer experiences.  

Socials are not just voyeuristic channels for clients to simply view content passively. There are several, more dynamic, ways in which an interactive relationship can be encouraged. Options such as content creation, inviting followers to offer their opinion (allowing them to leave a written comment or vote in a digital poll), enter a competition or take part in a promotion, and even asking customers to share reviews of your products. All of these are ‘calls to action’ which add a new dimension to the way consumers connect with your brand.   

Fettayleh Foods, a family-owned business, manufacturing premium quality halal meat, have more than 20 years experience in the industry.  Across their social media platforms, it’s clear to see they maintain a close community relationship year-round. Visible from their Instagram page, to their presence on Facebook and TikTok, their brand is strong, vibrant and recogniseable.  

Their mix of light-hearted and approachable posts, displaying team members offering samples to fellow exhibitors and enthusiastic visitors at industry events, as well as colourful recipe-style videos, inspiring their community with tips on how to use their products is a joy to watch. The overall feel is playful, yet alongside the fun, a clever strategy also at play, using a relaxed and upbeat connection with consumers, to encourage them to be a part of the brand. 

Giving your audience a strong connection to your business will transform them from passive online followers into active members of your brand’s community. You’ll create a cycle of positive reinforcement that in turn will build trust and loyalty, showing your community that your brand values the people who support it.   

Connecting with prominent influencers, with a significant following on social media, could have a dramatic impact on the reputation and recognition of your brand. Some influencers have thousands (sometimes millions) of followers. Getting them to promote your brand to their own ‘tribe’ could increase your following astronomically, sometimes overnight. It’s worth researching if any influencers align with you and if so, make contact with them, perhaps inviting them to a complimentary dining experience. The outreach of a post from a popular influencer could attract more attention for a business, in just a few hours, than what might take several months to achieve without them.   

Mix the Perfect Blend  

Hosting events that can be targeted to your entire community will create a fun and vibrant atmosphere, bringing everyone together in celebration of the brand.   

Nothing really beats face-to-face interactions. It’s where tangible relationships are created by people coming together, sharing their passions and interests. Planting these seeds will naturally give opportunities for deeper relationships to grow by themselves. The more positive experiences you can associate with your brand, the more people will want to be a part of it, and the stronger your community will become.  

We can’t wait to connect with the industry once again at the ICC, Sydney from 8-11 September 2025, for another unmatched experience featuring the latest trends, innovations, and developments in the foodservice and hospitality. Be the first to know and subscribe now, to stay ahead with exhibitor news, speaker reveals, and show updates.