It’s clear, consumer expectations are changing and it’s affecting the food and hospitality industry as a whole. Everyone from café owners to manufacturers, meat suppliers and retailers are beginning to realise that a successful business needs to be transparent. But what does ‘transparency’ really mean? Ultimately it comes down to trust. Increasingly, before parting with money, consumers want to know more about how a business is making the produce it’s selling, whether it has moral values and if the company truly lives up to its promises.

With ‘sustainability’ becoming a vital part of the future of the food, business owners are now being held more accountable for the imprint they are making on the environment.

It can feel like a tricky task, not everyone’s a natural storyteller, but it’s mostly about being open, showing customers genuine authenticity. Mistakes can be made, no one’s perfect, but consumers want to know that business owners care about the future of the natural world.

There’s also money to be made. Transparency in itself is a lucrative marketing tool. Get the recipe right and it can turn ‘disclosure’ into serious dollars. So really, it’s a win win scenario. Building the trust of customers, with sincerity, could offer all the ingredients needed to grow a successful brand – and all the while, you will be doing your bit as an ethical business owner.

We Need to Know What’s Cooking, No Excuses 

Consumers aren’t just buying a product, they’re ‘buying into’ a brand. A company’s brand is similar to its ‘personality’ or ‘character’. A customer will apply the story of a company and align it with their product, forming an identity or relationship with it.

“88 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support” (Stackla). It’s vital for new businesses to consider what their brand encapsulates. The more a brand can excite interest from consumers, and more importantly, keep them coming back, is in many ways the key to long-term success.

No one wants to align with values that are dishonest or unethical. A company’s backstory must be truthful and authentic. If a consumer becomes loyal to a product they like, only to realise after some time that the story behind the company is fake, their relationship with that product will likely be tarnished, sometimes irrevocably.

Looking at our community, we can recognise the importance of building a transparent brand with an authentic story behind it. Here are a few things to think about when considering the transparency of your brand, and some brands doing it well:

What does your brand stand for?  

Customers love to hear a good backstory of how a brand started out, and one of the reasons why the vibe at Fine Food Australia each year is so full of buzz and emotion, is down to the sheer number of small enterprises (some in their first year) using the show as an opportunity to make valuable connections and grow their business. Many of these companies have inspirational stories to share, illustrating where they came from and what makes them unique.

Bu Deli fit that mould perfectly. The family behind the brand are keen bakers, but when they made the switch to a plant-based diet, they realised that to get the same flavour and from the butter they used, they would need to find a plant-based alternative that could really step up to the plate.

In 2015, the Bu Deli brand was born: an ethically made butter, derived 100% from plants. Its flavour and texture rivals any dairy alternative, and with this creation, they were able to continue to enjoy a love of baking, while enabling others to do the same.

“So much happens in the shared preparation of food…our mission is to create as many of these moments as possible, while also raising awareness of the positive impact that comes with choosing high-quality plant ingredients”.

When it comes to transparency, Bu Deli speak directly to their customers, telling them how and why their butter was created. A feel of authenticity comes through their personal story, along with a passion and deep knowledge of their product. They accept their responsibility to make an ethical difference, without compromising on what they love: community and delicious food.

“Our goal is to do better, and we invite everyone to the table.”

How big is your footprint? 

When it comes to showing customers a true record of what they, as a business, are doing to be responsible for the natural environment they are impacting, Mitolo Family Farms have developed a great strategy.

Having recently developed, in partnership with sustainable packaging manufacturer Detpak, Australia’s “First Kerbside Recyclable Paper Potato Bag”. Not only can their new packaging go straight into your home recycling bin, but the stats on the material are also impressive:

“A 64 percent reduction in plastic compared to the previous bag, meaning 8.2 tonnes less plastic used every year.”

If all food producers and manufacturers were able to take an approach like this (and there are many businesses doing remarkable work in this space) the impact on our future planet would be game-changing.

There’s still so much more to do, and with today’s customers demanding that the brands they’re buying from are genuinely doing the best they can on in relation to environmental responsibility, now is really the time for the industry to sink their teeth into a mindset geared towards lower their carbon footprint.

 

What does community mean to you? 

Introducing customers to the real people behind a brand adds to the feel of authenticity. If consumers can ‘see’ what’s going on behind the scenes, the connection between brand and community becomes more intwined.

Business owners can do this through their marketing strategy. They can take steps to reveal their personal identity and culture, which has given their product and brand its vibrancy, colour, feel and flavour.

Customers want to be able to get to know you, this is where the real connection is made. Letting customers into the world of your brand and understanding what it stands for, is the best way to make them feel part of your community.

First-time exhibitors Pocket Salt have worked hard to achieve that. For them, it’s all about celebrating world culture through flavour. Their product is a range of finishing salts you can carry in your bag. The idea is to sprinkle your chosen flavour combination over a meal or snack, whether you’re at home or out and about. Pocket Salts are meant to lift your dish to add a punch of piquancy. Ingredients are sourced from different locations across the globe, from Mexican to Japanese, Szechuan to Italian – the idea is for there to be a Pocket Salt mix to go with any dish or suit any palette.

They take their marketing seriously, rather than a hollow rip-off of stereotypical flavours, their product feels more like a homage to world cultures and the flavour combinations they feel passionate about.

“We understand the importance of cultural sensitivity and strive to ensure that our brand reflects inclusivity and respect for all cultures. We are dedicated to learning, growing, and engaging with the communities that inspire us, and we welcome feedback to help us continually improve in our mission to bring people together through the universal language of flavour.”

For them, it’s important to immerse their brand amongst their community, inviting consumers to have their say and evolve the brand through this method. Pocket Salt’s bright and quirky branding is light-hearted and fun, reflecting the personas of the real people behind it.

Does your marketing strategy reflect who you really are? 

ETCH Sparkling are right on the money when it comes to a personal alignment with their marketing strategy. A business born from a shift to an alcohol-free lifestyle, husband and wife team Jason and Andy still wanted to enjoy a drink with friends and family, but discovered quickly how limited the range of high quality, low sugar, non-alcoholic drinks there were on the market.

Having worked in the wine industry for several years before creating the business, Jason understood a lot about subtle natural flavours and ingredients that go into good wine production. He wanted to create a non-alcoholic alternative that still had all the complexities of wine.

Naturally drawn to the abundance of native flora and fauna across Australia, he began to educate himself on ingredients that could combine to create a sophisticated non-alcoholic drink. He discovered that many of these ingredients not only tasted wonderful, but they also had numerous health benefits. He eventually came up with the ETCH Sparkling range.

Jason and Andy proudly use their backstory in their brand marketing:

“ETCH Sparkling is the culmination of two decades of knowledge and experience in the wine industry, bringing you delicious, sugar-free beverages using locally grown and indigenous fruits and herbs for good health and social inclusion.”

It’s a captivating story and because it’s so personal, consumers can really connect with it. It’s inspirational – Jason and Andy have created a product that gives them a chance to enjoy a healthier, alcohol-free lifestyle that still keeps them feeling part of social culture – consumers can see, with tangible evidence, that if they buy this product, they too can experience those same benefits.

 

The Secret Ingredient 

Being transparent isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being authentic, open, and committed to the quality of your product and what your brand stands for.

Customers will notice if a brand’s actions don’t match up with its messaging. A brand can promote its environmental and social efforts all it wants, but if people spot something untrustworthy, it could trigger a wave of online criticism.

For example, when global brand Néstle made a public announcement to tackle plastic waste, in 2018, they received backlash from Greenpeace who called Néstle out suggesting they had “committed all the cardinal sins of greenwashing: being too vague, avoiding numerical goals, and enforcing the power of ‘a collective approach’”. Subsequently, the campaign fell flat and was largely ignored (Measure Meant).

What the industry is increasingly beginning to realise is that their customers’ expectations are changing. They’re not afraid to create challenge a brand’s values and ask the awkward questions – and this is a good thing. Consumers are raising the bar and industry professionals need to get on board, roll up their sleeves and step up to the plate.