A Vancouver-based food marketing company has launched an online social network where food lovers and home chefs can connect and source recipes, restaurants, events, nutritional information and daily articles written by food experts.
FoodConnect Inc. said in a release that its website, www.foodconnect.com, which works on a free membership basis, has attracted 175,000 registered users with 2.2 million page views per month since its beta launch a year ago.
Jeremy Mitchell, FoodConnect’s president, told BIV on Tuesday morning that the company’s largest member-bases are in B.C., California and New York.
The company, which was founded in 2007, has been funded by two high net-worth individuals.
“Its passionate foodies that are funding the program because they believe in what we’re doing,” said Mitchell, adding that the company may look to raise external capital later this year.
FoodConnect is also trying to establish itself as the Ticketmaster of food events.
The company recently launched a ticketing division and secured several exclusive ticketing contracts for events like the North American Celebrity Chef Tour, Passions Vancouver and the Hopscotch Festival.
“Ideally, for any of the food festivals in Vancouver, we’ll be the place to get tickets,” said Mitchell. He said that the company is on track to break the million-dollar sales mark in 2010.
It generates revenue through advertising, event ticketing and by conducting nutritional analysis for the food industry and through web development.
FoodConnect has also partnered with Facebook to enable user updates to be synched between both websites.
by Curt Cherewayko