December 8, 2015
FoodStarter is a GTA not-for-profit dedicated to helping small business start-ups in the food product and processing industry. They came to us at Convergine with a seemingly simple task: Design a website that would build brand recognition, highlight services, and serve clients — and do it all on a not-for-profit budget. Thankfully, the talented team at Convergine had the skills and experience to deliver on all counts.
We used the grey and orange colour scheme of Food Starter’s logo throughout the site to help reinforce their branding. We also incorporated the name throughout the content to help this new organization gain recognition. Images and callout text clearly indicate the site’s target audience: food entrepreneurs. We even added social media buttons to further engage users with the brand and begin developing a community.
It’s a basic tenet of communication: tell the reader what’s in it for them. Food Starter has a very specific audience of entrepreneurs hoping to take their food product to market. While the organization offers an array of support services, these can be divided into two areas: education and equipment, each prominently highlighted in the navigation menu and through callouts. Users can quickly assess what Food Starter can do for them, increasing rates of conversion.
As a non-profit organization, Food Starter’s success lies in the success of their clients. We structured the website to serve those clients quickly and efficiently, leading them to Food Starter’s training resources and rental facilities through clearly labelled menu items, in-text links, and side-bar callouts. The phone number and “Apply Now” button in the header ensure that contact is possible from every page, so users never have to wait for service.
