A new online marketplace, Yume For Distributors, was launched on 9 April 2020 offering a breakthrough for the food service industry as they deal with huge challenges of food supply availability and market imbalances as a result of COVID-19.

Until now, Australian food service distributors have never sold to other distributors or other players outside of their customer base.

Now, any food service distributor that has been left stranded with excess stock due to sudden closure of hospitality outlets due to COVID-19, can list their products on the “Yume For Distributors” online platform for other distributors who have seen an increase in their demand to buy it.

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) approached Yume to develop the platform specifically for food service distributors, having seen their success as Australia’s first commercial online marketplace for quality surplus food since 2015.

“Unilever Food Solutions approached Yume to see if we could help alleviate the challenging market imbalances in the food service industry created by COVID-19 and we immediately jumped on board as this is completely in line with our mission of a world without waste.

“Yume is uniquely positioned to assist in this type of extreme situation. We are an award-winning, innovative and agile online platform so we can continue to be fully operational even in lockdown and adapt to quickly bring new solutions to market.

“Within days “Yume For Distributors” was created as a stand-alone platform using our specialist expertise and sits alongside our other Yume range of offerings,” said Katy Barfield Founder and CEO of Yume.

As the dedicated foodservice business of Unilever, Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) provides food ingredient products and services to the hospitality industry.

Yezdi Daruwalla, Managing Director of Unilever Food Solutions ANZ said an urgent solution was needed and innovative technology has a vital role to play in our changing economy.

“Our food industry is facing a huge crisis, particularly food supply availability and we approached Yume due to their proven expertise in this space as a leading technology platform.

“Together, utilising Yume’s technology and Unilever Food Solutions’ extensive industry knowledge, we can help the distributors who suddenly have surplus stock and other businesses who face a surge in demand all through the Yume for Distributors easy to use online marketplace,” he said.

Click here to access the platform.