LocalBoxNI shares its love for food deliveries in a sustainable way!

When Belfast couple Lydia Hodgins and Justin Thompson dreamt of starting their own food delivery business, they never imagined in their wildest dreams it would be in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
Lydia Hodgins and Justin Thompson started LocalBoxNI in the middle lockdown providing locally sourced food deliveries in a sustainable wayLydia Hodgins and Justin Thompson started LocalBoxNI in the middle lockdown providing locally sourced food deliveries in a sustainable way
Lydia Hodgins and Justin Thompson started LocalBoxNI in the middle lockdown providing locally sourced food deliveries in a sustainable way

The pair had been planning the launch of LocalBoxNI for months when the lockdown hit due to Covid-19, initially creating panic and then a surge in demand for food delivery services.

Commenting on their plans to help supply good healthy food to the local community, Lydia explained: “Here we were living together, working together and trying to start a business together in the midst of this huge crisis.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was such a scary time but we felt that people really wanted and needed good, healthy food and it was increasingly difficult to get out to buy it.

“So we made the leap and our first deliveries went out on April 25.”

LocalBoxNI is a home delivery food service bringing the best locally made products to homes in Belfast.

The idea started when the foodie pair found they were spending increasing amounts of time going from farm shop to market buying fresh, local products.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Highlighting the need for locally sourced produce to be easily accessible, Lydia continued: “Northern Ireland has such amazing food and we felt it was really important to support local businesses but we didn’t have the time to get around all these wonderful places to get the food we cared about.

“We wished there was a service that would just deliver it all to our door so we didn’t have to spend all day Saturday going out to buy it.

“So we decided to start the business bringing the food we love to other people.”

Justin, a full-time software engineer at a tech start up, was able to build the website and the pair personally sourced suppliers across Northern Ireland. Customers can order products like homemade sourdough bread, Abernethy butter, Belfast Coffee Roasters coffee, Fermanagh free range eggs, charcuterie and chorizo from Limavady, bacon from Omagh, locally produced cheeses and Rathlin kelp pesto to name just some of the products.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We stock the best food and drink Northern Ireland has to offer; from freshly baked bread to milk straight from the farm.

“Our aim was to reduce the environmental impact of our purchases and to support the local economy,” she continued.

“At the moment we take orders all week then deliver across Belfast on a Saturday as soon as the fresh bread arrives with us.

“Because we only order what we need from our suppliers, there’s no food waste.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All the delivery boxes are collected, cleaned and sanitised and reused adding to the company’s sustainable ethos.

Their unique take on local food and sustainability helped them to become finalists in the Belfast Business Ideas Awards run by Belfast City Council.

The couple pack and pesonally deliver all the boxes themselves on a Saturday morning to homes in Belfast.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive reaction when we arrive with a delivery and we’re just so thankful that we can share our love of local food with others,” she added.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For more information or to order simply go to localboxni.com.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you