Tastes of Northampton: Street food app founder shares interesting trends since launching four months ago

The Chronicle & Echo has joined National World’s Food and Drink Month this September, and we will champion the people, places and producers who have put our town on the map.

The first is Vanessa Anderson – the brain behind the unique Indi Local app, committed to making it easier to find street food vendors and pop-ups.

The concept is simple. Businesses and event organisers let the team know when and where they are going to be, and this information is presented as a map for users to explore and discover.

Vanessa has lived in Northampton for the past decade since she moved from Milton Keynes, and saw a gap in the market for an easier way to find local events, pop-ups and street food trucks in June last year.

It has been a labour of love and hard work since then, until the Indi Local app was launched in our county at the end of May this year.

Vanessa last spoke to this newspaper at Christmas time last year, with big ambitions for 2024, and she was asked how things have developed since then.

“It’s been a lovely, natural growth,” she said. “Everyone loves food and this has given people a way to find food and tell their friends.”

Although the app launched in Northamptonshire, it has already spread to surrounding counties like Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and most recently Oxfordshire.

“We’re hoping to boost that now as we settle into the new business and how things run,” Vanessa added. “Since the end of May, we’ve reached about 100 vendors and 54 are from this county.

“12,000 hungry foodies have been looking for local food through Indi Local, which is quite a nice number for such a young app.”

Interestingly, Vanessa shared that most users are millennials, from Northampton, and are not only exploring what is on their doorstep but further afield in the county too.

At the peak of event season, which aligned with Indi Local’s launch month in May, nearly 100 pop-up events were added to the map. This spanned across food trucks popping up outside venues, food festivals, farmers markets and village fairs.

“We’ve seen that typically people are most hungry and searching for food on Fridays,” said Vanessa. “Followed by Saturday and then Thursday. Weekend hunger is a thing.

“The busiest days to find pop-up events are on Saturdays, Fridays and Sundays. We have good options like woodfired pizzas, gourmet burgers, tacos, Caribbean, South African and Asian food.”

Vanessa has been most pleased with how shareable and referable the Indi Local concept is, which has seen the app grow organically.

The founder hopes this will continue to improve as new developments are rolled out. One of those is giving vendors the opportunity to offer discounts through loyalty programs on the app.

“As the summer of street food is winding down, we are building our features ready for the next seasonal rush at Halloween,” said Vanessa. “We’ll onboard these businesses, and the Christmas events too.”

With the constant development of new features to continue improving Indi Local’s offering, it is set to be a busy final four months of the year for the team.

When asked her favourite thing about being so heavily involved in the town’s food and drink scene, Vanessa said: “It’s always been the people. I know the vendors in person and want to understand why they sell food. Most say it’s because they like meeting people too.”

One motto that Vanessa really loves, which was shared with her by Jessica Ly from Fashion Bake, is the importance of using food to spread joy and bring people together.

If you would like to get involved in the ‘Tastes of Northampton’ series throughout National World’s Food and Drink Month, email [email protected].