Test new vegi app through The Guide Liverpool before official launch in March

vegi is now live on The Guide Liverpool app.

A new way of ordering veggie and vegan food is being trialled and tested on The Guide Liverpool before a city-wide launch in Spring.

Founded by Verity Hall, vegi is a new app which provides an affordable platform for independent businesses that are particularly looking to cater for plant-based or sustainably minded customers.

While for customers it offers an incentive to shop green by providing a wider choice of products and giving back 5% cashback on purchases.  

You can download The Guide Liverpool App HERE.

Verity, who was joined by Joey Dwonczyk six months after starting work on the app last year, explains: “We found a lot of the products that people wanted to buy aren’t available on other platforms, and that existing platforms are really expensive and not as accessible to everyone – so that’s the problem we wanted to solve.

“Part of our approach is also to provide rewards for people who shop for greener products, and to try to incentivise more eco-conscious shopping at the same time.”

The app is still being built but has a waiting list of businesses who already want to join, so vegi has teamed up with The Guide Liverpool to allow businesses and customers to test the app and use it before the full official launch, firstly with health food and wholefood store Purple Carrot. 

“It’s like a sneak peek and early access exclusive,” says Verity, 30, originally from the North East but who’s lived in Liverpool for the last 12 years.”

She goes on: “We already have a wait list of businesses who want to join when we fully launch.

“But, because we are growing organically and want to make sure we provide a really good service to the businesses on the platform and its customers, we are using one store, our flagship store, Purple Carrot for our partnership with The Guide.

“Founded in 2014, Purple Carrot is an iconic vegan institution in the city which provides a huge range of products that have been unavailable in supermarkets and continue to be so. Despite the fact that the category of vegan food has exploded in the last few years, there are still so many products, particularly from independent makers that you can only get from this shop.

“It’s a real focal point of the vegan community so it feels like the perfect shop to launch with.”

With vegi, customers will be able to get an almost full list of products from Purple Carrot, with more added on request, for the same price as they are in the store.

It will include all the classic foods from meats like vegan black pudding and haggis, to cheeses and milk and, of course, fruit and veg.

Verity adds: “We will also have some products that will only be available through the app, like a mixed seasonal organic fruit and veg box in a couple of different sizes. The shop has an amazing range of fruit and veg but they haven’t compiled them into boxes, so this option will make it really easy for people to eat a healthy variety of locally-grown and organic food.”

The app is vital for independent businesses and customers in the city, says Verity.

“For businesses it will be an affordable way to increase their reach for customers and do it in a way that doesn’t cost huge amounts of money (around 25-40%) which other platforms charge. 

“We want to keep that money between the customer and the retailer and keep it local. We give customers back 5% of their spend as a credit in Peepl rewards via the app, so it gives them an incentive to spend again, something local businesses have really bought into.

“We are stronger together and money kept within our local community is better for everyone.”

vegi is free for businesses to join and while Verity and Joey take a commission on sales, it’s a quarter of what other apps are charging, with the aim to operate with as low costs as possible but in a ‘sustainable way for the business to continue to operate and provide a service and utility’.

Customers will pay around a £1.50 service fee, and couriers will be paid a fair wage: “We treat everyone with dignity and respect,” says Verity, “and try to do everything the right way in order to maintain a sustainable and rewarding platform for all involved.”

With the pilot scheme, the vegi app will be embedded within The Guide Liverpool app through which people will get their rewards from watching video and local content, and they can then spend them through vegi.

Eventually the app will include a wide range of products and businesses, from stores to restaurants and, while businesses won’t need to be exclusively plant-based to be listed, vegi will only list those items on the platform in a bid to encourage businesses to develop more veggie and vegan options, and highlight this growing area of cuisine.

Businesses keen to join the vegi waitlist can do so via the website or links on Instagram.

Watch the vegi introductory video on The Guide app by 5pm on Monday 16th January and receive £2 credit to be spent at Purple Carrot, through vegi.

Download The Guide Liverpool App for the best news from the city region, direct to your mobile, HERE.

Find out more about Vegi here www.vegiapp.co.uk

Instagram/ Tiktok @wearevegi