After two years of working as a buyer at Walmart’s e-commerce office in San Francisco, Manan Kothari moved to Colorado in April and was immediately impressed by the strong culture of local artisans and purveyors at the local farmers’ markets.
Drawing on his background in retail, Kothari began to wonder how these local merchants fared during the pandemic lockdowns, as more people migrated toward online shopping instead of in-person stores and events.
In September, he began working full-time toward the creation of a virtual farmers’ market called Coloco Harvest, which shares Colorado-made food, beverages and gifts with a nationwide audience.
The marketplace, which launches today, is akin to “the Etsy of farmers’ markets,” Kothari told Built In.
As he grew more serious about the idea, Kothari decided the best way to learn about local makers and purveyors was to attend as many farmers’ markets as possible within a two- or three-hour radius. He went to dozens of farmers’ markets to ask vendors about their business and to ask customers about the products and functionalities they would want to see in a virtual farmers’ market.
Over the last several months, Kothari has grown the website to 150 products from 30 Colorado vendors, including Conscious Coffee, Patterbar energy bars, Bibamba chocolates, Yerba Cha yerba mate drinks and Naughty Nutty granola and peanut butter.
“Coloco Harvest is a beautiful mix of inspiring, bold, risk-taking, dreamers who have created some of the most exceptional products,” Kothari said. “They were made in your neighborhood, in your city, just down the road, and our goal is to make it as easy as possible for anyone to find the unique, one-of-a-kind, small-batch goods.”
As he has grown the website, Kothari has relied on the business insights he gained during his time at Walmart, which he said was like a “MBA in CPG brands.”
“I learned what companies do when they’re at 100 so that I can help people who are at zero,” he said.
The website does not charge any fees, aside from a small cut of the proceeds. Yerba Cha founder Ben Janszen said in a statement that the lack of fees is helpful for small businesses.
“In terms of small business, places with strong community culture, like Colorado, need outlets like Coloco Harvest,” he said. “Many times we can’t afford the fees of the bigger platforms or turnaround time on payouts, and entrepreneurs need a place they can count on to get products to market.”
If Coloco Harvest is successful, Kothari envisions possibly scaling the concept to other markets that have strong communities of artisans, makers and purveyors.
