Case Study: Foodl achieves a scalable, supplier-managed B2B food marketplace with Alokai

Foodl, Netherland’s first B2B food marketplace, change the game with Vue Storefront

Foodl, the Netherlands’ first B2B food marketplace, launched during the pandemic to connect horeca entrepreneurs with suppliers but faced a low-digitization sector with thin “human touch”: suppliers lacked customer insights, buyers couldn’t negotiate pricing, high minimum order costs discouraged small orders, and order fulfillment and scaling were inefficient. To address this, Foodl engaged Alokai and built the platform on an API-first stack using Vue Storefront on the frontend and commercetools on the backend to preserve the complex, relationship-driven UX horeca businesses require.

Alokai delivered a tailored cloud commerce solution that mapped real user journeys and allowed the tech to follow business processes rather than forcing businesses to adapt. The result: Foodl enabled direct purchases from suppliers, gave suppliers a portal to manage products, inventory and pricing, maintained direct communication channels, expanded delivery options, and reduced friction in order fulfillment — demonstrating Alokai’s ability to deliver a flexible, scalable commerce platform aligned with horeca needs.

Foodl

Lieke Kamp

Platform Technical Lead / Senior Product Owner