一個網站如何用美食對抗飢餓?大綱
Big Idea: It’s a subscription-based online food gourmet delivery service that sends tasty morsels directly to your door. For every box of treats it delivers, Love With Food donates an equivalent amount of money to a local food bank.
網站創意：這是一個基於訂閱的在線美食配送服務，每送出一盒美食，Love With Food就會向當地一家食物銀行捐贈同等數額的款項。
Why It’s Working: Smaller food producers often have trouble affording marketing and distribution services, and one in every five American children are going hungry. Love With Food is helping to solve both of those problems in one fell swoop.
網站目標：小型食品製造業通常無力支付營銷費用和開設配送服務，而與此同時在美國每5個孩子就有1個面臨飢餓問題。Love With Food就是爲一舉解決這兩個問題而創辦。
Aihui Ong launched Love With Food four months ago with a simple premise: Users pay a small monthly fee, and they’re treated to a sampling of gourmet snacks, such as apple cinnamon fig cookie bars or sweet chipotle almonds. Customers select which snacks they want, and a package is sent right to their front door at the beginning of every month.
Aihui Ong於四個月前啓動了Love With Food，基本理念是：用戶每月支付一定費用就可以品嚐到一份美食的試吃裝，比如蘋果肉桂無花果餅乾或墨西哥甜辣杏仁。顧客選好食物後每個月就會收到送上門的美食包裹。
Every time Love With Food sends a sweet-tooth care package, the company contributes an equal amount of money to a local food bank of the vendor’s choice. That, says Ong, helps keep the love in local communities. The company works with hunger-fighting organization Share Our Strength to process the donations.
Love Wiht Food每送出一份包裹就會向它們在當地指定的一家食物銀行捐贈同等數額的款項。Ong認爲此舉有助於在當地社區傳遞愛心，公司目前正和一家反飢餓組織Share Our Strength合力運作該項捐助。
How’s the food? Great, if you ask her customers. Ong has nearly 1, 000 subscribers and a growth rate of about 25% every month. Food banks love the donations, and food companies love the site because it gives them an affordable marketing and distribution system — not to mention a great public relations boost.
那這個網站提供的食物味道如何？如果你有機會採訪到顧客，他們一定會說：棒極了！目前該網站有將近1,000個訂購者，且正以25%的增長率擴張。食物銀行當然歡迎這些捐助，而很多食品公司也喜歡這個網站，因爲它建立了一套不算太昂貴的市場營銷和配送系統，更別提此舉對公共關係的促進了。
"A lot of food companies like to partner with us because we do give back, ” says Ong. “Everyone who’s part of the food community tends to give back in their own way.”
“很多食品公司願意和我們合作，因爲我們有回饋機制，”Ong指出。“事實上，每個食品界的成員都會以自己的方式回報社會。”
Ong, an engineer, started the site after a year-long backpacking and soul-searching expedition through Europe, Egypt, China and other parts of the world. She was burnt out on her job and hit the road to renew her inspiration and zest for life.
Ong是一名工程師，在建立這個網站之前曾花一年多的時間進行了一次探索內心的揹包遠行，足跡遍佈歐洲、埃及、中國等。她一度厭倦自己的工作，試圖通過這次流浪重燃對生活的熱忱和靈感。
"I saw a lot abroad, ” says Ong. “I’m an engineer who wanted to use my skills to build something important, and after gaining a different view of the world, I wanted to do something I was passionate about and give back to the world.”
“我目睹了很多事情，”Ong說。“作爲一名工程師，我曾想利用自己的本領做些重要的事情。而在對世界有了一些不一樣的看法之後，我想做自己熱愛的並且可以回饋社會的事情。”
Ong watched a food-making friend struggle to move her business from local farmer’s markets to grocery store shelves. She knew there had to be a better way, and then came the idea for Love With Food. Ong also credits her inspiration to Tom’s Shoes — the company that made the buy one, give one model mainstream, by sending a pair of shoes to a child in the developing world for every pair it sells in the U.S.
Ong有一個食品製造業的朋友，爲了把自己的產品從當地一家農貿市場推廣到雜貨店裏而費盡周折。她覺得一定有更好的辦法，於是Love With Food應運而生。Ong把自己的靈感歸功於Tom’s Shoes——這家公司建立了買一送一的模式，在美國每賣出一雙鞋就向發展中國家的孩子們捐出一雙鞋。
Want to sink your teeth into tasty treats and do some social good at the same time? For now, a subscription to Love With Food costs $14 a month. Bon appetite!
你想在品嚐美味的同時做一些造福社會的事情嗎？從現在開始，在Love With Food上訂購食物每月只需14美元（目前僅限美國用戶——譯者注）。祝你胃口好！
