Tips and tricks for getting more requests
The food you collect from a business must be shared with people who request it via the OLIO app and within the specified safe sharing time frame. To help you to boost the number of requests you get for your listings and ensure you’re able to distribute the food in time, we’ve gathered some useful tips and tricks:
Remember to mark as ''picked-up'' ✅
Sounds simple....but easy to forget! Either choose Unlist this directly in Messages when someone requests, or find the item in My Listings and choose Someone is Collecting this.
Pre-listings 📣
- Post a ''pre-listing'' earlier in the day to let local OLIOers know you'll be collecting.
❗️ Pre-listings must be posted against your ‘personal’ listings, and not against your ‘collection slot’. ❗️ - Here’s an example of a great pre-listing:
Share in good time ⏰
We know collections can sometimes be hectic! 😅 But please do try and as early as possible, for as long as possible. Collecting late, then not sharing til 11pm will make it difficult for other OLIOers to see your listings and request.
Attractive listings 😋
Use a nice photograph and add a clear title and description. ⏰ Be sure to accurately select the right “list for” time in accordance with the use-by date of the item.
Clear listings📱
Please don't bundle all your collection items into one listing, as this makes is hard for people to view items. Separate out each ''type'' of food into listings, containing groups of that item. More guidance here.
Flexible pickups 🕐
Offer as much flexibility as possible on the pickup times but never share food past the safe sharing window (refer to our sharing food safely section).
Share flyers locally 📬
Order Food Waste Hero flyers and distribute them within your local community to encourage everyone to download OLIO and give it a go!
Local community groups 👨👧👦
Post on local community groups, such as on Facebook and Nextdoor, to let your community know about your collections and encourage them to download the OLIO app. You can do this straight from the app by tapping the ‘share’ button whilst viewing a listing.
Here’s a sample post you can use, just copy and paste this and fill in the gaps:
Hi neighbours!
I just wanted to let you know I collect unsold surplus food from [...name of business...], every [...collection day...] and I share this food for free within the local community!
I list the food on the OLIO app which is like Gumtree, but for food. I do this because I believe good food should be eaten, not binned.
To get some, all you need to do is download the app (for free) and request it. You can check out OLIO’s site at olioex.com if you haven’t already read about them in the Guardian, Sunday Times, or on the BBC.
Hope to meet you soon,
Your local Food Waste Hero.
Local charities and organisations 👥
Reach out to local charities and organisations (e.g. food banks) to let them know about OLIO and your collections. They still must request the food via the OLIO app so we have traceability, but they are more than welcome to create an OLIO account and request items.