62. How to stack revenue: The 3 levers that optimise growth of any local food business | Pete Russell

What if the future of food isn’t bigger, faster, and more centralised, but local, decentralised, and community-powered?

In this episode of the All About Business podcast, James is joined by Pete Russell, Founder of Ooooby and Co-Founder of DECENT, to explore how technology, ethical entrepreneurship, and optimism can transform the global food system from the ground up.

Pete shares his journey from running a highly profitable industrial food business to building one of the UK’s leading local food platforms, connecting independent farmers and producers directly with their communities. The conversation dives deep into the realities of entrepreneurship, scaling purpose-led businesses, and the challenges of building alternatives to industrial food supply chains.

A key theme of the episode is steward ownership, a business model that separates profit from control. Pete explains how steward ownership protects mission, prevents mission drift, and ensures long-term impact over short-term returns, offering a compelling alternative to traditional shareholder capitalism.

James and Pete also explore the future of commerce and AI, with Pete presenting a bold vision of a shift from the attention economy to the intention economy. As artificial intelligence reshapes how we discover and buy products, Pete argues that traditional marketing and advertising may become obsolete, replaced by systems that prioritise values, trust, and genuine human needs.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:03 Meet Pete Russell: The Visionary Behind Oooby’s Food Revolution

03:06 What Is Oooby? Decentralizing the Global Food Supply Chain

06:25 Farm-to-Table Logistics: How Oooby Empowers Local Farmers

10:12 The 1.9% Disruptor: Why Low-Margin Tech is Saving Small Farms

14:45 Debunking the Myth: Why Local Food Costs Less Than Supermarkets

19:30 The Awareness Gap: Why Traditional Food Systems Still Dominate

27:05 17 Years of Resilience: Pivoting Through Near-Death Business Challenges

33:40 The Software Pivot: Solving the Logistics Nightmare of Local Food

40:00 Future of Food: AI, Agentic Commerce, and Decentralized Platforms

56:15 What wakes you up on a Monday?

Follow James Reed on Linkedin

Follow Pete Russell on Linkedin

Find out more about Oooooby and how to sell local food online

All About Business is brought to you by Reed Global. Learn more HERE

This podcast was co-produced by Reed Global and Flamingo Media. If you’d like to create a chart-topping podcast to elevate your brand, visit Flamingo-media.co.uk