Maize is built for the whole local food value chain: farms and producers, food hubs and aggregators, and wholesale buyers like restaurants, cafes, grocers, schools and other institutions. Every business on Maize can buy, sell, or both. original condition. Please keep your receipt for a smooth return process.

Maize is not a physical hub or distribution service. Maize is a software platform built out of Madison, Wisconsin, and serves anywhere local food is grown and sold. Farms, hubs and buyers can join from any region and connect with partners near them.

Joining the Maize network is free. Connect with as many partners as you want, add products and then sell on the open marketplace and track orders for a 3% platform fee. Upgrade to paid plans, starting at $24 a month, to sell without platform fees, only once you know the amount you will sell through the platform. We offer more upgrades for powerful tools like complex hub inventory and communications, forecasting, integrated invoicing and more team seats.

Yes. Restaurants, grocers and institutions use Maize for free to discover local farms, place wholesale orders and check out from multiple farms at once. It’s important to note though that sellers can elect for buyers to cover the platform fee in free selling accounts, and also that we have advanced hub tools and even advanced marketing tools for buyers that are interested in making a bigger impact.

Yes. Maize is an invite-only network, so you decide who you sell to and buy from. Invite your existing partners to keep those relationships in your control, then grow into the wider Maize network when you’re ready for new accounts. No invite? You can apply to join. Once you’re on the platform though, you can invite anyone you want as simply as sending an invite link via email or text.

List your products once, set your availability, and sell to your existing buyers and the open marketplace from the same place. Update inventory from the field in seconds, manage dynamic supplier availability as a hub, and send buyer notifications for order window countdowns.

Yes. Your pricing is protected and customizable for different buyer groups. Set separate prices and units for each buyer group, so a restaurant, a hub and an institution each see only the price meant for them.

Yes. Track inventory that’s still growing and plan sales weeks ahead with projections. You sell what you’ll have, not just what’s already in the cooler.

Yes. Maize is food hub software built for multi-directional sourcing. Buy from many farms, sell to many buyers, and track every product back to the farm it came from, all in one system.

Yes, and we highly recommend it. It helps build social proof, and will save you hours per week. We make onboarding super fast, and our goal is to streamline the relationships you already have before you add new ones.

Every business on Maize gets a free listing on the Maize mobile app. This helps us build community around the local food businesses that are champions in their region and create touchpoints and credit for every relationship you have. Foodie’s can scan a QR code to see which farms supplied their meal, and even post recipes that tag products and create mini-local food maps with every post.