Familia Fine Foods uses social media to grow its community
On Saturdays, Latin American expats from across Southwestern Ontario gather at Familia Fine Foods in Burlington for authentic Colombian lunch.
It’s a tradition – a ritual for many – that binds the diaspora and offers a small piece of home and a breakaway from the usual daily fare of burritos, tacos and sandwiches. Saturdays are special.
“(Customers) bring their kids and they connect with the culture… they come and meet people,” says Juliana Berrio, who is Colombian and owns Familia Fine Foods alongside her husband and chef Luis Velasquez.
Not everyone has Latin American roots, locals and visitors alike wander in the door for Colombian fare, but the way people find out about Familia Fine Foods is decidedly more digital-presence-driven than when Berrio and Velasquez opened the restaurant and prepared meals shop seven years ago.
Back then, the husband and wife duo were just trying to feed their family and friends healthy, home-cooked meals. Velasquez had been laid off from his job at the bank and was looking to make a career change so he went to cooking school. The pair had run a restaurant while in college back in Colombia but that felt like a distant memory.
The first few years of the business they were catering, running the restaurant and selling prepared meals. Then the pandemic hit.
“We had a website already with our prepared meals and were doing deliveries,” says Berrio. “That helped us survive because we were not able to be a restaurant.”
However, it highlighted the critical nature of Familia Fine Foods’ digital presence. Berrio heard about Digital Main Street, a program combining grants and one-to-one support from the Province of Ontario alongside partners to help main street businesses strengthen their online capabilities and plan for the digital future. The program included a $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant and training videos so Berrio applied, hoping to use the funding to invest in the business’ digital marketing.
“We got (the grants and it) helped us a lot,” says Berrio.
She invested in some high-quality photography and videos of the products to boost the business’ social media collateral.
“We started doing some pay media and tried to enhance our search engine optimization strategy,” she says. “Both are helping us to get the first position in Google search.”
Familia Fine Foods was also able to use some of the funding to bring on a community manager – someone who could help evoke that feeling of family and connection that Berrio says is a core part of the business. It builds on what she learned in the training videos.
Going forward, Berrio says the emphasis will be on improving the user experience with their website including an account feature where customers can subscribe to prepared meals. It’s a major part of the business and Berrio sees social media as a key ingredient for driving growth.
“We’re trying to be more relevant with our social media and create more videos or reels to explain to our customers how the food works,” she says.
The Digital Transformation Grant helped them build the foundation. It’s helped a lot, she says.
“As a small business, we never have enough budget for any of that.
If you're looking for excellent traditional Columbian cuisine, visit Familia Fine Foods on their website, or check them out on social media. (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok).
To learn more about Digital Main Street's programs and how we can help your business visit here.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.
Continued investment from the Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) has allowed the ongoing expansion the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital across Ontario.
