Transparent Pricing
Every euro accounted for — from farmer to your table
When you buy local food through Ekompi, every cent is accounted for. There are no hidden fees, no middleman chains — just a transparent split between the people and infrastructure that bring food from farm to you.
Example: 10.00 EUR food product, Uudenmaan ruoka food hub (22.8% margin, 70/30 split)
Three models, three trade-offs. Traditional retail takes the biggest cut. REKO eliminates middlemen but requires producer presence at every pickup. Ekompi combines fair pricing with scalable infrastructure.
* REKO producer gets full price minus VAT, but hidden costs (time, transport, no-shows) are not included.
| Traditional Retail | REKO Ring | Ekompi Food Hub | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Producer gets | 30–40% of retail price | 88% (price minus VAT) | 68% of retail price |
| Platform fees | Listing fees, slotting fees | None (Facebook is free) | None — included in margin |
| Middlemen | 3–5 layers (40–60%) | 0 layers | 1 layer (16% shared infra) |
| Producer time per sale | Low (deliver to wholesaler) | High — attend every pickup | Low (deliver to food hub) |
| Cold chain | Full chain | No — products hand-delivered | Refrigerated pickup points |
| Order management | POS / ERP systems | Manual (Facebook comments) | Automated (online store) |
| Payment | Invoice / card | Cash or MobilePay at pickup | Online payment (Paytrail) |
| Scalability | High (corporate infrastructure) | Limited by producer time | Scales with community |
| Who controls it | Corporations | Individual producers | Producers & customers together |
| Transparency | Producer rarely knows retail price | Direct — producer sets price | Full breakdown visible to all |
REKO works great for small-scale direct sales — but as order volume grows, the producer's time at every pickup becomes the bottleneck. Ekompi picks up where REKO leaves off: producers deliver once to the food hub, and customers pick up on their own schedule.
The food hub is not a company taking a cut. It is shared cooperative infrastructure — owned by the producers and customers who use it. Every euro of food hub share goes back into the system.
Physical locations where customers collect orders. Rent, equipment, signage, and maintenance. More points = shorter distances for customers.
Smart locks opened with your phone. Flexible pickup windows with no staff on-site. Hardware: locks, controllers, connectivity.
Refrigerators, freezers, and organized shelving. Keeps produce fresh from farm to customer. Ongoing electricity and upkeep.
Turning bulk farm deliveries into individual customer orders. Sorting, weighing, packing — hands-on work every distribution round.
Getting products from farms to pickup points. Delivery routes, distribution schedules, and coordination between producers.
The coordinator who onboards producers, communicates with customers, manages schedules, and keeps everything running.
The virtuous cycle: More pickup points → more convenient → more customers → more orders → more income for producers → more producers join → better selection → more customers. The food hub share is fuel for this cycle.
Starting from what the producer wants to earn:
| Step | What happens | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Producer Price | What the farmer sets as their price | 6.80 € |
| + Margin (22.8%) | Added for food hub + platform operations | 2.01 € |
| = Price without tax | Net price before VAT | 8.81 € |
| + VAT (13.5%) | Tax added on top | 1.19 € |
| = Customer Price | What the customer pays | 10.00 € |
The margin is then split between the food hub (70%) and the Ekompi platform (30%). The producer's price is never touched — the margin is added on top, not taken from the producer.
| Recipient | Share | Amount | What it funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food Hub | 70% of margin | 1.41 € | Pickup points, logistics, staff, cold storage |
| Ekompi | 30% of margin | 0.60 € | Platform development, hosting, payments, support |
| Total margin | 2.01 € |
Uudenmaan ruoka settings (22.8% margin), food products (VAT 13.5%):
| Producer sets | Margin | Food Hub | Ekompi | Tax | Customer pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.00 € | 0.89 € | 0.62 € | 0.27 € | 0.53 € | 4.42 € |
| 5.00 € | 1.48 € | 1.04 € | 0.44 € | 0.87 € | 7.35 € |
| 7.00 € | 2.07 € | 1.45 € | 0.62 € | 1.22 € | 10.29 € |
| 10.00 € | 2.95 € | 2.07 € | 0.88 € | 1.75 € | 14.70 € |
| 15.00 € | 4.43 € | 3.10 € | 1.33 € | 2.62 € | 22.05 € |
| 20.00 € | 5.91 € | 4.14 € | 1.77 € | 3.50 € | 29.41 € |
Each food hub sets its own margin based on operating costs. Same 10.00 EUR product:
| Uudenmaan ruoka | Keski-Suomen ruoka | |
|---|---|---|
| Margin setting | 22.8% | 34.2% |
| Hub / Platform split | 70 / 30 | 80 / 20 |
| Producer gets | 6.80 € (68%) | 5.80 € (58%) |
| Food Hub gets | 1.41 € | 2.41 € |
| Ekompi gets | 0.60 € | 0.60 € |
| Tax (13.5%) | 1.19 € | 1.19 € |
| Customer pays | 10.00 € | 10.00 € |
Higher margin means the food hub invests more in infrastructure. Lower margin means more goes directly to the producer. Each community finds its own balance.
Same product (producer price 7.00 €), Uudenmaan ruoka settings. The margin split stays the same regardless of VAT — tax is always added on top.
| VAT Rate | Used for | Price ex. tax | Tax | Customer pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | Zero-rated | 9.07 € | 0.00 € | 9.07 € |
| 13.5% | Food products | 9.07 € | 1.22 € | 10.29 € |
| 25.5% | Non-food products | 9.07 € | 2.31 € | 11.38 € |