“Chengdu is my home. This is where I try to make a difference,” said Kam Panesar from the UK, who shared his story of starting business with gochengdu.cn. Once lived in Leeds, Sheffield, Sydney and Dublin, Mr. Panesar describes himself as a person with different cultural backgrounds.

Mr. Panesar first came to Chengdu as an architect for a project in the city. With a smile on his face, he said that he had not realized the importance of food safety until he became a father. He still remembered the first time his son started to eat solid food, he was going to give him a grape, but his wife stopped him because it may be grown with pesticides and chemicals. Since then, his wife started to grow vegetables on their balcony. One day, one of his friends engaged in agriculture heard about what they were doing, he offered them a space in his farm to grow organic vegetables. Later Mr. Panesar founded his company Barn and partnered with his friend to operate the first Organic Food Hall in China. The Barn is a cooperative platform bringing together producers of healthy and safe food and farm produce, and offering all relevant services.

“There is a growing need in Chengdu for food which is safe and healthy,” said Mr. Panesar, adding that “the local people are very open to new ideas and willing to try anything new. They are always ready to accept new concepts and lifestyles.” The food hall can satisfy diversified requirements of customers including families, office workers and young professionals.

According to Mr. Panesar, his company has launched many programs to raise the local people’s awareness of environmental protection and healthy lifestyles, by working together with lots of business partners, such as the Earth Day Festival and the Global Citizen Festival. It is going to launch an e-commerce platform for healthy food businesses soon.