More Than Food founders John and Lisa Gibbons said there was a growing disconnect between the public and the origins of their food.

Mr Gibbons said the dairy industry milk controversy in recent weeks highlighted this.

“Most people blindly purchase milk without an understanding of where it has come from, but when the local dairy industry started to fail, consumers needed to quickly educate themselves about what they were purchasing and where it was coming from,” he said.

“There is a lack of a connect with the products you buy and the producers.

“I’m passionate about the idea that people should be able to buy from people they know and trust.”

Having attended Albury High and Xavier High schools respectively, Mr and Ms Gibbons discovered a shared interest in local produce.

“We were at Winery Walkabout one year and our waiter told us the food we were eating came from out there (in a paddock),” he said.

“It was a light bulb moment for me.”

Mr Gibbons said after two years of thinking about it they founded their purpose-driven More Than Food business earlier this year.

He said they aimed to find innovative ways to connect people to the source of their food and design products and services around it.

“We’re a purpose-driven company, finding interesting ways to connect people with food,” he said.

Mr Gibbons said the first major project was a series of tours from spring, which would showcase North East small food producers.

He said each tour would visit four food producers within a region with the chance to meet the people behind the food and to taste food from its source.

Ms Gibbons said when people made a connection with producers it changed the way they made decisions about food.

“We think a little less about price and a lot more about whose pocket our money ends up in,” she said.

Sixteen producers including winemakers, cheese makers, farmers, fruit growers, brewers and chocolatiers are featured on the first round of tours.

The Beechworth Foodie Tour on October 23 visits Star Lane Winery, Beechworth Berries, Bridge Road Brewery and Rising Sun Olives.

Rutherglen’s Renaissance Chocolate welcomed the initiative.

“We are excited to be part of this concept as it is exactly what we believe in – listening to the customer, sharing our passion and taking time to get to know them,” chocolatier Neil Funston said.

“We look forward to welcoming John and Lisa’s guests and turning customers into chocolate loving friends.”