Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a still developing phenomenon in the world of food production and distribution. They involve a direct connection between local farmers and consumers, with minimal intermediaries involved. SFSCs have gained significant interest in recent years due to their potential to promote sustainable agriculture and support local communities. As a result, many governments, organisations, and individuals have been exploring ways to develop and promote these chains as a viable alternative to conventional food supply chains. However, it is still unclear how SFSCs products are perceived differently by producers and consumers: what makes SFSCs products more desirable? Starting from a European project (SmartChain), answers from twenty questionnaires from SFSCs actors across Europe were analysed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of SFSCs products according to the producers. From their answers, 18 quality criteria referred to SFSCs products were obtained and then proposed to consumers through a second questionnaire. The second questionnaire aimed to better understand whether the producers’ points of view matched the consumers’ points of view. From the analysis of the results, it was possible to understand what criteria were considered quality attributes by producers and consumers. Organic production and the presence of both trained and vulnerable personnel were not particularly relevant to the quality perception of SFSCs products. The storage method, the assortment range, and the processing of the products were not evaluated as quality criteria. The consumers who were interviewed perceived the quality of a food product coming from an SFSC linked to the characteristics of the social context of the product. They associated products sold in SFSCs with non-processed food. Overall, such a survey can be considered a useful tool to deepen our knowledge about short food supply chains and offers several ideas for further studies and analysis.

There has been growing consumer demand for the products and services of the short food supply chains (SFSCs) in recent times. A procedure was developed to identify the technological and technological innovations that can improve the performance and competitiveness of the SFSCs. The needs of the SFSCs for innovative solutions were collected by interviewing 18 SFSCs from 9 countries. An inventory was prepared to contain 136 technological and non-technological innovations, meeting these needs. The innovations were collected from the good practices of the 18 SFSCs, experiences of the project partners and state of the art. The success factors and bottlenecks of each short food supply chain operation and their current value propositions were identified. From the inventory, those innovations were selected for each short food chain case study which can be applied to eliminate or reduce the bottlenecks or enhance the success factors leading to new, upgraded value propositions with increased added value for the consumers. The new, upgraded value propositions can serve as a starting point for developing a strategy for improving the competitiveness of a short food chain organisation through the application of innovations.

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are today widely promoted due to the positive impact on social, economic and environmental sustainability. However, short chains face several specific challenges (e.g., meeting the requirements of consumers and ensuring optimal operations). The application of innovative solutions and digitalisation can support the actors of SFSCs to achieve these goals. Solutions and methods were collected based on the innovativeness and applicability of SFSCs. Systematic analysis of the needs of SFSCs for technological and non-technological innovations was carried out by partners of the SmartChain project. Based on the research, recommendations were made for the participating SFSCs regarding potential innovations. A significant proportion of the identified solutions have digital elements that were collectively assessed as a suitable solution in the case of the studied SFSCs. The current work provides an overview of the potential implementation of the collected innovative solutions having digital elements and addresses the primary needs and issues of SFSCs where the application is relevant. Highlighted areas of performance are marketing, communication, packaging and labelling, and logistics.