Olaware

Olaware is a new kind of feeding store. Founded on more than two decades of specialist experience in speech pathology and feeding, it brings together thoughtfully selected products for eating, drinking, sensory needs and everyday independence, for every age and every ability. The name comes from the Greek word óla, meaning “all” or “everyone”, and that idea runs through the whole business: just like at Yiayia’s, there is always a place for everyone at the table.

The challenge was a familiar one in specialist retail, turned up a notch. Feeding products are genuinely hard to navigate. The right cup for a toddler learning to drink, a weighted spoon for someone with a tremor and a pacing tool for dysphagia can look almost identical on a shelf, and the people shopping for them often don’t know the clinical words. Olaware needed a store that could carry real clinical expertise without ever feeling clinical, and that felt as at home to a parent starting solids as it did to a carer or an allied health professional.

We built it on WordPress and WooCommerce with a structure designed around how people actually arrive. Alongside a conventional product catalogue of twelve categories, from Cups & Drinking to Tube Feeding, the site has a dedicated Shop by Need pathway. Visitors pick the situation that sounds most like theirs, whether that is Learning to Self-Feed, Sensory Differences, ARFID & Restrictive Eating or One-Handed Eating, and land on a curated set of products that can help. It turns “she wants to do it herself, I just don’t know what to buy” into a clear next step.

The design leans into warmth. A soft palette of terracotta, olive and cream, a friendly serif accent in the headings and a gently scrolling category ticker give the store the feel of a beautiful homewares shop rather than a medical supplier. Custom icon tiles make each need and category instantly recognisable, and product cards stay clean and consistent so the range itself does the talking.

Expertise is built into the experience rather than hidden in a footnote. The Why Olaware section spells out that every product is curated by speech pathologists with specialist feeding experience. Expert notes appear where people need them, like the contact page nudging visitors to describe the person and the mealtime so the team can point them in the right direction. The Learn with OLI journal adds practical, honest guides on topics like choosing a first cup and where to begin when textures are tricky, which gives the store long-term search value and gives families a reason to come back.

Rounding it out are a Brands page showcasing trusted makers including Dreamfarm, b.box, Pigeon and Ark Therapeutic, New Arrivals and Olaware Favourites rails on the home page, a newsletter sign-up to keep the community in the loop, customer accounts for tracking orders, and a fully responsive build so the shop works just as well on a phone at the kitchen table.

The result is a store that feels like Olaware itself: knowledgeable, inclusive and genuinely welcoming. Beautifully functional, for every way we nourish.