Uruguayan Tomahawk steaks are among the recent imported items on offer by GroupMall.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Gianmarco Meli grew up in Sicily, he says, "but I did a student exchange in Sweden and I loved the experience of living abroad."

So he didn't think twice when he was offered an internship with a food-importing business in China three years ago.

That experience had two results: It connected him with importers and suppliers, and he also heard from many friends who struggled to find consistent quality in imported foods they liked at a good price.

So he found a partner with a background in IT, and pitched their idea for a food-buying platform in a competition run by Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The idea was to make group buys on specialty items: There would be a quota for shares to be purchased, then GroupMall would buy in bulk, divide the goods, and ship everything from steaks to organic brown rice to the shareholders.

The plan captured the judges' interest, and GroupMall was born. Successfully launched in co-working space in Shanghai, the company is weaning itself off its start-up capital, preparing its own office space－and this month, branching out to Beijing.

Besides group buying, GroupMall offers about a half-dozen "hot deals" to its followers each week. Recent items included Uruguayan Tomahawk steaks, coconut water and chips, blueshell mussels, gluten-free snacks, grain-fed beef prime rib and grass-fed beef cuberoll.

While imported items are most in demand, Meli also looks for quality, hard-to-find foods from within China. He's connected with Tibetan growers of black truffles as well as Dutchman Marc de Ruiter, whose Shanxi-based Yellow Valley Cheese company produces organic, fair-trade Gouda in several flavors.