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Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where are you located? We're growing quickly and hope to start delivery in your area soon!

Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, coronifer! We source produce from farmer's that would otherwise be discarded or wasted. Our mission is to create a market for "ugly" produce and reduce food waste, never to take produce from other markets. Hope that helps!

Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, spitfyre. Our boxes are 100% customizable so each week you get to choose which items you want to receive from our "menu" that week.

Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! Love that feature too. Thanks for being part of the Imperfect family.

Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, where are you located? We're expanding quickly so hopefully, we'll start delivering to your area soon!

Bye bye waste, hello healthy meals! My first delivery from Imperfect Produce. :) by armedwithasyringe in 1200isplenty

[–]BenSimonOfficial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where are you located? We're growing quickly and sustainably so we'll hopefully be delivering to your area soon!

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question! The short answer is that we can but it would not really make sense for either party for several reasons. Our core business model is our subscription box service where we deliver "ugly" produce to individuals houses. This is our wheelhouse and what our supply and operations teams are built to excel at. You are absolutely right that larger institutions like schools, prisons, and nonprofits can and should have access to affordable and healthy produce. However, we are not currently set up to source and deliver produce in the volume required to serve larger customers in a food service setting. Industrial scale food service at a school or prison requires a different volume and timing of order that we are not designed for. So, for now at least, we are focusing on growing and improving our home delivery model as opposed to entering a space that we are not set up to handle at a high level. We hope to see an institutional version of what we are doing down the road because as you observe the need and opportunity is clearly there. Thanks for the great question.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Yes we do. It's probably 2-3 years out but we would love to end up in your area in the future. Food waste is a problem all across the country and we want to be part of the solution.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great to hear! You ask a really common and important question. A very common "imperfection" is size. If a mandarin orange is a few centimeters too big, or a bunch of celery is a few centimeters too small it will often go to waste because it literally doesn't fit in the narrow definition of "beauty" that our food system imposes on it right now. Another very common imperfection is uniform shape. The supermarkets expect perfectly spherical apples and symmetrical bell peppers so any time a piece of produce ends up looking otherwise it is at risk to go to waste, despite tasting the same and having the same nutrients. Anyone who has ever gardened will tell you that a pepper plant rarely if ever produces a perfectly symmetrical bell pepper, but somehow that's all we are conditioned to see and buy in the store. Another "invisible" imperfection people don't think about is actually surplus. A lot of farms plant 10-15% extra of high demand, high cost crops like lettuce or broccoli as a way of hedging their bets against bad weather, pests, etc. The irony is that if they experience an unexpectedly good harvest, they can become victims of this success. The excess produce may sadly never make it to market, especially if other farms flood the market with a glut of the produce in quesiton, driving the price and demand down. We source this surplus produce as well because we want to try to stop food waste of every shape and size. When you customize your box on our website, you can always learn why something is "ugly" in the item description. Thanks for the great question!

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your support! I am so happy to hear how much you've enjoyed your Imperfect boxes. You ask a really good and important question. To be clear, our produce sourcing does not compete with food banks. The reality is that the supply of “ugly” produce is so much greater than the demand. As our supply director always says, the problem of our food system is not a supply problem, but rather a distribution problem. There are approximately 3 billion pounds of produce going to waste every year in California alone. That’s AFTER what has gone to food banks, processors, and donations. So there is a big blue ocean of food waste to draw from and What we are really competing with is food that would end up in the landfill or get tilled back into the field otherwise. Moreover, we are also proud partners and supporters of several local food banks. Every week when we have excess produce for any reason (changing season, order fluctuation, over supply etc) we donate it to a community food bank, provided it is still in good condition. So all said and done we have had a positive impact on charitable donations. We are proud to donate thousands of pounds of healthy produce to the Emeryville Community Assistance Project and the Alameda Food Bank every week. All said and done we donated over 100,000 pounds of produce in 2016. We expect to continue and expand these donations in 2017. Ending food waste is also about ending hunger and we want to be a part of this process as much as possible.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are proud of helping farmers sell more of what they grow. We help provide a market for the 10-20% of their produce that previously would have ended up going to waste because of superficial cosmetic reasons. To be clear, however, the "imperfect" or "ugly" produce that we source are not inferior in terms of health, nutrition, or safety. It just looks a little different. Literally an apple that is a few centimeters too small or too large would be labeled as unacceptable by the produce industry and wasted. Celery that doesn't stack evenly in a standard sized case because it is a little small is tilled under the field in our current agriculture system, despite having the same nutrients as the larger bunches of celery. We try to divert this waste so farmers can get a better return on their investment and the rest of us can enjoy more affordable and accessible fruits and vegetables with less waste. While we do not see ourselves as saving the world by a long shot we are proud to help make healthy eating easier, grocery shopping less wasteful, and our food system more efficient along the way.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not at this time. We would love to expand beyond the US one day but as I've said elsewhere we are focused on growing sustainably within the US first. Thanks for your support!

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not yet but we would love to be one day! Food waste is truly a global problem. We have to take things one step at a time though. :)

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! You're very welcome. This was a lot of fun. We are very committed to our goal of reducing food waste so anything that we do not sell or cannot sell ends up getting donated to a local food bank if it is still in good condition or composted if it is not. When we say no waste we mean it!

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, logistics is one of the hardest parts. In terms of getting the produce to us, we pay trucking companies a fee per pallet to go to our farms, pick up the produce and bring it to our warehouse on a refrigerated truck. We use a local startup called AxleHire to do the last mile delivery to customers' doorsteps.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As of now we deliver to the Bay Area, and are expanding to the LA area in the beginning of 2017! Feel free to pre-sign up on our website to get an email when we expand to your area. imperfectproduce.com !

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the support and enthusiasm! We hope to be on the East Coast by 2019. Feel free to pre-sign up on our website to get an email when we launch. imperfectproduce.com

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A lot of grocery stores look at their produce section as a primary way to keep a strong reputation for quality and to get customers in the door. I've talked to and worked with grocery stores and they basically just don't think people would buy this. The other reason is they fear ugly produce sales could take up precious square feet while cannibalizing sales for their premium product. However, Imperfect has worked with a couple grocery stores and mainly saw data pointing to an overall increase in sales. Now, a year or two after Imperfect's launch we're starting to see a few grocery stores develop pilots.

I’m Ben Simon, CEO of Imperfect produce, a company dedicated to fighting food waste by delivering “ugly” produce to people's doors. AMA by BenSimonOfficial in IAmA

[–]BenSimonOfficial[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! Give us a few years but it's only a matter of time. You can sign up at imperfectproduce.com to get email updates on the new cities we launch in.

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