Week 5 10/06/15- Redefine Beauty in Produce
Week 5 10/06/15- Redefine Beauty in Produce
--taking a byproduct and turn it into a product people wanna buy
Ayo Foodies!
Happy first week of October!
We had Dylan, an “ugly produce enthusiast” from Imperfect Produce come in for our past week’s class. He shared the vision of the new company and his story of becoming involved in the campaign fighting food waste.
Speech Recap
COOL FACTS:
America: 40% food wasted, food is #1 in landfill, 11 trillions water wasted in foods thrown away = size of Florida
Imperfect entered market to address 2 things: Lack of affordable food and food waste
While we have so many food deserts, 6 billion pounds of imperfect food is rejected by farms because of cosmetic reasons - that's 20% of produce grown!
CRAZY EXAMPLES: if orange is not 1.6 inches in diameter, if there are some blemishes on a pear, if the carrots are not straight enough, or if there is too much space between crevices in cauliflower…...they are rejected by grocery stores and composted!
Farmers do not pick imperfect produce because there is no market need
Imperfect Produce pays them to pick, pack and ship ---only high quality but funny looking produce
Produce gather at the company’s distribution center, where everyone is happily packing!
Featuring weekly boxes, home-delivery, Raley’s “real good section”
Featured by media: National Geographic NY Times, npr, NBC…
Current Success + Rapid Growth: started on 7/1/15---now shipping over 700 weekly boxes
Goal: service expansion; Obstacle: keeping up with rapid growth as a small team, broad roles for Imperfect team members, covering much grounds
Food for Thoughts Discussion Topics/Qs
Should imperfect go for a CSA to supermarket expansion? Like European models?
Conventional vs. Organic farms?
Difference in beauty perception at farmers market vs grocery stores
CSA vs Aggregator: farm fresh to you
P.S. Congrats on the sample box winners!! I hope everyone enjoyed their free ugly fruit!
Message from Dylan:
Handout attached includes my contact info as well as my coupon code (DYLAN50) for 50% off your first order!
Imperfect's Ugly Food Celebration (10/23 @ 5pm)
We will be hosting our first annual #FoodDay event on Friday, October 23 from 5pm-7pm. It will include some wonderful food waste speakers, a screening of Just Eat It, free food, and more! Please encourage your class to attend—it would be so nice to have y'all here to celebrate with us.
Check it out on Facebook here!
Networking: As I had mentioned, I'm trying to connect Imperfect to the Cal community in as many ways as possible—from supplying student houses to expanding food access to whatever folks think up!
If anyone you know could benefit from working with us, please have reach out to me directly via email, call/text (415) 559-1953, or even add me on Facebook (Dylan J. Bondy)! I'd be happy to bring a sample box by any large student residence or organization / chat with them a bit more about what we do.
The blog and photos are updated weekly, check them out! http://calfoodsystem.wix.com/decal
Please email us back with any topics/issues/people you would like to discuss in class or just share with everyone!
Upcoming Week’s Speaker!
Geoffrey Woo is co-founder and CEO of Nootrobox, the world leader in the development and distribution of nootropics (i.e. "smart drugs") and other functional products that push the boundaries of human cognition. Our products have been profiled by ABC News, Fox News, the UK Guardian, the New York Observer, and many other national media channels and publications.
Previously, Geoffrey spent time at Foundation Capital as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In 2011, Geoffrey founded Glassmap, a technology company focused around location sharing and local discovery. Glassmap was backed by YCombinator and acquired by Groupon in January 2013. At Groupon, Geoffrey built and launched Groupon's point-of-sale and payments products. Aside from operating, Geoffrey has published essays via TechCrunch, GigaOM, and other publications.
Prior to Glassmap, Geoffrey studied Computer Science at Stanford University and graduated with Honors and Distinction. At Stanford, he served as President of BASES (Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students), the largest entrepreneurship student group in the world, for which he now serves as a member of the board.
Can’t wait to see you again next Tuesday!!
*As always, remember to bring in a piece of food news to get some delicious CHOCOLATE!
Study hard and eat & sleep well!
Best,
Hailey
Agnes, Cindy and Vicky
Environmental, Nutritional & Social Aspects Influencing Our Food System DeCal, UC Berkeley
Fall 2015
Tuesdays, 7-8 pm
Location Dwinelle 283
