A new Colorado Springs startup wants to prevent surplus food from going to the dump.
Colorado Springs startup FoodMaven Corp. was founded with the goal of reducing the surplus food bought by grocery stores and distributors. The startup makes a profit by creating an online marketplace where grocery stores and distributors can sell and deliver their leftover food to restaurants, institutional kitchens, and commercial food preparation businesses at an incredible discount!
The Colorado Springs startup entered the marketplace in July 2016 in Colorado Springs, expanding later in the year to Denver. They now employ 22 people and plan to hire 50 more this summer as they continue to grow in Denver. FoodMaven plans to operate in 100 major cities nationwide and employ around 8,000 people.
FoodMaven's cofounder and CEO, Patrick Bultema, is a longtime local entrepreneur. Of FoodMaven, he said:
We want to do to the food industry what Uber did to the taxi industry... This is a national rollout to every major metropolitan area. We will raise hundreds of millions of dollars when we are done with this. We have such a compelling economic model that it justifies that level of capital raise. Investors are realizing the food system is the next frontier of innovation, and there are a lot of venture capital funds focusing on that sector including some from major food industry players."The National Resource Defense Council estimated last year that wasted food valued at $218 billion from consumers, restaurants, grocery stores, and other food providers ends up in U.S. landfills every year. Average estimates are that anywhere from 30%-50% of the food sold in the U.S. is wasted.
FoodMaven acts as a middleman between buyers and sellers, using a fleet of five refrigerated trucks to pick up and deliver surplus food. The company is generating a substantial profit margin, but is not yet profitable because it is expanding so rapidly. FoodMaven is currently buying from about 40 sellers, including several stores in a major grocery chain. Buyers thus far include Colorado College, Poor Richard's, The Wild Goose Meeting House, and more than 150 other restaurants, bakeries, and commercial kitchens.
Anything FoodMaven can't sell is donated to Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado or given to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and pig farms in southeastern Colorado. None of their unused food is sent to landfills, ever.
