According to the United Nations, 30% of the world’s food is wasted. When considering only fruits and vegetables, this percentage rises to 45%. Sometimes, fruits and vegetables are rejected by retailers simply because they do not meet the aesthetic standards expected by consumers, whether they are too large, too small, discolored, or misshapen. These imperfect fruits and vegetables represent approximately 10% of production and are the most likely to be wasted.
However, a Brazilian startup has found a way to save these out-of-standard fruits and vegetables by purchasing them directly from small producers and selling them to consumers through its online store. Fruta Imperfeita (Imperfect Fruits) started in late 2015 as an idea from São Paulo engineers Roberto Matsuda and Nathalia Inada (photo).
The Fruta Imperfeita online store sells baskets of fruits and/or vegetables in various different sizes, with the cheapest option – the mixed basket of 3kg – costing only R$ 20, or US$ 5.03. Customers also have the option to pay for a monthly subscription and receive fresh baskets every week, delivered to their door. The contents of each basket vary from week to week, with the couple working with approximately 14 different fruits and vegetables.
Currently, the service delivers to most of the expanded central area of São Paulo, with plans for future expansion.
After leaving the engineering field, Rodrigo Matsuda pursued a career in the food sector, focusing on small producers of fruits and vegetables. While visiting several small farms around São Paulo, he came across one that supplied corn on the cob to a large supermarket chain. If the vegetables were slightly too large or too small for the supermarket’s packaging, they were thrown away. “Anything that did not meet those standards was wasted,” explains Matsuda. “And then I saw that the same thing happened with several other products.”
“We realized that people didn’t even know these products existed,” adds Matsuda. “We saw that, in addition to supporting farmers, we needed to raise consumer awareness.”
The business was launched in November 2015 and after just three months, news of the Fruta Imperfeita service went viral on the internet, causing the couple’s order volume to explode – from about 100 orders per week to over 5,000 orders in a single day.
Source: www.bebrasil.com.br