Brief description of the organisation/initiative
Foodobox is the first mobile application in Bulgaria fighting food waste. The free mobile application allows its users to view, select and book their box at no charge. They pick it up and pay it at the store. Foodobox provides for over 250 stores that customers can choose from. Each box of saved food reduces harmful emissions by 2.5 kg.
Challenge overview
According to the World Food Programme, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. This amounts to about 1.3 billion tons each year. All the food produced but never eaten would be sufficient to feed two billion people (twice the number of undernourished people globally). Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers are going even higher. The statistical data shows that more than 670 000 tons of food are wasted annually in Bulgaria, where 1.5 million Bulgarians live below the poverty line. The co-founders of Foodobox calculated that the application reduces carbon emissions by 2.5 kg with each box. For one year, Foodobox contributed to the reduction by 5 tons. The team foresees a future where it is guaranteed that not only food is saved, but through ecological ways, the plastic for one-time use declines.
After several years spent abroad – in Italy and Scotland, Jane Dimitrova and Velin Kerkov returned to their favourite Bulgaria to contribute with their experience and knowledge. Here, they saw a potential for development and decided to establish the first in Bulgaria mobile application that fights food waste. The project was born in Sofia, but grew rapidly and in less than 12 months reached even the largest cities in Bulgaria – Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Ruse.
Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise
While Jane Dimitrova was living in Italy, she got acquainted with a similar application. When she returned to Bulgaria because of the pandemic, Jane found the opportunity and market niche to adopt the working business model from the Western countries.
A crucial moment was the development of the mobile application for end-users. Then, Jane met Velin Kerkov, who was an owner of an IT company with more than 10-year experience in the market for software services. He immediately joined the project as a co-founder. Jane and Velin officially launched the application in June 2021. Now, the app works with more than 250 business partners who sell food at deducted prices in 11 Bulgarian cities. The end-users of the app are more than 20 000. Foodobox is among the top 3 of the most downloaded apps in Bulgaria in the category of food and drinks.
Management structure and governance
Jane Dimitrova and Velin Kerkov are the co-founders of Foodobox. Currently, they maintain a team of 5 young and motivated experts in business development and marketing.
Principles of work, objectives and activities
At the heart of Foodobox is the drive to reduce food waste. The goal is to provide a win-win solution to this global problem. By saving food from dumping, Foodobox is helping the planet while reducing the socio-economic damage of wasting it.
Foodobox is a surprise box that contains high quality food at an affordable price for the customers. The other profitable side is the food businesses, which generate additional revenue from the sale of food that they would not otherwise use. Less waste means less harmful emissions into the atmosphere and less waste of resources for its production.
By using Foodobox, businesses can sell delicious and fit food, left as waste, at a deducted price. The end users, on the other hand, can save food from wasting by paying about 50% lower price and taking their order from the place.
The mobile application centralises information about where food is to be dumped. The end user can enter the application and see which sites offer food boxes for rescue at a big discount. The end user may like an object that is close to him and go to the pick-up time to save this food. There is no delivery, it is picked up on the spot and saved through the app.
Foodobox aims to educate its end users in conscious and responsible consumer behaviour, thus the founders have started educational workshops on the topic of food waste among the 1st grade students (around the age of 7) and open discussion with university students.
Target groups
Foodobox has two main target groups – businesses and consumers. The team strives to attract more businesses for the good cause and also to raise the number of conscious and responsible consumers. The reach this goal, the team provides educational workshops to create a positive trend among children and young people to be responsible for the environment.
Innovation
Foodobox is the first such mobile application in Bulgaria. It opens the market for more green and sustainable initiatives as the team strives to educate young people and businesses to invest more in saving the environment. The dedication of the team to the mission of Foodobox is what makes this initiative unique.
Key partners
Foodobox is partnering with Bulgarian and international companies such as Viber, Bosch, Able Activator, Mentor The Young, Maria’s World Foundation, Networking Premium Coworking, Edenred and Climate-KIC. They are participating in the Business consulting hackaton organized by Baringa and 180 degrees consulting in June 2022.
Impact and Evaluation
Foodobox has received many awards and appreciations, which serve as a proof for the positive influence of the company on people and the environment. Some of the awards are Forbes Business Award for Startup of the Year – 2022, The Recursive Award for Startup of the Year – 2021 (Young Entrepreneur) and the award for Businesswoman was awarded to Jane Dimitrova by CCI Innovation awards ceremony 2022- https://www.ccifbinnovationawards.org/.
Recommendations
The model of smart apps that help combat food waste is not new. However, sustainable and conscious consumer behaviour is a global trend, which gives a lot of space for new models and businesses similar to Foodobox who can contribute to the deduction of food waste, carbon emissions and poverty globally.
Lessons Learned
The founders share some lessons learned from their entrepreneurial activity. Firstly, Bulgarians are quite sceptical about innovations and big changes. This is a consequence of the misconception that everyone is unfriendly and unfair. At first, it was difficult to convince them that what Foodobox does creates a sustainable and better world for them and their children and there are no hidden tricks. Some of the criticisms that customers make are related to concerns about the contents of the surprise boxes – whether the food inside is fit, whether the reduction is actually at least 40% and whether the quality is good. So, everyday, the team proves that they offer delicious and fit food that meets all regulations.
It is difficult to have a sustainable business with a cause. Of course, Jane and Kalin put the mission and the problem of food waste first, but they are also realistic. They are aware that if they want to develop their business model in and outside the country in the long run, they must be financially stable. So, they are investing additional funds in improving the application, the functionality of the platform, as well as to allocate even more resources for quality customer service by expanding the team. They are currently searching investment from VCs and business angels.
References
The website of Foodobox.
Forbes Bulgaria (2021). Спасители на храна [Food saviors]. 13 December, Forbes.
Nikolova, E. (2022). FoodoBox – как да спасим храната, която не заслужава да отиде в коша [FoodoBox – how to save food that does not deserve to go to the trash]. 9 February, Offnews.bg.
Mediapool.bg (2022). Иновативно приложение “Foodobox като алтернатива на изхвърлянето на храна” [Innovative application “Foodobox as an alternative to food waste”]. 25 March, Mediapool.bg.
Dimitrova, T. (2022). Сос от обелки, чипс от люспи, или истории как да не изхвърляме храна [Peel sauce, flake chips, or stories about how not to throw away food]. 22 April, Dnevnik.bg.
Mustakova, L. (2022). Мобилно приложение „спасява” храна от изхвърляне [Mobile application “saves” food from disposal], 18 April, Nova News TV.
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