Don't judge a fruit by its cover.
Emeryville's Imperfect Produce is fighting waste by delivering fruits and vegetables that taste good but might be considered to look ugly at prices that are way below grocery store markups. A 10-15 pound box of fruits and vegetables, for example, costs $12.
"We find that it is really easy to convince people when they realize they can pay a fraction of the price to get the same kind of taste and health," chief supply officer Ron Clark told New York Times.
Reducing waste has been a concern for the founders since they were in college. Chief executive Ben Simon and chief operating officer Ben Chesler also operate the Food Recovery Network, which facilitates donations of food from over 100 colleges to soup kitchens.
They admitted that efforts to work with national grocery retailers have been tough so far; the publication cited a pilot program with Raley's to sell Imperfect Produce fruits and vegetables that was discontinued after a few months.
Imperfect Produce delivers to Emeryville, Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, Alameda and San Francisco and offers public pickup locations in San Francisco, Lafayette and Concord. Potential customers in other Bay Area cities can contact them to express interest in having Imperfect Produce expand to other places.
Ugly but Perfect... we're redefining beauty in produce! @NYTimes https://t.co/sdfAPETbTL #ImperfectLUV pic.twitter.com/GP58htYtwf — Imperfect (@Imperfectfruit) December 1, 2015
