Food startup uses AI to cut food waste

You look in the refrigerator and some of it is rotting. That waste contributes to global warming. And what’s the solution? Diana Olek joins us with her continuing look at climate startups. Hi, Diana. Hey, Contessa. Yeah, it’s not just us. It’s supermarkets, too. Food waste is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Some estimates say it’s twice as much as commercial aviation. Now, one food delivery service says it can cut that waste dramatically using, what else? AI In the US, about 30% of food from our grocers and our refrigerators ends up not in our stomachs, but in our landfills. Food delivery services like HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and Every Plate reduce that somewhat by sending you just what you need for the recipe. But a food delivery startup called Hungry Root is taking it one step further. They’re curating exactly what consumers want for all meals and how much of it they’ll use. Hung Root is entirely designed to give you just the foods that you’re going to need for your week, and it gives you simple recipes so you know exactly what to do with them. And as a result, food waste with our customers is significantly reduced. Hungry Root asks its customers a slew of questions, everything from likes and dislikes to food allergies, to health goals, to how and when they cook. And then there’s AI. We also use machine learning to infer additional data points about you. There’s hundreds of thousands of customers that have been using Hungry for years and we can reference their data to infer which recipes, which grocery items you’re going to love. It then sends you a list of what’s in your weekly card and you can approve or change items. Investors say the unique model sets it apart from the competition. They have been profitable for three or four years now, which is unusual for a lot of these e-commerce, you know, food food businesses. And they’ve been able to drive that through efficiency of spend. In addition to Lightspeed, Hungry Root is backed by El Katterton and Crosslink Capital Corp, Riley and Lira Hippo. Total funding to date $75 million. Hungry Root claims to not only reduce consumer food waste, but also its own waste. For example, if it determines that you don’t have a preference between your broccoli and your Brussels sprouts and they happen to have more broccoli in their warehouse than sprouts, they’ll recommend the broccoli. They say that results in 80% less food waste at their facilities compared with a traditional supermarket. I love this and I have been a subscriber for meal delivery service Blue Apron for a many, many, many years and I have found that the food waste is almost nothing. What I don’t get Diana is the if you’re if you’re out to do it for the environment, there’s still the packaging that’s a problem to solve. Did did you talk to them about that? Right, we absolutely did. And they’re using more eco friendly packaging, more paper, less plastic, that’s all recyclable, compostable, they’re on that as well. So yes, there is packaging involves and there’s also you could say look if they deliver it to you, then there’s the truck that has gasoline emissions that has to deliver it to you. So there is carbon emissions and everything that we do of course, but this is just a way to reduce them overall and unlike those delivery services that are specifically for a recipe, this is for your entire weeks shopping. So it’s helping you a bit more amazing. Thank you, Diana, for bringing us the story.