#6 Kitche
Kitche was born during a walk in South London when co-founders discussed concerns about cooking for a young family without wasting food. The app helps households track food inventory, provides recipes, and reduces waste.
Visit KitcheThe Kitche team shared their journey of building a food waste reduction app and their mission to create a sustainable future.
What inspired you to start your business and have sustainability take such a central role?
Kitche was born during a walk in South London eight years ago when my co-founder, Lynsey, and I discussed her concerns about cooking for her young family without wasting food. She considered a smart fridge, but I believed it wouldn't solve the real issue.
Realising no such app existed, we created Kitche. During this process, I discovered the alarming environmental impact of food waste - 33% of the world's food is wasted, while 9% suffer from hunger.
Shockingly, 70% of food waste happens in our homes, making it a problem within our control. Food waste ranks as the third-largest carbon emitter, after China and the US.
Our mission became clear: raise awareness about food waste, empower individuals to make informed decisions, and create a sustainable future.
How does Kitche help households to become more sustainable through tackling food waste?
Kitche, in its app form, has been instrumental in helping people at home reduce their food waste through its unique features and functions. Drawing from my experience in technology from previous roles in startups, including the music industry and Google, I've always believed in leveraging technology to solve problems effectively.
The app encompasses a range of innovative nudges, delivered through push notifications, reminding users about the items they have at home. It also offers convenient ways to add products, such as scanning barcodes or using voice dictation.
What hurdles have you encountered and how have you managed to overcome them?
The primary challenge was transforming our initial post-it note idea into a viable technological solution. Since I'm not an engineer, finding the right partners was crucial to overcome this obstacle.
Partnering with Jamie and Lynsey as co-founders, each with unique skill sets, helped us gain momentum. Transitioning into a commercial venture involved creating a business-to-business consumer model, licensing data, and forming partnerships with local authorities and supermarkets.
Fundraising was also a significant concern, but with persistence, we managed to secure funding, which built confidence and further fueled our growth.
What do you see as the main sustainability challenges that face households, councils or businesses?
For local authorities and government entities, we've been collaborating to help them reduce their costs associated with food waste disposal. By providing insights into the types of wasted products, we assist them in optimising their intervention strategies.
For consumers, our mantra of "eat what you buy, buy what you eat" is straightforward. Our app helps them save money and reduce food waste, making it a simple win-win situation.
For supermarkets, we've sought partnerships with them to support their commitment to reduce farm-to-fork food waste by 50% by 2030.
What advice would you give entrepreneurs aspiring to greater sustainability ambitions for their FMCG business?
The first piece of advice I live by is to focus on doing what you're good at and allowing others to handle their areas of expertise. Having three co-founders with diverse backgrounds has been vital to our success.
The second piece of advice is to recognise and celebrate your wins. As the journey is filled with ups and downs, it's crucial to acknowledge the milestones and achievements along the way.
*BONUS* Do you have any sustainable brands that you're a big fan of and would like to shout out to the readers?
I'm a big fan of every company that's trying to fight food waste in different areas. There are other apps out there trying to solve food waste as well, including Olio, who's working with supermarkets for food redistribution and households as well. Too Good to Go is another fantastic app working with many retailers to ensure food doesn't go to waste.
From a "wonky" fruit and veg perspective, there's Oddbox, an expanding and excellent company with lovely people. In the FMCG category, Rubies in the Rubble is a household favourite, and my kids love their ketchup, which uses surplus pears instead of nasty sugars.
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