DORCHESTER, MA - Every year millions of pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables are thrown out by growers and retailers because they don't pass the so-called “eye-test.” Some innovative thinkers however see a way to turn this loss into a new source of profits for retailers, one which would both help financially struggling families access fresh produce and slash food waste at the same time. Why not sell those misshapen fruits and vegetables at a discount customers can afford, asks Doug Rauch, former President of Trader Joe's and the thinker behind Daily Table.
According to the USDA roughly 31% of the food produced in America every year is wasted. In total this loss amounts to $161.6 billion. Rauch finds such waste appalling.
“Grocery stores routinely trash produce for being the wrong shape or containing minor blemishes...yet one in six Americans is going hungry,” he told reporters at The Atlantic.
Part of the problem is the economy. Families making at or near the federal minimum wage, $7.25 for non-tipped employees, are put in the position of having to make difficult decisions between buying more expensive fresh produce and paying the bills for other important family needs. Often unwilling to accept the social stigmas that are associated with “handouts” and government programs, these families can be priced out of the fresh produce market.
“Dignity is a major issue,” Rauch says. “People want to be normalized; they want to shop like a customer and feel like they have provided for their family.”
The path has already been paved before by overseas French retailer Intermarché, the 3rd largest grocery store chain in France. As AndNowUKnow previously covered, when Intermarché debuted its line of misshapen or disfigured fruits and vegetables, its Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables line sold 1.2 tons of Inglorious produce in the first two days of the program alone with a 24% increase in overall store traffic.
Rauch plans on bringing this same business model to the United States with Daily Table.
The first Daily Table location will open this fall in Dorchester, Massachusetts. If it succeeds he says there will be plenty more to follow.
For more on Daily Table, you can read our previous article on the new retailer here.
