About Us

‍Hi there 👋

I'm Kamran, the founder of Funky Food.

I had a farmer once tell me that his biggest customer was the rubbish bin.

I laughed at the time but he was not joking.

Around 30% of produce grown is either rejected or left on the farm simply because it doesn’t meet cosmetic standards.

Who knew fruit and veg had to win a beauty pageant just to make it to your plate?

At Funky Food, our mission is simple: to make fresh, healthy food abundant by rescuing perfectly edible produce from going to waste.

If you’re like me, you’d be wondering why and how! So lets peel back the curtains shall we!‍

Why a lot of the box looks “normal”? I’ve seen worse at supermarkets.
Fruit and veg gets rejected for being too small, too big, odd shaped, discoloured or having skin marks. But often, the most common reason is excess supply.

Because the 2 main supermarkets are the main buyers and have a monopoly, they use “non-binding” supply agreements with farmers, forecasting higher volumes while rejecting roughly 40% for “cosmetic reasons”.

This floods the secondary market forcing prices down at the expense of the farmer simply because no one else can handle that much load so eventually most go off and get dumped.

‍What about the “rejected produce” that supermarkets currently sell?
These programs rescue less than 5% of the waste created and the irony is that they are the ones causing the problem, they could completely stop it but are saving too much money having it this way.

‍ Why aren’t farmers speaking out about this?
Many have experienced this. They’re often left with a choice of speaking out or risk losing their biggest and in most case only buyers.

Aren’t customers partly to blame for this waste for being “picky”?
It’s true that a small segment of customers are picky, but that alone doesn’t explain the massive waste problem in our food system. Also, once these picky customers understand the story behind “funky” produce, most are more than happy with them!

Why are we only ~30% cheaper and sometimes more than local fruit shops?
We’d love to go lower, but we cover costs like paying farmers, delivery from farm, processing out the bad ones, packing, and delivering straight to you unlike a local shop where you have to do all the work yourself. With us you’re saving time whilst supporting a good cause!

You might also notice a few extra pieces in your order?
Supermarkets only buy in medium sizes which leads to a lot of waste because fruit and veg comes in varying sizes. That’s why, if our pieces are smaller than the medium size listed on our website, we'll give you more (to match the weight). If they're bigger we'll give you the count you ordered.

We’ll do our best to process and deliver only the fresh ones but every now and then, you might find something that needs a little extra love - just cut off the bad parts and enjoy the rest! 

We’re going to make a lot of mistakes on this journey, but hopefully overtime we can prove to you that our hearts are in the right place.

And in these early stages Funky might not be ticking all your boxes just yet, but you're supporting us because you believe in what we’re trying to do, for this, we are truly grateful - it would not be possible without you ❤️

Thank you 🙏
Kamran - founder
P.S help us rescue more by sharing