How Oddbox turned wonky veg into a food waste movement

How Oddbox turned wonky veg into a food waste movement

Author: Virgin StartUp April 20, 2022 Duration: 38:12

Emilie Vanpoperinghe and Deepak Ravindran started Oddbox after spotting something simple on holiday: fruit and veg did not need to look perfect to taste good. What began as a small subscription box rescuing wonky and surplus produce became one of the UK’s fastest-growing food delivery businesses.


In this episode of The Jump, Emilie and Deepak share how they tested the idea with early customers, built a grower-led model, used a Virgin StartUp loan to bring structure to the business, and handled a sudden surge in demand when Covid changed how people bought food overnight. It is a story about food waste, behaviour change, bootstrapping, logistics, and building a purpose-led business one odd box at a time.

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Behind every new company, there's a moment of decision, a leap of faith that changes everything. The Jump, brought to you by Virgin StartUp, digs into those pivotal moments with the people who lived them. Host Ben Keene sits down with founders to hear the raw, often untold chapters of their journeys. Imagine launching a travel venture right before a global pandemic shuts the world down, or finding the inspiration for a brand from your child, only to see it attract clients like Beyonce. These aren't polished fairy tales; they're real accounts of ideas that began at kitchen tables and grew into multimillion-pound enterprises. Each conversation in this podcast peels back the layers of entrepreneurship, focusing on the human stakes behind the business plans. You'll hear about the doubts, the unexpected turns, and the resilience required to build something from nothing. Tune in for a candid look at the messy, inspiring reality of starting up, where every story is a testament to taking that crucial first step. This is where the business of building gets personal.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 6

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