Oddbox

Idea

Introduction

Every year, as much as 40% of food produced globally is wasted, contributing to an estimated 10% of all emissions. The environmental impact of food waste is thought to be 248 x that of plastic.

Unbeleaf-able right?

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, Project Drawdown has identified food waste as the number one solution to help solve climate change.

That’s where Oddbox comes in – fighting food waste, one curvy cucumber at a time.

We work directly with growers to rescue the “too odd” and “too many” at risk of going to waste, delivering boxes of farm-fresh fruit and veg to doorsteps across the UK.

By giving growers a reliable secondary market for pear-fectly edible crops, and by helping our community cook more resourcefully, we’re raising awareness and making a difference.

We have a loyal community of over 300K Oddboxers and are one of the top-rated delivery boxes on TrustPilot. And best of all, 48% of people who join us say they are more likely to take action on food waste.

Substantial accomplishments to date

In our 2018 campaign, we welcomed 508 investors to Oddbox and overfunded to 148% of our £350K target.

We’ve come a long way since then.

At that time, we’d delivered 25,000 boxes to fewer than 2,000 customers and were only available in South London.

We’ve now delivered close to 6 million boxes and have a subscriber base of over 75K customers, reaching 66% of the UK. 1 in 5 of our customers join through word of mouth and we’ve achieved a whopping 52.5% aided brand awareness across the UK and 71.2% in London.

In 2020 we became a proud B Corp, balancing people and planet with profit. We prioritise local growers, keep emissions low with overnight deliveries and have a strict no-air-miles policy. We also use recyclable boxes, never add unnecessary packaging and at the end of each week, donate our leftover fruit and veg to charity partners.

With limited investment and a simple proposition, we’ve grown our revenue 35 times over the past four years and kept strong margins.

We’ve brought together an incredible team and grown a network of over 100 growers, with 100% of our suppliers saying that Oddbox plays an effective role in fighting food waste.

In December, we launched our own cookbook, ‘Crunch Time’, with viral TikTok star Martyn Odell to promote resourceful cooking and, this month, you might have spotted our first ads on TV.

Monetisation strategy

Our revenue comes from customers subscribing to a regular Oddbox delivery. Each week, customers can also add limited-edition ‘add-ons’ to their box for an extra cost. These include ‘rare rescues’ like kiwiberries and padron peppers, as well as products from like-minded partners, including Montezuma’s “Waste not Want not” chocolates and Dash Water, which is made using wonky fruit.

Building a strong, loyal community is central to how we make money. This is shown in both our 3:1 LTV:CAC ratio (meaning we make back three times what we spend in acquiring each customer), and the fact that our AOV (average order value) is continually increasing.

*Source: Unaudited management accounts.

Use of proceeds

Over the next five years, we’re aiming to rescue an additional 90,000 tonnes of food at risk of going to waste, as well as inspiring tens of thousands of people to take action on food waste.

So far, we’ve focussed our rescue efforts on fruit and veg, but by 2026 we plan to expand our horizons and grow beyond our iconic original boxes. We’re already evolving through partnerships with like-minded brands. But we want to broaden our own offering and expand to new channels and markets, exploring different ways to fight food waste.

To do this, we need to upgrade our subscription platform and improve the user experience on our website. We plan to automate our packing processes and upgrade our back-end systems, so we can streamline the ordering, box planning and packing processes.

These upgraded systems will help expand what Oddbox can offer, as well as bringing more people into our community. The result? More food rescued that might otherwise have gone to waste.