We are Jan and Anahi of Perfekto (https://www.perfekto.mx/). We offer imperfect produce in Latin America, helping to reduce food waste as otherwise the food would be thrown away. We offer a subscription box, delivered to your doorstep. We started with fruits and veggies as 54% of them are wasted in Latin America, mainly due to two reasons: strict industry standards around aesthetics (too ugly, too small, too big, bruised, etc.) and inefficient supply chains (supply and demand mismatch, several intermediaries, no cold chains etc.). Meanwhile 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions result from food waste, and food demand is growing significantly.

I was working for a Swiss FinTech in Mexico City, but was not happy. I wanted to build something with a positive, sustainable impact. The food waste problem popped into my mind because growing up in a Swiss farming village and having worked as a waiter during my studies, I saw the effort in producing food and the amount of food we waste daily. I also realized there were not many people addressing the problem in Latin America. Further research showed that more than 1/3 of food in the region is being wasted. During that process I met Anahí, who started her career at Unilever and the past few years at Uber, where she led Grocery and Cornershop initiatives. Her father is a citrus producer so she was confronted with the problem of food waste pretty much her entire life and also wanted to do something about it.

We buy fruits and veggies from producers that otherwise are difficult or impossible for them to sell - the only standard is that they have to be fresh. We thereby create a market for these 'overlooked' products. Producers are not even offering imperfect products anymore because they think there is no market for it. When we approach them wanting to buy imperfect products they are surprised and distrust us. It takes some time for them to open up. Meanwhile, at least in Latin America, many people don't seem to know that this problem even exists. They don't know that so much food is being wasted for stupid reasons like shape or size and it blows their mind.

By sourcing our products directly from producers we shorten the supply chain. We maintain a cool temperature, which leads to less waste. We only buy seasonal and local produce to be as sustainable as possible. Thanks to the subscription model, we can match supply and demand to avoid over-buying stock that ends up wasted. This allows us to optimize logistics. Logistics is definitely the most complex thing about our business--it affects us across the board. For now we think we have figured out a good model to grow, but it will be interesting to see what happens and what will change as we become bigger!