According to the U.S department of Agriculture, up to 31 percent (or 133 billion pounds of the 430 billion pounds) in food supply at the retail and consumer levels of 2010 alone went uneaten. FreshSpire, a company founded by five students at different universities, aims to reduce this food waste and address the issue of ineffective food distribution.
The founders of the company attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.
“I got together with four of my friends and we were initially going to enter this competition that was happening which was the UNC Social Entrepreneurship Competition, and from there it just shot up,” said Shraddha Rathod, a cofounder of the company and a junior at NC State. “We got the validation at that competition and we took an entrepreneurship class to make a business plan of what it is now and learn more about the business process.”
FreshSpire uses an app that is intended to connect grocers and consumers by notifying users of the store’s daily markdowns, which often consist of nearly expired foods or cosmetically imperfect foods.
“We talked to a lot of teachers, mentors and friends, and we realized that FreshSpire is something that can help out,” Rathod said.
The app is still in a development stage, but the idea is to keep users aware of markdowns so food is not wasted at grocery stores. The app is also intended to get users thinking of food security.
Workers at the store would upload information about nearly expired/cosmetically imperfect foods to FreshSpire’s web-based Application Program Interface platform. The information would then be sent out through a mass text notification system as well as the mobile app.
The app will have a newsfeed structure that updates based on the user’s location, store, item and deal preferences.
“[The app] would increase communication between grocery rings and consumers,” Rathod said. “Typically twice a day, grocery stores mark down foods that are about to expire or are just nearing their shelf life. Using this platform, consumers can get notified about deals that people aren’t normally notified about.”
Because the app uses a text notification system, non-smartphone users can still also receive the benefits of FreshSpire. These notifications could also save people money by making them aware of markdowns and help in increasing food security in communities.
FreshSpire placed first in the 2015 Verizon Student Innovator Challenge at NC State’s LuLu eGames start-up competition. It has also earned national recognition at the Clinton Global Initiative University, which is an annual meeting hosted by Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton where more than 1,000 student leaders make commitments to action in five focus areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation and public health.
“We already had FreshSpire going, and we had heard about other people at NC State who had been to [the Clinton Global Initiative University],” said Mona Amin, one of FreshSpire’s cofounders and a student at East Carolina University. “When we got there, it was a big networking opportunity for students all across the nation.”
Amin and Jennifer Wu, a FreshSpire cofounder and a student at the University of Pennsylvania, attended the Clinton Global Initiative University at the University of Miami in March. They were both introduced to the CGI LEAD program.
“We were chosen as a select group of commitment makers for the CGI LEAD program,” Amin said. “The CGI LEAD program works with about 20 students, and we are matched with a mentor who is a part of the professional network of CGI.”
It is the company’s hope that the fully running app will be completed by the end of this year.
“This is short-term vision and long-term vision,” Rathod said. “The short term, I want it to happen in the Triangle area…try to test it out, make sure there’s no bugs.”
FreshSpire has completed a pilot run of the app, but the group wants to try to test it more in local areas, according to Rathod.
“For a long-term vision, we definitely see all chains using it so we can try to curb food waste and help people who are [food] insecure get what they need,” Rathod said.
The aim of FreshSpire goes beyond the app and includes making people aware of food waste and encouraging healthy eating.
“We look at it not just as a mobile app that helps give discounts to people, but more of a lifestyle change for people,” Rathod said. “We want to encourage healthy eating. We want to encourage less wastage in general, so I think it’s both a lifestyle change as well as doing the technical parts to try to help make that happen.”
Shraddha Rathod, a sophomore majoring in Management, is one of the founders of FreshSpire, a company whose goal is to "reduce food waste" and "promote accessible sources of nutrition" to the public. Rathod started the company with four other college students; two who go to UNC - Chapel Hill, one who goes to East Carolina University, and one who goes to the University of Pennsylvania. So far, the company has been recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative, Net Impact & MSNBC, and other important organizations.
