prep’it
your personal grocer
CHRISOULA KAPELONIS
Let’s begin your new shopping experience.
Prep-it: the future of consumption Food-X
Food-x Accelerator
What is Food-x? FOOD-X is an international food startup accelerator that partners with early-stage food entrepreneurs to bring out their best potential and take them and their products and services successfully to market in areas of food & beverage, health, and environment that are ripe for disruption.
What does Food-x provide?
Funding
$10,000 + $40,000 loan in exchange for 7-10% eq.
Guidance
space + education + lectures + consulting
Exposure
FOOD-Xcel Day VCs, media, live stream
Three cohorts. Foodx has just introduced their third round of cohorts to enter the incubation space (Sept 2015). Since the incubator stives to push forward viable businesses, it is imperative to see the trends outside the walls and within to understand what the trends are within the collection.
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
Fall 2015
network + delivery
platform + food tech
platform + food inov
On a mission to create change throughout the food system, Food-X’s goals are lofty but admirable: How can we get more people eating better? How can everyone access healthy foods? How can we lower the carbon footprint of food production?
The Food-x Mission
Health
Distribution
Better eating
Local and fresh
Food-x
Sustainability Fixing the system
Food-x
But what problem lies within all?
Food Waste
Each year, there are 430 billion pounds of avaliable food supply in the U.S.
And each year, 40% of that is thrown out.
That’s 133 billion pounds of food.
100 subway cars of food each day.
About $400 per person each year.
But where is all this food wasted.
61%
17% 1. PRODUCTION
7%
2. PROCESSING
9%
3. DISTRIBUTION
imports processing
farms
6%
4. RETAIL
5. CONSUMER
markets
home consumer
restaurants
restaurant consumer
hunt’s point
The largest problem is at the consumer.
The home consumer wastes 86 billion pounds of food every year.
That’s 25% of all the food they purchase.
And this is what is wasted.
33 30 %
fish + seafood
%
roots + tubers
28
%
fruits + veg.
15 15 11 cereals
%
milk
%
meat
%
1/3
2/3 spoilage
of unused food
vs
too much food prepared
Majority from spoiling.
label confusion
food aesthetic
poor storage
food not prepped
wrong ingredients
out of sight
And these are causing all the waste.
How we deal with food waste now.
food and organics
grow more food
scraps
compost
soil amendments
collection
processing
resell/donate collect leftovers
distribute and sell or donate
But this doesn’t work.
Because there is a stigma to used food.
Since food is ingested, it can make us sick.
Instead of solving the problem at the end,
...why not start at the beginning?
How do we account for the 40%?
Not through reuse, but collaborative consumption.
Collaborative Consumption
Collaborative consumption leverages excess capacity. There are underutilized values that are inherent to certain assets. The leveraging of this latent value could provide capital that is currently not being used. The underutilized value is called the excess capacity.
The food system has 40% of its assets wasted. How can we consume efficiently?
What can we learn from the sharing economy?
airbnb and houses
fractional rent/income
People looking for cheap hotels. House empty when you’re away. Why not rent out your house?
uber and parked cars
surplus of nodes
People want rides Cars are 95% parked Why not share a ride?
And many others in different fields.
But, what these companies are really doing,
Is rethinking the idea of ownership.
sharing
=
access
If we don’t need to own our own cars, or houses...
Then why do we have to own our food?
Food is only valuable to us when it’s prepared. Because then it can be eaten.
We don’t store food well.
2/3
Stored food is a depreciating asset.
stored food = wasted food
Current Consumption
The three food storefronts
Restaurants
Markets
Delivery 2.0
ac
ce
ss
zo
ne
Past: Meal Distribution
Restaurant
This is the original meal distribution method of the urban territory. The pull was inward, as people drove their cars to access the restaurants in the center.
Market
Fast Food 2.0
Startup
With Fast Food 2.0, the nodes are every changing. Because the food is prepared mobily, they intertwine within the city and change the zone of delivery every minute.
ready meals
+ -
food variety
on-demand mobile
Restaurants
Markets
Delivery 2.0
expensive no control
large portions
little variety
+ -
What if...
Food Prep.
+
Storage
+
On-Demand
Welcome to Prep-It.
Shared material assets without ownership. The idea is that you can start to dissect the material of the food into portions that are appropriate for everyone, and also use up every single bit of organic material.
You only get the amount you need.
shop
measure
assemble
cook
eat
Traditional Supermarket
clean/trash
shop
measure
assemble
cook
Prep-It
eat
clean/trash
Not quantity.
10 February
10 strawberries
10 August
10 strawberries
Amount of material.
2lb
2lb
February
August
25 strawberries
10 strawberries
Collaborative consumption. From the start.
Bulk
12 eggs
Prep-It
3 eggs with 2 eggs (other) with 2 eggs (other)
How much? Consult the recipe. Recipe as instruction.
Wholesale at local scale.
There are already startups in this space. But there are issues.
ingredient dist.
meal dist.
Instacart
Blue Apron
variety
ingredient dist.
excess
limited
vs
meal dist.
exact
variety
supermarket?
+
exact
restaurant?
variety
+ existing
Prep-It
exact
+ local
The supermarket as storage + food preparation infrastructure
It already has the distribution network Trucks come with food every day through the service area of the supermartket. There is already infrastructure existing to support wholesale.
There are so many nodes and points of movement. Most of Manhattan is within at ten minute walk from any supermarket. And those that are not, are just a short bike ride away.
And smaller nodes such as bodega’s can help. The bodega is the corner convenience store that is very prevelant in many parts of the city that don’t have easy access to a supermarket.
There’s an assortment of food and variety. Supermarkets have been the storage kings for a while, so there is already the expectation of diversity in the products.
And they have space... Supermarkets have been the storage kings for a while, so there is already the expectation of diversity in the products.
But it’s wasted space.
The supermarket is full of billboards. It is the las vegas of food.
Why can’t the browsing be done digitally?
the supermarket
the Supermarket
the Prep-It
back storage
back storage
shelve storage
prep center
registers
storefront
the Supermarket
the Prep-It
How does it work?
wholesale distribution as normal.
3 eggs
customer browses inventory
+
+
and can order through recipes
order is received by Prep-it
items start getting gathered for prep
preps start cutting and assembling food
order is either picked up or delivered.
Let’s begin your new shopping experience.
What is the ritual of shopping?
the recipe
the list
the cart
the aisles
payment
transport
But prep’it disrupts these rituals.
CRANBERRIES
1 qty.
cup at
$1.15
unit
price
related APPLE
CANTALOUPE
add to cart
the recipe
your cart APPLE
BANANA
CANTALOUPE
CRANBERRIES
CRANBERRIES
CRANBERRIES
checkout $21.54
the list
2 cups $1.25
2 cups $1.25
2 cups $1.25
2 cups $1.25
2 cups $1.25
2 cups $1.25
produce fruits
vegetables
herbs
APPLE
BANANA
CANTALOUPE
CRANBERRIES
CRANBERRIES
5 items in cart
the cart
2
the aisles
your order has been
submitted
track my order
the payment
the transport
The space
The current supermarket
Type 1of the supermarket Anatomy dairy meat + ďŹ sh produce frozen food prepared foods stacks checkout
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1
meat
dairy bulk
produce dry
prep pick up
bulk produce dry
shop
measure
assemble
cook
eat
clean/trash
shop
measure
assemble
cook
Prep-It
eat
clean/trash
food
+
port
tion
+
process
supermarket
+
restaurant
food display
+
food craft
Craft and the Space
Raw Ingredients
The butcher shop and the butcher.
The bakery and the baker.
The fish market and the fisherman.
The cheese shop and the connoisseur.
The farmer’s market and the farmer.
Assembled Product
The sushi bar and the chef.
Chipotle and the servers.
Starbucks and the baristas.
Prep’it and pre-portioned groceries.
Amount of material. Not quantity.
10 February
10 strawberries
10 August
10 strawberries
Amount of material. Not quantity.
2lb
2lb
February
August
25 strawberries
10 strawberries
whole body unit
1 bag of apples
1 carton of eggs
cannot be cut or will brown
1 apple
eggs don’t break down into smaller units
2 eggs
measured unit
1 bag of flour1
scooped and measured
cup
1gallon of milk
poured and measured
1 cup
seperated unit
1 bag of flour1
1 ear of cauliflower
scooped and measured
broken off from main ear
/4 cup
1/8 cup
cut unit
entire chicken
cut into pieces
main cut of steak
2 lbs of chicken
2 lbs of steak
The digital interface
shop by item
shop by recipe
order history account
consumer app
+
data analytics
Shelf Life
Food has a life and a death. Unlike traditional delivery products, the time the produce has been cut off the branch matters, because shelf life isn’t infinite.
Distance
The distance between farms, warehouses and restaurants matters. Because it could take longer to get from the local farm than from the one across the country.
Supply and Demand There is often a discrepancy between what restaurants need, and what farmers can provide. This is why prices fluctate so fast on a daily basis.
Ordering Infrastructure
subscription
later in the day
on demand
anticipatory planned inventory planned routes know users data history
anticipatory planned routes slightly unpredictable
fast immediate unpredictable high demand
Delivery Fleet Infrastructure
owned by company
third party fleet
independent contractor
more control payroll pre-determined routes
establishment specific not controlled by company no payroll for company
location specific platform agnostic gray area
Inventory Infrastructure
warehouse
third party
mobile
more items longer storage longer delivery time expensive
no inventory no quality control no delivery time control cheap
fast small inventory hard to keep cold no cooking tools limited menu
The packaging
keep out dirt
keep cold
why packaging?
keep from spoil
stop mess
box with ind. pack
fabric bag
Blue Apron
Instacart
Because prep’it is local, no need for ice packs.
The final chapter.
Time, Money and Food Waste
30
shop
min
0
min
measure
3
min
assemble
40
cook
min
4
min
eat
5
min
clean/trash
Cooking Process Times with Prep-It
Store-bought apple pie.
$32.95
Shopping for ingredients in supermarket $2.48 $4.78
$5.34 $2.18
$32.37 $3.48
$2.50
$5.00
$2.48 $4.13
Shopping for ingredients in prep’it $0.41
$0.70
$0.01
$1.30
$6.02 $0.20
$0.17$ 0.17
$3.00
$0.06
prep’it
your personal grocer