Oddbox Turns an Imperfect Tomato into a Ten-Year Food Business

Oddbox founders Emilie Vanpoperinghe and Deepak Ravindran built a UK produce-delivery business around food rescue.

Oddbox traces its origin to a tomato. During a trip to Portugal, co-founders Emilie Vanpoperinghe and Deepak Ravindran tasted a market tomato and began asking why UK supermarkets appeared to favour produce that looked uniform.

That question became a business built around fruit and vegetables that might otherwise go unsold. Launched in 2016, Oddbox began with a small customer group and a hands-on delivery model. The founders have described packing boxes themselves as they learned the logistics of a food business.

The model required more than an anti-waste message. Oddbox had to coordinate growers, forecast available produce, build delivery routes and make each box work as its contents changed with the season.

Oddbox’s story shows how a business can begin with a small observation about waste or inefficiency. Turning that insight into a durable company requires systems that make the service dependable for customers and viable for suppliers.