Reducing food waste by selling surplus food online and offline at discount prices /
SIRPLUS, launched in 2017 by Raphael Fellmer and Martin Schott, has the mission to reduce food waste at scale. SIRPLUS returns surplus food to the circulatory system by offering it for sale in its 6 ‘rescue markets’ and via its online shop. By working directly with 800 producers and wholesalers, SIRPLUS is able to save valuable food that is perfectly edible but has not been picked up by food banks (in German: ‘Tafeln’). SIRPLUS is buying food for a fraction of the original price from producers and wholesalers (who otherwise would have to pay for the disposal) and sells it at an average discount of 40% compared to normal prices with a good margin. The social enterprise’s vision is a world where every human has enough food to eat and therefore the indirect impact through awareness creation for food waste is very important for the mission drive team. Since its inception, SIRPLUS already has reached 15 million people with this message and was able to save close to 3 million kg of food. In 2021, the SIRPLUS team successfully raised a Series A financing round with support from FASE to further roll out the activities of its online shop.