How he got 200,000 people to buy ugly fruits and vegetables

         Ben Simon thinks about wasted food, a lot. In 2011, during his freshman year at the University of Maryland, Simon was struck by how much food was thrown away in the college cafeteria. "I was shocked to see someone buy a full sandwich, eat half of it, and throw the other half out," said Simon. "It was not the values I grew up with." To him, discarded food was a "natural goldmine" he could source to do good. Simon and Chesler bootstrapped the startup with about $20,000 of their own money and another $38,000 raised from crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. Since then, they have gotten a total of $47 million in outside funding from investors that include Maveron and Norwest Venture Partners.

      Four years later, Simon cofounded Imperfect Produce, a subscription-based home-delivery service for discounted "ugly" fruits and vegetables that are perfectly good on the inside, but otherwise rejected from the food supply chain for their looks."About 70 billion pounds of food is wasted annually in the United States. It's from homes, cafeterias, farms, restaurants, grocery store and stadiums. Almost all of it is good food," said Simon. "We wanted to think bigger about how to fight this food waste and create a more sustainable food system that was scalable." Creating an equitable food system Customers pay between $12 to $40 per box to choose from a variety of customizable box options. They can opt to have all organics or a mix of organic and conventional fruits and vegetables. In May, the company added packaged items, such as lentils, quinoa, spices, oils, pasta, bread and beverages. Simon said the packaged goods also would have been thrown out because of oversupply, packaging changes or nearing expiration dates. The service currently offers 50 to 60 produce items, plus 200 grocery items. "They had apples, tomatoes, bell peppers that they sell on display. There was an iPad there and I signed up for it on the spot," said Achmetov, who was impressed by the cost savings and the convenience. Users can opt for weekly, two-day deliveries (the company charges $4.99 per delivery) or every other week. Customers can skip a delivery if they are traveling. Achmetov typically spends up to $115 on two to three boxes weekly for her family of five. "The only thing I now go to the store for are eggs, milks and meats. This way I have more time to spend with my kids," she said. "I'm also saving 30% on my grocery budget and on gas money."

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