Logistics innovator FoodMaven has won plaudits — and millions of dollars in investments — by helping Colorado chefs buy high-quality local food at low prices. Now the company is expanding its mission to reduce food waste with a major overhaul of its e-commerce system, in partnership with No.1 B2B eCommerce platform OroCommerce.
At least 40% of food produced in the US is wasted due to supply chain inefficiencies, damage, or imperfections. FoodMaven is slashing that number, and helping farmers stay in business, by helping producers sell surplus produce directly to chefs. Launched in 2015, FoodMaven employs around 80 people and has raised over $20 million from investors including Tao Capital, the family office of Sasha and Ed Bass, and former Whole Foods CEO Walter Rob.
FoodMaven is helping five multinational businesses, including Hilton, to scale relationships with local producers. Select Hilton hotels in Denver use FoodMaven to procure sustainable products like cage-free liquid eggs and local proteins, which are tricky to source through conventional means. FoodMaven leveraged its supplier network to help the participating Hilton hotels in Denver advance their sustainability goals as part of the company’s pledge to cut its environmental footprint in half and double investment in social impact projects by 2030.
Replicating that success nationwide requires a scalable e-commerce system capable of handling hundreds of SKUs from dozens of different vendors. That’s why last year, with the support of back-end provider Acumatica and B2B e-commerce agency Xngage, FoodMaven rolled out an OroCommerce-powered e-commerce platform. Along with scalability, security, and industrial-strength B2B features, OroCommerce allows FoodMaven to leverage built-in CRM and robust API tools. The results were dramatic: FoodMaven now achieves 15% of total sales through its e-commerce platform, with users praising its effortless search and discovery capabilities.
OroCommerce’s platform also allows FoodMaven to create new sustainability categories. Colorado quinoa, formerly sold as a generic commodity, can now be easily marketed as a premium local product. Ardent Mills, meanwhile, has been able to market a flour product that helps farmers transition to growing organic through FoodMaven’s marketplace.
“Our customers want sustainable and locally sourced products, and that’s a big logistical challenge for global companies,” said Ben Deda, FoodMaven’s CEO. “FoodMaven’s e-commerce solution is capable of transforming the food system and reducing waste nationwide, and by partnering with OroCommerce we’ve put a scalable infrastructure in place to do exactly that.”
“FoodMaven is a real innovator, and we’re delighted to support their mission,” said Oro CEO Yoav Kutner. “This shows that online retail has the potential not just to boost companies’ profitability, but also to solve some of society’s biggest challenges.”
