Fiksuruoka brings surplus food to people’s doorsteps: “The more we grow, the more we reduce food waste”

“Food waste is a huge problem in society. According to the Natural Resources Institute of Finland (LUKE), one third of the global carbon dioxide emissions are caused by food production. In Finland, up to 15 per cent of all food goes to waste.

The other co-founder, Richard Lindroos, worked in logistics for years and saw how much waste was created in all sectors. He started to investigate how the surplus could be reduced profitably and had an idea about an online store for surplus food.

From the beginning, it has been important for us to make it as easy as possible for consumers to reduce food waste. This way, food waste can be reduced by large amounts. The operating principle of Fiksuruoka.fi is the same as that of any other online store. The customer selects and pays for the product, and our partner delivers the order to the customer’s doorstep. The difference between us and other online food stores is that the food we deliver would otherwise go to waste and costs only just over half of their prices.

In the beginning, our warehouse was in Richard’s garage, from where he took the orders to the post office himself after his day at work. I joined in 2017 when I met Richard in one of the projects related to my studies. Richard contacted me on the same day and after some discussions, I joined Fiksuruoka as the CEO.

Today, we offer 1,500 products that we buy from wholesalers and food manufacturers. Typically, the food will be going to waste because its best-before date is approaching, the product has been removed from the product range or the packaging has changed.

We promote the circular economy by making sure that products that have already added a burden to the climate and the environment by being manufactured do not end up as waste. With Fiksuruoka, we have already managed to reduce food waste by 4.5 million kilograms together with our customers.

In four years, we have grown from a garage warehouse to a company with a turnover of 12 million euros. This proves that our business model is profitable and the idea is scalable. The more we grow, the more we reduce food waste.

In my opinion, the most important factors in the success of Fiksuruoka are a good team and decisions based on data. We gather information on our activities and try to optimise them both in the operation of the online store and in digital marketing.

We also want to reduce food waste outside Finland in the future. In the funding round we just had, a new equity investment firm, Verdane, invested in us. With them, we will grow internationally in the future.”