Imperfect Produce sells 'cosmetically challenged' fruit and veg at 30–50% off

In 2015, three veteran food-waste entrepreneurs — including Ben Simon and sourcing director Ron Clark — started Imperfect, an Oakland-based service selling 'cosmetically challenged' produce. Because big supermarket chains reject anything outside their size, diameter and color specs, roughly 7% of US-grown produce rots in fields each year, sometimes costing farmers more to harvest than they would earn.

The plan was a weekly subscription: a box of ugly-but-perfectly-good fruit and vegetables delivered to homes and pickup points for 30–50% less than grocery-store prices, sourced from California's Central Valley. The team ran an Indiegogo campaign, then trialed in Oakland and Berkeley in summer 2015 with a goal of 1,000 households in six months — and planned supermarket displays pairing discounted imperfect produce beside the perfect stuff.

The timing caught a movement: NPR reported in March 2016 that Whole Foods had agreed to pilot Imperfect's boxes in Northern California stores, and cited France's Intermarché 'Inglorious' campaign as proof the ugly-produce idea had taken off worldwide. The discount — not charity — was the pitch: Imperfect passed on the savings it got at the farm level.