Ugly Food Co. x TreeDots: A Perfect Pear-ing
Ugly Food Co. x TreeDots: A Perfect Pear-ing
The Spotlight is On!
Today we kickstart the first of our Buyer’s Feature series.
As our close partners, they form part of Singapore’s legion of food waste warriors.
And this series aims to shed light on these big-hearted groups of people keen on doing their part for the environment!
What’s Ugly?
The very first on our list is none other than our good friend- Ugly Food!
Home to the most delicious fruit popsicles, artisan fruit teas and cold-pressed juices, what could possibly be ‘ugly’ about them?
Ugly Food is perfect for you if you are looking for:
- Healthier snacks and alternatives
- Delicious treats for a company event
- More affordable teas and juices!
- Or, if you simply want to support an eco-conscious business!
Why Ugly Food is Beautiful
The beauty of Ugly Food lies in their mission to transform fruits that are bound for the trash intro delectable and nutritious foods for all to enjoy. This beauty is too, apparent in their creative take on fruit teas and cold-pressed juices.
Augustine shared that the inspiration behind Ugly Food lied in, “noticing that tonnes of fruits were going to waste due to cosmetic filtering and we wanted to do something about it.”
Ugly Food only uses fruits that are ugly in their products, simply because fruits that look good can be sold off. Doing so ensures that they maximise the impact they want to achieve.
Feel Great with Ugly Food
First of all, their products are nutrient-packed! Made from a variety of fruits, they are filled to the brim with vitamins and antioxidants.
Next, they TASTE SO GOOD. And we’re not saying this just because they’re our buyers! Their popsicles are our personal favourites! Made from bananas, their popsicles are creamy and naturally sweetened, removing the need for any added sugar. They also take forever to melt, which is perfect for slow eaters (like ourselves!)
If chocolate banana popsicles are not your thing, here’s a glimpse of the rest of their mouth watering menu.
If that’s not enough, what else is better than supporting a business that does good for the environment? Fill your bellies with delicious goodness knowing that you’re doing mother nature a favour! Now, that is a feeling that’s hard to beat!
Loving Ugly with TreeDots
“TreeDots has helped us save time and logistic costs.” – Ugly Food
Before TreeDots, Ugly Food had to source their products from several wet markets, which took up time and logistic costs, especially when delivery was involved.
Fortunately, ugly produce is our speciality! We are excited to be able to work with Ugly Food as a supplier for their main ingredients- fruits that are blemished, oddly-sized or coloured!
For Ugly Food, working with TreeDots meant product consistency, convenience and cost savings. What a win-win, all in the name of reducing food wastage!
Apart from selling products are SUTD, Ugly Food also does catering for events. Find out more about where to get their products here!
Interested in buying from us or want to find out more? Hit us up at [email protected] or contact us to receive our full product catalog!
The 10 habits of Highly Effective Food Waste Warriors
The 10 habits of Highly Effective Food Waste Warriors
1. You store and use your leftovers
Leftover chicken make great salads
2. You buy less and only what you need
3. You don’t mind ‘ugly’ produce
4. You treat the expiry date as a guideline, not a rule
5. You spread the word about food waste
6. You finish every morsel of food on your plate
7. You’re a pro at managing your fridge
8. You keep your bananas and apples separate
9. You compost your food waste
10. You participate in food rescues
So, how many habits have you checked off? Are you a Food Waste Warrior? If you’re not, fret not, for we can start inculcating these habits right now.
And together, we can make a whole lot of difference.
The 4 types of TreeDots products we sell for CHEAP
The 4 types of TreeDots products we sell for CHEAP
1. The overproduced/ overstocked
- Forming the majority of all our items, our friends here are produced or imported in excess, thrown out simply because there’s just too much of them to sell. Well then, more for us at a fraction of the cost!
- Reasons to love them: They fulfil the usual retail aesthetic standards, so perfect to start with if you’re new to trying out our products. It’d be like buying from your usual supermarket, just cheaper!
- Our best sellers: Boneless chicken, Australian carrots, Chinese cabbages
Learn about the Top 5 Reasons Why Businesses Buy From TreeDots
2. The blemished (aka ugly food)
- These guys may have a bruise here or a wrinkle there.
- Apart from that, they’re largely perfect and this makes us wonder how the aesthetic criteria at supermarkets could have missed these foods
- Reasons to love them: These little imperfections are negligible. If needed, though rarely, a little slicing or shaving would do the trick.
- Picture: Did we mention the giant heads of cabbage and bunches of spinach that we obtained? Now, don’t these green bundles look fresh and delicious to eat!
3. The oddly-sized/ coloured
- We refer to them as the oddballs, the ones with crazy personalities.
- They are either too small/ big, are of the quirkier variety, or naturally a shade lighter or darker than the rest. While we feel that these are reasons to celebrate, they stand out a little too much compared to their counterparts and are simply rejected by consumers.
Reasons to love them: They bring much more variety to the kitchen, are fun to cook with and always, ALWAYS the subject of a great instagram photo!
4. Close-to-expiry
- Forming the minority of our products, we feel that these are some of our best buys yet.
- In a bid to clear these items 3 months before their expiry date, these items can be up to 80% cheaper.
- While we do not sell expired products, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN strongly encourages us consumers to use these dates as guidelines, not a fixed rule.
- Reasons to love them: Where else can you get a bottle of extra virgin olive oil at close to $6 a litre, or grapeseed oil at less than $2 a litre? Need we say more?
5. Bonus: The Out of Specs
- We don’t usually have these guys on hand, but when we do, we whip out our recipe books and get cooking.
- Would you discard a packet of squid rings with 50% of them broken? Sure, we can’t make perfectly round calamari anymore. But preparing this delicacy stir-fried, pan-fried or grilled with traditional recipes? Heck yeah!
- Why we love them: More reasons to get creative in the kitchen, they taste the same (or even better knowing that we’ve saved them from the landfill) and are very kind to our wallets!
The Verdict
So we bring to you the 4 main types of products you can get at TreeDots. Have you figured out why they are so affordable yet?
As unlikely as it might seem, these items would have ended up in the landfill if not for TreeDots and our partners. Items that fall in these four categories are bound for the trash bin simply because retailers are not willing to buy them. And this is because WE as consumers reject these products whenever we go grocery shopping.
That is why you can get them for cheap.
Interested in buying from us or want to find out more? Hit us up at [email protected] or contact us to receive our full product catalog!
3 Easy Steps to Participate in Stop Food Waste Day
3 Easy Steps to Participate in Stop Food Waste Day
Is food waste really that big of a problem to warrant an entire day dedicated to fighting it? Sure, wasting food on an individual level should be a relatively small issue. But combine the waste of the entire nation (and the globe!) and we get a massive problem that’s hard to stomach.
Step 1: Be aware of the problem
So yes, food waste IS that big of a problem. But how big is it exactly? Let’s break it down. The FAO of the United Nations explains it well in this short clip.
The food we consume have to pass through many hands before reaching our dining tables. Unfortunately, losses are incurred at every stage of the process. And as explained in the video, food waste is deeply entrenched in all levels of the industry!
Here are some quick bites about food waste.
Did you know that Singapore generated 791,000 whopping tonnes of food waste in 2016 alone! That’s equivalent to two bowls of rice per person a day.
On a global scale, 40% of our food goes uneaten. Picture throwing one-third of the food on your plate away! Calculate the numbers and you get 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted every year.
Combine all our wasted food and it becomes the third largest emitter of GHG in the world!
The author of of Wasted Food narrowed down the 3 main factors of food waste to: abundance, beauty and cost.
At the retail level, large quantities of food are wasted due to quality standards that over-emphasize appearance.
How much food do you throw out as a consumer? Would you throw out a basket of strawberries you just bought from the supermarket?
Pretty tragic right? Like all of the food we consume, these strawberries travelled a pretty long way to reach our tables, only to end up in our trash bins because we forget about them.
Many of us don’t think twice about tossing leftovers away or discarding produce that’s left in the fridge for too long. Multiply the impact across all households in the country and we have on our hands one of the biggest contributors to climate change.
Step 2: Act now
When food waste happens on such a massive scale, it can be difficult to know where to start. However, we know that baby steps are the way to go. Here are some simple ways you can start acting now!
Buy only what you need with shopping lists and planning your meals in advance. Click here and here for useful tools that we feel make this process fun and easy!
Store your food properly. Here’s a comprehensive list of how to store all kinds of produce.
Freezing is a great way to prolong the lifespan of your food. Master the art of freezing here.
Treat expiration dates as suggestions/guidelines, not the law.
Manage your food waste at home with apps such as No waste and
Buy meals from restuarants and food stalls at discounted prices with 11th Hour and treatsure.
Hosting a party for your colleagues or a get-together with friends? We recommend the really awesome Guest-imator: it helps you calculate how much food to prepare for your guests and even puts your menu, shopping list and recipes together!
Step 3: Spread the word
Food involves all of us. Everyone has a part to play in this ecosystem. You can do yours by simply spreading the word.
Bonus step: For the aspiring food waste warriors
For those who ask, “how can I do more?”, we’d love for you to come on board as a food waste warrior.
Here at TreeDots, reducing food waste is at the centre of whatever we do. We help society target one of the biggest contributors to food waste- those at the top of the supply chain. By redirecting excess food stocks from big players such as food importers, suppliers and distributers to businesses, we’re helping to unlock the value of food that would have otherwise gone to waste.
Looking for cheap food or the best food bargains? We’re the place for you.
Are you a business owner or have a company in mind that you’d like us to reach out to? Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. We’d be happy to hear from you.
Top 5 Reasons Why Businesses Buy From TreeDots
Top 5 Reasons Why Businesses Buy From TreeDots
Are you a business owner looking to save cost and cut down on food waste the easiest way possible?
You’ve come to the right place! Join over 150 businesses and save up to 30% on fruit, vegetables and poultry when you shop with TreeDots.
Top 5 Reasons Why Businesses Buy From TreeDots
- Save up to 30%
- Guaranteed Freshness
- Guaranteed Safety
- Easy Transaction
- Save the Environment
1. Save up to 30%
2. Guaranteed Freshness
Did you know that we also don’t hold any inventory? We do this to make sure you receive your products the same day we collect them, fresh from our suppliers and no loss in quality from holding the items!
3. Guaranteed Safety
4. Easy Transaction
- Browse through a wide array of products on our website and add desired items to your cart
- Make your payment online
- Sit back and relax while we deliver it to you
5. Save the Environment
Here at TreeDots, we work hard to make sure that reducing food waste is at the centre of whatever we do. We know how hard it can be to be eco-friendly. Singaporeans alone throw close to 800,000 tonnes of food every year.
Have questions? Hit us up at [email protected] or contact us to receive our full product catalog!
3 Ways to Hustle | The Lean Startup Methodology
3 Ways to Hustle | The Lean Startup Methodology
Getting started is one of the biggest roadblocks for aspiring entrepreneurs. The Lean Startup Methodology has been hailed to help startups achieve maximum acceleration at a minimal cost. We engaged in a lecture and hands-on session about running a startup, the lean way. For financial security, and for kyc, a credible bank is essential. Conducted by Bryan Long, Co-Founder of Stack and Founder of The Testing Ground, we knew we were in good hands. We have combined our key takeaways from the session with our own experiences to share 3 ways you can get hustling!
1. Embrace Failure
Singapore is no Silicon Valley. We avoid failure like the plague! However, failure is a mental hurdle that founders must cross and eventually, embrace. Want to reach the finish line faster? Fail early and learn early. Failure has been lauded as the mother of success, and for good reason. Startups that ultimately succeed emerged from failure after failure while iterating on their ideas. At TreeDots, we’ve been shoved out of offices and spat in the face. Our early ideas were far from perfect. The F&B industry was also a brutal one. We were uncertain, tired and discouraged. But we pushed on.
2. Test Your Idea
Startups don’t usually start with deep pockets. When we’re strapped for resources, developing a perfect prototype can often be out of the question. The solution: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP-yes, you read that right!) An MVP is the fastest way to effectively test if your idea and return with the most valuable insights. Traditionally, corporations can take up to a year to develop their business models, prototypes and final products before finally testing them. As a startup, you can run your tests monthly or even weekly with an MVP. That’s 52 times more opportunities for validated learning! Our MVP was a photo of a blemished head of cabbage. We went door-to-door, showed this photo on our phones to potential customers and asked, “Would you buy this, if it was cheaper than the market price?” Our MVP cost us nothing to produce, and taught us that:
- Food distributors and importers are our potential customers, not wholesalers.
- There was a market for ugly but perfectly edible food.
- Yes, we can continue building on our idea.
3. Make Continuous Improvements
After rounds of testing with your MVP, you are sure to end up with lots of data. Use the insights and feedback you received to decide whether to pivot or iterate. Were your initial assumptions correct? Can you proceed with several tweaks in your business model? If yes, go ahead and make iterations to further refine and develop your idea. If no, your idea may require a pivot– A change in your business model while maintaining the essence of your initial vision. Remember, the changes you are making should be guided by the data you have collected from your tests. Here at TreeDots, our ultimate goal is to reduce food waste. We started by thinking that food caterers would be our perfect early-adopters. We assumed that they had flexibility over their menus and were accruing low-profit margins from their sales. Over time, we realised that these food caterers value their relationships with their food suppliers. They were also already well-versed in the art of negotiating for the best prices to survive in the low margin environment. It turned out that our service wasn’t that valuable towards that sector at the beginning. This called for a change in our entry strategy. We shifted our focus to organisations that wanted to procure their raw ingredients at less competitive prices. These organisations included small restaurants, cafes and voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), A pivot in our target audience then became key to kickstart our sales.
Start Hustling Now
Get creative with designing your MVP. Go out and talk to your customers, users and partners. Consolidate feedback and make iteration after iteration. Prepare to fail but also be sure to emerge wiser after every stumble.