PeriDeals

Grocers routinely overstock perishable inventory to offer a better selection. When surplus items approach sell-by date, they are usually discounted, but still don't sell because the only way to browse these markdowns is to physically be in the store. Food insecurity is a BIG problem throughout the country, and food pantries offer primarily nonperishable foods. Students at my school, CSULB, were actually complaining about the limited perishable selection at the school pantry.

PeriDeals is a free app that connects users with local markdown deals on perishable foods in real-time. 

If scaled globally, we would help fuel our global community to cultivate health, equality, and resilience. Bill Gates says, "When everyone plays, we all win." PeriDeals is committed to making sure the ENTIRE TEAM has enough to eat before the big game. Imagine a future where a single mother can afford milk for her child's cereal just because of an app.

Given the scale of food waste and food insecurity in the United States, we are focused on addressing these issues domestically before taking our solution abroad. Before Covid-19, the United States wasted on average over 130 billion lbs of food each year, and grocers were responsible for 10% of this or over 13 billion lbs of food waste. After Covid-19, in the "new normal", food waste and food insecurity have become much worse while grocery prices soar.

41% of students in the CSU System are food insecure, 65% of those food insecure students are African American, and food insecurity directly interferes with student success. According to the Director of Corporate Affairs for the California Division of Kroger, Vanessa Rosales (who is also our advisor), the starving college student archetype has grown much worse over the years and something must be done.

We have a unique foot in the door with Kroger, a brand that owns over 10% of all grocery stores in the United States. We plan to validate product-market-fit with students before expanding our target user demographic. There are over 5300 universities throughout the United States. If we onboard Kroger and Walmart then we onboard over 7500 stores nationwide.

PeriDeals is a free app that allows users to browse local markdown deals on perishable foods in real-time. By securely integrating with the inventory management software of the stores we partner with, we can automatically and reliably promote time sensitive markdown deals on surplus perishable inventory in real-time. We currently have permission to pilot test this integration software with several Food 4 Less and Ralphs locations in Long Beach, Ca.

The next feature we intend to release streamlines the connection between grocers and food recovery organizations. By combining our real-time insights about store inventory with technology that sources on-demand pickup and delivery from the largest delivery fleet in America, Postmates, we intend to optimize the donation process to minimize food waste and maximize tax write-offs.

Our target population is college students. Through my internship with the Basic Needs Program at CSULB, I learned about the limits of current resources available to food insecure students. What really stood out was that not all students had reliable access to perishable foods and many were complaining. I learned the school food pantry offers primarily non-perishable foods, and CalFresh Outreach on campus did not offer immediate assistance.

We created PeriDeals to offer students immediate assistance that improves accessibility to perishable foods. We began manually posting local deals three times a week, and the results were astonishing. Nearly 350 users signed up and after surveying these users, we took away the following insights.

1. Students want to save money on perishables

2. Students want as much variety as possible

3. Students want reliable promotions

4. Word of mouth marketing flourishes on college campuses

Students and food insecure communities in general do not have adequate accessibility to a balanced diet. The nutrients found in perishable foods simply cannot by substituted with non-perishable foods, so with that in mind it is imperative that consumer access to perishable foods improve. Grocery stores overstock perishables on purpose and because of this over 13 billion lbs of food is wasted by grocers in the United States each year. Not only could grocers make more money with this wasted food; but also millions of people could finally access the diet they need to unlock their full potential.

Our competitor Flashfood offers a similar value to grocery stores in Canada. They help grocers promote their marked down surplus as it approaches sell by date. While they've been successful in Canada, they've struggled to scale to the United States. We believe this is because their business model is too costly to work in the United States grocery industry where the average net profit is around 1%. Flashfood charges their customers 25% of all items sold through their platform. They also add to their customers' operating costs by requiring store employees to change the way they work to accomodate Flashfood. PeriDeals offers a very similar value to grocery stores for only $190 per month, and doesn't require any additional expenses to train store employees.

Additionally PeriDeals offers grocers a unique feature which enables sourcing of the largest delivery fleet in the United States for pickup for donation of surplus perishable foods. While our competition only offers a sales solution, we offer a more comprehensive solution which both promotes sales and timely donations. By offering this feature not only do we help grocery stores make perishable foods more available to food bank recipients, but also we help grocery stores maximize tax writeoffs.  

There are two key softwares which enable PeriDeals.

 First is our integration software which allows us to understand in real time important details about a store's discounted inventory. This includes what deals are available, how much is available, and when it expires.

Second is our technology which allows us to source the largest delivery fleet in the United States. We have a unique web application which connects to the Postmates API and allows one to source the Postmates fleet on demand.

We are validating our integration software using a pilot test with several Kroger owned stores in Long Beach. This test is scheduled to occur before 2021. 

Our software which allows sourcing of the Postmates fleet has been validated by the startup Rumby. Which successfully offers this service to dry cleaners. Our advisor Justin Boisvert developed this software and has given us permission to use it in the grocery industry.

https://www.rumby.co/

Current outlook in Long Beach, Ca: 350 users

1 year outlook in Long Beach, Ca: 2500 users

3 year outlook in California: 250,000 users

5 year outlook in the United States: 25,000,000 users

Our goals are to validate our integration software with Kroger and to begin testing with Walmart soon after. Given that we are custom tailoring our services for a giant grocery brand like Kroger (#2 largest in the US), is is logical to collaborate with the largest. We have our sights set on working with the venture arm of Walmart, Store No.8, to further validate our pickup and delivery feature. 

We intend to demonstrate product market fit to these large brands by displaying explosive growth across the higher education system in California, because we already have strategic relationships in place to do so.

After validating product market fit, we intend to expand our target user demographic to include more of the existing audience of our retail partners. (Kroger and Walmart. These two brands own over 7,000 grocery stores in the United States which for us equates to an opportunity for over $1 million dollars in monthly recurring revenue. We intend to reach this 5 years from now when we rollout nationally

The biggest barrier for us is a point of contact with Walmart. We have a very strong connection with Kroger, however for us to reach the next level we need to establish a similar connection with Walmart.

1. It seems that MIT has a connection to Store No.8 based on this video from the MIT Technology Review. A warm introduction to executives from Walmart or Store No. 8 would be incredibly helpful!

https://events.technologyreview.com/video/watch/katie-finnegan-walmart-future-retail/

We intend to target organizations which face Walmart, especially ones which encompass the social benefits of our mission. Additionally we plan to use a combination of LinkedIn, university alumni networks, and grocery industry organizations to maximize our chances of connecting with the right Walmart executive.

3 Cofounders- All part-time

My background working with the Basic Needs Program at California State University Long Beach gave me a unique understanding of food insecurity in higher education. As a student leader on campus, I've been very fortunate to connect with countless faculty members including deans, professors, and even the Director of Basic Needs Programs in the CSU System. My network gives me a very powerful advantage for promoting PeriDeals throughout the higher education system in California

As a team what we lack in experience we make up for in alacrity and tenacity! We are all so passionately and stubbornly committed to our vision of health, equality, and resilience in our food systems that every challenge we face invigorates the intensity of our commitment and pushes us forward.

California State University Long Beach Basic Needs Program and Food Pantry Program- User marketing

Kroger (Food 4 Less and Ralphs)- Pilot Testing Integration Software

We charge a $190 monthly software subscription to the grocery stores that we work with.

To connect with Walmart and Store No.8. We are very interested in connecting with anybody (especially Walmart executives) who can help us connect with Walmart and Store No.8.