San Francisco food delivery startup Munchery throws away 16 percent of the food it makes
According to a new piece out from Bloomberg's Eric Newcomer, the amount of food the startup throws away has begun to raise eyebrows among food waste experts and former employees alike. While typical restaurants waste between 4% and 10%, Munchery is wasting 16% of the food it makes, Bloomberg reports.
Financial documents obtained by Bloomberg show that Munchery has been massively overproducing food for years: Between September 2014 and July 2016, Munchery's kitchen in San Francisco made about 653,400 dishes that were never sold.
Bloomberg calculated that over a two-year period, Munchery threw out $1.9 million worth of food, based on an average dish costing $2.96 during that time period.
Munchery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The startup - which was founded in 2010 by Vietnamese immigrant Tri Tran, who was just replaced as CEO - has raised more than $118 million in venture capital funding and was most recently valued at $300 million. But the company has gone through hard times lately, according to Bloomberg, and may be looking to some of its current investors, which includes Shervin Pishevar and director Jon Favreau, for more funding.
For more on the challenges facing Munchery, head over to Bloomberg to read the complete piece.