Startup Series: Goodr
Today's guest is Jasmine Crowe, Founder & CEO of Goodr Co.
Every year, 80 billion pounds of food is wasted in the US, just from consumer-facing businesses. Food waste is also a massive climate problem. When food is wasted, it ends up in landfills and starts emitting greenhouse gases. To tackle this problem, Jasmine founded Goodr, a sustainable food surplus management company leveraging technology to reduce food waste and feed the hungry. Prior to Goodr, Jasmine founded BlackCelebrityGiving.com, where she helped start over 1,400 non-profits. She also holds a BA in Mass Communications from North Carolina Central University and has given multiple TED talks about ending hunger.
In this episode, Jasmine and I explore the adverse effects of food waste on hunger and the environment. Jasmine walks me through what motivated her to found Goodr, key phases and raises to date, and the company's future. We also dive into the barriers to distributing food, why food waste is ultimately a policy problem, and its climate impacts. It was great to sit down with Jasmine and learn more about Goodr.
Enjoy the show!
You can find me on Twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Episode recorded July 22, 2021
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Jason Jacobs: Hey everyone, Jason, here I am. The my climate journey show host. Before we get going, I wanted to take a minute and tell you about the, my climate journey or MCJ as we call it. Membership option membership came to be because there were a bunch of people that were listening to the show. That weren't just looking for education, but they were longing for a peer group as well.
So we set up a slack community for those people. That's now mushroomed into more than 1300 members. There is an application to become a member. It's not an exclusive thing. There's four criteria. We screen for: Determination to tackle the problem of climate change ambition to work on the most impactful solution areas, optimism that we can make a dent, and we're not wasting our time for trying and a collaborative spirit beyond that.
The more diversity, the better there's a bunch of great things that have come out of that community. A number of founding teams that have met in there, a number of nonprofits that have been established, a bunch of hiring that's been done. A bunch of companies that have raised capital in there, a bunch of funds that have gotten limited partners or investors for their funds in there, as well as a bunch of events and programming by members and for members and some open source projects that are getting actively worked on that hatched in there as well.
At any rate, if you want to learn more, you can go to MyClimateJourney.co, the website and click. the become a member tab at the top. Enjoy the show. Hello everyone. This is Jason Jacobs, and welcome to my climate journey. This show follows my journey to interview a wide range of guests to better understand and make sense of the formidable problem of climate change and try to figure out how people like you and I can help.
Today's guest is Jasmine Crowe, founder, and CEO of Goodr. Goodr is a sustainable food surplus management company, headquartered in Atlanta that leverages technology to reduce food waste and feed the hungry. Jasmine has an amazing story in that through her years of work, feeding vulnerable populations, she saw a great opportunity for technology to solve a real problem hunger. And in January of 2017, she created Goodr with a goal to eliminate hunger and reduce food waste.
We have a great discussion in this episode about the problem of hunger and the problem of food waste and how those problems intersect. We also talk about the origin story for the company. What Goodr does. Their progress and traction to date her long vision for the company what's coming next and also where they need help. I really enjoyed this one and I think you will too. Jasmine, welcome to the show.
Jasmine Crowe: Thanks so much for having me.
Jason Jacobs: Thanks for coming. We were chatting a little bit before, but I had the honor to moderate a panel. I forget the exact topic, but it was something sustainability related through Techstars that you were on. So I got a little taste of your story and the Goodr story and was just so impressed. So it's a huge honor to have you on the show.
Jasmine Crowe: I'm so happy to be here.
Jason Jacobs: well typically with these shows. We just take it from the top. So what is Goodr.
Jasmine Crowe: so Goodr is a sustainable food waste management company. We are leveraging technology to combat hunger and reduce food waste.
Jason Jacobs: Nice. And how did you come to be working on Goodr and maybe even going back further than that? How did you come to care about this problem?
Jasmine Crowe: You know, I started feeding people that were experiencing homelessness and hunger on the streets of downtown Atlanta in 2013. And so I was basically just cooking for people out of my apartment, going downtown feeding, hundreds of people every couple of weeks.
Jason Jacobs: just on your own or through an organization.
Jasmine Crowe: On my own. On my own. A lot of people say like, you know, what made you do that? I really don't have an answer other than, I just was driving through downtown saw a lot of people that were homeless and just decided that I wanted to do something to help them out.
Jason Jacobs: And you, you just did this like nights and weekends on your own kind of thing.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. On the weekends. Yep. So I would do it. It was called Sunday soul. And so I was doing it every other Sunday. And like I said, for years, and then I started taking it to Other cities. And so my, it was essentially a pop-up restaurant for people that were living on the streets. And so a video of one of those restaurants actually went viral on Facebook and people were saying, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, who donates the food. And the truth was nobody. I was couponing price matching, making all this food myself. And I started thinking like, it would be so great if I could get this food, donated." And so I Googled, you know, like, "Donated food. What happens to extra food at the end of the night and really tumbled across food waste and just was blown away with how much food was going to waste in this country. When so many people are going hungry. And I think from there, I decided. that I wanted to do something about it.
Jason Jacobs: I don't want to put you on the spot, but any stats off the top of your head, just to kind of frame the scale of the problem to listeners.
Jasmine Crowe: Oh yeah. I mean, I was reading about it, then it was 72 billion pounds. Now it's like up to 80 billion pounds. So it hasn't gotten better by any means. It [crosstalk 00:05:28].
Jason Jacobs: Eighty billion pounds of food is wasted. What is that every year?
Jasmine Crowe: every year in the United States, and this is from consumer-facing businesses. So this is not including what gets wasted in the household.
Jason Jacobs: And I know from living in a household, that food does get wasted in the household, 'cause who knows what we find W-, weird stuff growing in the back of the fridge and [laughs] stuff we didn't know was there. So [crosstalk 00:05:49]. so that's definitely going to add to that number.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I mean, it happens all the time and it's not something that I think people mean to do, or I feel like everybody means well, but at the end of the day, it definitely just happens and it happens a lot. And so when I saw that, I thought, gosh, you know, this is a travesty. Why are so many people going hungry when all this food is going to waste? And so from there. I thought I wanted to solve it. You know, just, I think obviously I was blown away, not only about how much food was going to waste, definitely about the effects of that food waste on the environment. It just all started kind of to correlate for me, but I entered the business. Definitely to solve hungry, And that was like my initial goal. As I got into the business and I started seeing like what it was doing to the planet. I think it just fueled me to be more successful with the business because now it had many purposes.
Jason Jacobs: So let's talk about that for a moment. So when you identified that this waste was such a huge problem and you wanted to help address hunger, what was the initial vision for the business?
Jasmine Crowe: The initial vision I wanted to, I had set a goal that I wanted to reduce food waste by 15% to feed 25 million Americans. That was my initial goal. Now I really just want to reduce food waste and feed millions of people all over the world. So I think that was that initial goal is like, can I just reduce it by 15%? And I wanted to help people like me, you know, people that were just like feeding people that really cared. that didn't always have access. To food or even money to do it, but really cared about helping people. I think that's really where I got started.
Jason Jacobs: Okay. So, and in order to do that, did you have a clear view from the outset of how and what the Goodr approach would be, or were there different twists and turns to figure that out?
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I think I knew it all. I feel like I definitely [laughs] was, you know, I wasn't a technical founder. My background was in more, so social impact.
Jason Jacobs: And when was this, by the way, when were you going through this? journey?
Jasmine Crowe: This was 2016, 2017.
Jason Jacobs: Okay.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. So my background was actually in the social impact space. I was helping celebrities essentially start their nonprofits. And so from there I got into Goodr. And so [laughs] it was definitely, you know, a tough thing if you will. But it was something that I believed in and you know, something that I wanted to do. I think a lot of people didn't. You know, think it was a good idea.
I think food waste was starting to be talked about. I felt like literally the next year, like late 2017, 2018, I started seeing billboards about food waste. I started seeing commercials, you know, large food, hunger fighting organizations were talking about it. So it was. a lot.
Jason Jacobs: So once you knew that you wanted to tackle this problem, what stage were you at in terms of what you would actually do to help address this problem? When you incorporated the company and how did you come up with that initial entry point as well?
Jasmine Crowe: Well, I knew that I wanted to use technology. and I think that was the big thing. I felt like I was inspired by the emergence of the food delivery apps. So your Uber eats your DoorDashes, and really felt like technology could be a conduit to solve the issue.And I, you know, I didn't have that experience. So what I starting doing was just really writing down almost like little wire frames and like what I felt like the app should do what I felt like who were going to be the users. So I really started thinking like that, like, this is going to be the user. This is going to be what they'll be doing.
This is how I envision that I'll be using it. And from there I started and again, like I said, I didn't have a ton of experience. It was really trying to just figure it out. you know, I think a lot of people have to just figure out. You're not going to always have, you know, the know-how, but it's about having the will. And I think that's what I had is I had the will to really get started.
Jason Jacobs: And who do you envision would be the initial users and what would they be using it for?
Jasmine Crowe: Well, I envision that it would be people that worked in the restaurants and that they would use it kind of how we do right. where we want to order food, we go in, we click on the items that we want and order and pay for it. My feeling was the restaurants would have excess food left over, They would want to get it donated and that they would go in request a pickup and we would get it picked up and delivered. So that was kind of my initial goal.
Jason Jacobs: And from a restaurant standpoint, what was your hypothesis for why they would want to donate? Was it to do the right thing or was there some selfish, monetary benefit or tax write off or something like that?
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, it definitely felt like they would want to do the right thing. There are definitely more tax incentives for it. There was also this idea that, you know, the world was changing and people like myself, you know, cared more about what businesses were doing.
That was the right thing. And so I felt like that was the other impetus is like maybe people will care that people are going hungry. Maybe people will care that this is negatively affecting the environment. And really what I found out is. You know, across the board, people didn't really care about the hunger. You know, they really cared more so about the tax savings or they cared more about their community initiatives or being able to say like, Hey, we are reducing our waste. So I feel like a lot of that happened. I think I was definitely somebody who was expecting that people would care more about the hunger piece.
Jason Jacobs: And did you envision this initially as a business? And if so, what type of business model were you thinking about at that time?
Jasmine Crowe: I was thinking that it would be kind of like a pay for pickup. kind of, Like almost a waste management company is what I thought. So I thought we would be really looking at waste and we would be helping businesses you know, reduce their overall waste. So that's ultimately what I thought we would be doing. And that was the business model. And I think the thing that made me know I had something is the customers were already essentially paying to throw food away. So I wasn't. So much creating newfound skin or doing something that was so unique and so different. They were already paying to throw the food away. And so that's what I thought like, Hey, maybe I can get them to, to help me work with them, you know, [laughs], help me help them if you will.
Jason Jacobs: So when did you initially go to market with the product?
Jasmine Crowe: I went to market with the product in 2018. I really spent all of 2017. Really entering pitch competitions, talking about the vision talking about the idea. And after that I won some prize money
Jason Jacobs: and solo founder at that time. Was it just, you
Jasmine Crowe: I've always been a solo founder. Yeah.
Jason Jacobs: Wow. So just out there, lonely road, just telling your story to whoever would listen and getting that feedback and incorporating getting practice pitching, and then just kind of repetitions with the belief that it would, that momentum would beget momentum.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I feel like that. I feel like it just was more so I believed in the momentum I also believed really strongly in the fact that people deserve to eat. And I think that kept me going all the time all the time. And then I think that's ultimately what what helped me.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And maybe talk a little bit about how things went when you launched what you learned and then, you know, where you kind of sit today and what is the same from a positioning and g-, go to market standpoint as when you launched, and maybe what's evolved since you launched based on what you've learned along the way.
Jasmine Crowe: Well, I feel like a lot has evolved. I think we were really early to the market. I want to say when I was first getting started And now food waste and climate change and all these things being more sustainable are just more at the forefront of everyone's minds. You have companies like Amazon and Google that are saying like, Hey.
we're investing $10 billion dollars in climate change. You know, you have hotel chains that are saying we're going to reduce our food waste by 50% by 2025. So I think more people are starting to really align with the SDG goals. I think that's definitely been a positive for certain, and I'm I'm excited about that. I think we still have a long way to go.
Jason Jacobs: And so are you still serving the same customers today?
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I mean, we have had very relatively, no turn. and I think that's cool thing. And we're serving even more of [crosstalk 00:14:23].
Jason Jacobs: The same type of customers,
Jasmine Crowe: same type of customers. Yeah. Well, I mean, we always were really focused on how we were going to serve and then we really always believed that our business model wasn't going to be to go to small restaurants and, you know, pick up food from this restaurant and this restaurant, we really focused on large scale businesses.
that had a lot of food at one location. So our first really big customer was actually the Atlanta airport, which is, you know, the world's busiest airport over a hundred restaurants in one location. And that's what we started focusing on. So I think our focus really never changed. We really always are focusing on a lot of food, one location.
Jason Jacobs: And so what point does this start to transition from you? Entering pitch competitions to a product, a team customers, revenue, traction. Was there kind of a catalytic moment or how did that play out?
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah, definitely was a lot of small movements along the way. And there was never like a huge boost and, and we just rocket shipped from there. I will say winning the airport as a client, definitely helped because then we started to get some press around it. The airport really was like, we are on board. We want to do this. We want to get to zero food waste by 2030, and we're going to do it with Goodr." And that really helped. But at first, I mean, I did very well.
I won a lot of prize money with those pitch competitions. I think a lot of people were starting to see and believe in the vision, but you know, it didn't happen overnight. It really, and it still, doesn't happen overnight. We are still slowly climbing.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. So what does the team look like today? How many people.
Jasmine Crowe: We're a small team. Full time, we have 13, our part-time kind of team is around 26, but we are hiring right now for five new roles. So I expect that we will continue to, to see some strong growth over the next few months. So right now we are trying to get up to a team of 20 by the end of this year, And next year we want to be at around 40. So next year is going to be a massive hiring push for us for certain.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And so you mentioned the airport is one of your customers and that you tend to focus on the larger customers to the extent that you can talk about it. How many customers do you have w-, and what types of customers, and to the extent that there's any other named customers, that'd be interesting for listeners. It'd be great to hear those as well.
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, yeah. We work with everybody from the NBA to the Atlanta Hawks, We worked with several Netflix sites to help them reduce their waste. We work with WellStar hospital, which is the largest integrated healthcare system in the state of Georgia. So we have all their hospitals When covering food for mass, We just won a really significant contract. that I can't Speak about, but it's huge. It's you know, a big university system. So a hospital plus college system, we're going to be doing all the organics recycling of food for them, plus all of the food donation the recovery. So it's going to be a big, big opportunity. So I think it's going well.
[laughs]. It's going really well. actually,
Jason Jacobs: who are the buyers within these organizations? And what's the message to them about why they should work with Goodr?
Jasmine Crowe: I think the buyers are typically, you know, sustainability directors, people who are kind of charged with making their company more sustainable. And I think the reason why they want to work with us is because we have a true system in place to help them. Get to zero food waste. And we also give them the analytics and we, we could tell them like, Hey, these are the things that you're wasting on a regular basis so that they can actually make better production decisions. We show them who the food is going to. We also give them a lot of sustainability reports. So for every pound of food, they keep out of landfill.
We let them know what that means for carbon emissions, for water savings. We show them a lot of heat maps of how they're making impact. So I think they're like, "Hey. You know, we're talking about wanting to do this. We need to do it. I think that's how a lot of customers come to us,
Jason Jacobs: How do the costs compare to the traditional waste options that they were using prior to working with Goodr?
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, it really all depends. What we've seen with a lot of waste companies is that they can sell for whatever. There's not like a standard price. We've had customers telling us they pay $50,000 a month in waste. bills, Which is crazy. Right? So what we try and do is have a good ROI for our customers. So what we typically see is that for every pound of food that they are actually, let's just put it like this for every dollar that they spend. There's typically a four X ROI on that. So based off of what we would charge them to actually pick up and get that food distributed, they're typically seeing a tax savings of about four times what they pay us.
Jason Jacobs: Got it. So is that how they're measuring value is they're looking at the tax savings versus the, so the cost and the tax savings compared to the cost of traditional waste with no tax savings.
Jasmine Crowe: Yes, exactly. And then they're also seeing a lot of reduction in their waste bin, because they're, you know, food requires a lot more pickups. They also, you know, were ...it brings rodents, it brings all these other things. So getting it out of the landfill is definitely better for them.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And the way that let's say carbon, for example, that there's starting to be these 2050 targets or 2030 targets and mandates and incentives and things like that. I mean, does any of that type of stuff exist in the food waste world?
Jasmine Crowe: I think, yeah, you're starting to see a lot more mandates coming in place and, you know, it's statewide, but states like California and New York are definitely kind of the first to do it. I've heard, you know, even Boston as a city and Austin, so Boston, Massachusetts, and then Austin, Texas are also rolling out these mandates.
But again, I always say, you know, Goodr is ...I always say we were early, but now I think we're ahead because we started so long ago talking about this before others thought that it was something that they needed to do.
Jason Jacobs: Is it logistically very complicated to try to get the food safely and cleanly and before it spoils into the hands, or I guess the mouths of the people that need it.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. actually, that's really what we focused on. And We built a really great solid logistics network from the beginning. So we don't own vehicles. We actually have one van that we own but we purchased that early on and and we realized we don't really need it because we can use vehicles that are already out that also helps us improve our carbon footprint. So we really partner with courier services, freight and logistics companies, and even the gig economists. So we're using people like roadie and Postmates and drivers that are already on the road to pick up this food. So as these requests come in for pickups, it's real time, people accept it. They go pick the food up right away and get it delivered. So logistically it's not a nightmare.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And is it a challenge to match up the supply with demand and are there geographical constraints? Is it only within a certain radius for example, that the food can be delivered?
Jasmine Crowe: That's not a challenge that you're going to see from like a legal standpoint. That's something that we built in to our whole existence early on. So we like to keep the food really close, not only so that it could be, you know, delivered fast, but also because we want the customers to actually create social change in and around them. So we don't want the food going another 20 miles if it's going to pass 10 non-profits. on the way.
Jason Jacobs: And on the demand side, how do you grow that side? Who are the people that are consuming it? Is it people? Is it an organization?
Jasmine Crowe: It's organizations for food donations and sadly, that's the thing that, you know, we're trying to actually grow the supply side first more so because we have a huge amount of demand. We have non-profits in 46 states and 17 countries. So we have a lot of demand. What we need is more people actually donating and the food. And so we'll have nonprofits that will register in states that we're not even in. yet. So I definitely don't think it's like trying to grow the demand side. That is something that we really figured out.
Jason Jacobs: And when you were first coming up with this idea and you had locked in on this problem, did you wrestle at all with the type of entity this should be and whether it should be for profit, whether it should be non-profit if it is for profit, what type of for profit entity and also, where did you land? What type of entity is it?
Jasmine Crowe: We are a B Corp. We're a for profit and I don't think I ever wrestled with it. My background and and experience has always been in the nonprofit social impact space. And I knew right away because again, are already paying to throw food away. that I didn't need to be a non-profit because they were already paying someone to throw it away.
I also knew from my own experience of working in this space, that the thing that I didn't like about nonprofits is that you're constantly fundraising. You know, you're constantly having to raise money. And I just, I didn't think that that was a good thing for me. And so from there, it was really easy for me to determine that that's not what I needed to do.
Jason Jacobs: Forgive my ignorance on this. I have no experience professionally working in in nonprofits and It's something that I want to understand better actually, because MCJ, I mean, there's a case that some elements of what we do might be better served as a nonprofit, but I've really never had the expertise in nonprofits to assess. But my question is that nonprofits can also generate revenue and so you take like a Goodr or even take like an MCJ with our, with our member dues, if it is revenue generating, then it takes the pressure off of fundraising or maybe even eliminates the need for fundraising. So in those cases, is there ever a benefit to being a nonprofit? And if so, what would that be?
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, I've been a non-profit, I've, like I said, I've started thousands of nonprofits over my lifetime. I mean, literally thousands, It's [crosstalk 00:24:21].
Jason Jacobs: Wow. I've started zero. So [crosstalk 00:24:23].
Jasmine Crowe: ... over 1,400.
Jason Jacobs: [Laughs].
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah, no, no. I mean, I, I had a whole consultancy that did this for a living for over a decade, then I stopped right. As I was really getting into Goodr. you know, you can definitely generate revenue, but I think you fall into not being a Business. And I was a business. I was selling to businesses and I didn't want to sell. as, like the, the good thing to do. I wanted to sell as, Hey, here's the business case for why you should divert your food waste. And I felt like the way to do that was to come in as a business and not as a nonprofit, because as a nonprofit, it's kind of like, what causes do we want to support this year?
And it changes it waxes and wanes one year they're supporting. Stem education the next year. It's, you know, they want to support and do work around going green and sustainability. And that's, you don't build a business like that. So for me, I didn't want to be a nonprofit. I definitely, you know, love and, and have a lot of respect for the non-profit industry. As I said, I, I stayed in the space I was, I worked in that space for well over a decade of my life, I was just, it wasn't for me.
Jason Jacobs: And w-, What types of food do you support and what types of food do you not support today?
Jasmine Crowe: Well, we support edible and inedible. So food that's edible is obviously our first thing that we want to give to people in need. If it's non-edible, we can get it to compost. We can turn it into animal feed. And in some cases, depending where the customers are and how much food they actually have, we can even turn it into energy. So those are some of the things that we really focused on.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And what about geography?
Jasmine Crowe: Goodr is in about 12 markets right now, our goal is to be in 20, but we, we are operating in, in several markets at this time.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And does it require boots on the ground in each new market that you go into or can you do it from where you are
Jasmine Crowe: We have [inaudible 00:26:15], So we ultimately go into those markets and make sure that our customers, you know, need us know us and the way we've built it. Yeah. We can do it really from where we are.
Jason Jacobs: And I saw that you, you raised some money fairly recently, correct?
Jasmine Crowe: We raised money in 2018 and in, like a traditional price round. And then we took a small bridge round to get us to our next kind of stage of funding. Yeah, Goodr's been really traditionally underfunded. I know, a lot of that is probably because I'm a black woman. And in also a unique space, which is something that a lot of people don't ultimately know about when you talk about hunger and things of that nature. So we've been extremely what I would call capital efficient. So we've really figured out how to keep our money and be lean and I was, I'm really proud of the fact that we've done more in revenue than we've raised in funding.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And then how are you thinking about capital going forward? Do you anticipate that you'll be bringing more capital in to scale the business, or do you think that you can do it all on your own?
Jasmine Crowe: Well, Goodr's been profitable now for over a year but [crosstalk 00:27:23].
Jason Jacobs: Congrats. That's amazing
Jasmine Crowe: capital to grow the business. Yeah. It's really amazing for us. We just need to bring in more capital for people. [laughs]. I think you know, I met with all of my team and, you know, I asked them like, Hey, what were some of the. The things that you dealt with last quarter, what can we get better at? And, and across the board, a lot of people were like, we're so busy I need help. I need, you know, I need, I wish I could clone myself. So now we're looking at bringing on additional capital just to bring in additional team members and really grow some more of the products that we want to do and launch in some additional markets.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And I don't know if you want to do this as two separate pitches, or if it's a more integrated pitch since obviously they are so integrated, but maybe give like the financial pitch for how the big vision for Goodr and how it can be a big company. And then also talk the same on the impact side about, you know, how it can make a dent in the, in the problem. So up to you, if you want to do that, as you know, with two different lenses [crosstalk 00:28:21] or just tell it as one story. [Laughs].
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I mean, I just think from a business side, you know, we are taking a radically different approach to solving hunger and food waste, and that's by putting technology and logistics first. We really believe that. We are deeply connected with the communities that we serve. And we see that there's a big difference in this country between access to food and access to meals. And so what Goodr is doing is working with the biggest and the best businesses and helping them capture all these meals and get them to people in need while giving those customers back tax savings and a lot of reporting around their impact and their sustainability.
I do see that we have a huge, hundred plus billion dollar opportunity in front of us because the truth is that food waste and hunger exists everywhere in the world. And therefore we believe that Goodr should be everywhere in the world. I think that, you know, it's just about getting people to join us And more and more people are joining us. And I think as that happens, other people are going to come around and other people are going to join us as well. I just think we've got to get, we've got to get, continue to get more people in the fold with us. And we're working on that. I think we have an amazing team and I'm really excited about what I believe we're going to do.
Jason Jacobs: And then since this is a climate show, maybe talk a bit about the intersection and interrelationship between food waste and climate change.
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, it's very direct. You know, as food waste sits in landfills it rots and it produces methane gas, which is a leading contributor to global climate change. I mean, project Drawdown, about four years ago when I was first getting started, had listed food waste as the number three thing that we can do to impact our global climate change.
Last year, they made it the number one thing what we can do to impact global climate change. So it's something that we've got. to really Focus on We've got to really look at how much food is going to waste and what that is doing to our planet. And we are seeing other countries like France and Italy being to say like, Hey, you're not going to get to waste food in this country without penalty and what they end up doing is they make businesses have to pay for that. And I think that, that, you know, as much as businesses hate that it's so important. Because if not, we're ruining our planet day by day. And I think we've got to really focus on how do we, how do we get better with that?
Jason Jacobs: What are the biggest causes of food waste?
Jasmine Crowe: just overproduction. I think a lot of it is just strictly overproduction. more than anything it's people just producing.
Jason Jacobs: Overproduction meaning the food that's prepared or overproduction meaning [crosstalk 00:31:06].
Jasmine Crowe: ... you know a lot of times I think it's overproduction both what's grown and what's prepared and you know, what I always say is that hunger is not an issue of Scarcity. It's really a matter of logistics. And so the idea is never that we need to make more food and grow more food. There's definitely a lot of food that's out there. I think it's about taking the food that we have and then giving that to people that need it. And so there's a difference, but yeah, certainly I don't think that it's like, Hey, let's grow more food Let's get more feed to people. To me. I think it's more about getting, getting food to the right People. So the thing that we see is one of my friends always puts it really well. He's from London and he used to tell me like, Jasmine, I can't believe how much food, you know, you get on a plate here when I'm eating in the states. And he was like, in London, my plates are you know, half the size. So there's a lot of production of food, you know, from a a standpoint of like, you go out to a restaurant and you're getting a lot of food on your plate, and then there's a lot of growing of food as well. that ends up happening.
Jason Jacobs: And when you talk about that logistics, what are the barriers or the causes that prevent the food that is produced from being distributed to the people that need it most?
Jasmine Crowe: It's logistics. I mean, that's the that's the biggest thing is it's a logistics barrier. People don't have cars, they lack transportation. They live in food deserts, so they don't live close to fresh and healthy, accessible food. So you see a lot of that. I think that's, you know, that's what really happens with it. A lot of times it's, you know, it's just, people don't have a, a means to get there. And pick up this fo-, get access to food I mean, this becomes an issue. It's something that we hear all the time. And the other thing that I think it is is that we've really created this. I like to say, like this vicious cycle is what I typically call it, that keeps people dependent on, you know, food banks as opposed to giving people access to food, that's going to just last them for some time. So that's another thing that becomes a big deal, as well like we're trying to really get to the point where we're helping people have access to food at all times.
Jason Jacobs: And so it sounds almost, and I, I mean, I'm going to say this as a statement, but really it's a question, but it sounds almost like food waste is a huge problem and so you're helping with like food waste acutely, but in some ways, that's like A symptom, but not the root cause. So one, I guess that's a question is, do you agree with that assessment and then a follow-up is, we've talked about some of the root causes here around like not access to cars and food deserts where the healthy food is not in locations that are accessible to certain communities, but what underlying things could we address or change that would address food waste in a way that is more durable.
Jasmine Crowe: I think they're, it's a really a policy thing, you know, I think that's just really where we are right now. There's just, no, there's no policy around food waste as, at this point. It's just, you know, it happens. We look past it and we move on. I think we've got to really get to a point where, to your point, as I'm saying places like these other countries really have made this a policy, like you're not going to get to just waste Food. And that's not, we're not going to go for that anymore. So I think that's really ultimately where we've got to get to, we've got to get to a standpoint of, Hey, food waste is illegal in this country. We don't waste food in this country. And if you do, then there are penalties to it. And I know no one ever wants to hear that because it's like, you know, who wants to be penalized for something that they've always done, but that's really the only way the change happens.
Jason Jacobs: And is there any policy like that that's in the works or are there any advocacy groups that are working on pushing that type of policy agenda?
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I mean, as, as I mentioned, states like California and New York and Austin, Texas as a city already have policy like that in place in the city of Austin, you have to, all restaurants have to either donate or compost.
There's no, in between. you cannot put food in the trashcan anymore in California that they have a SB1070, I think. is their ...of course the actual policy number slips my mind right now. I think it's SB1023. but that law essentially does the same thing. It makes it illegal for businesses to throw out perfectly good food. They have to have a diversion goal where they're diverting so much of that food from landfills. So there's a lot of that that's happening now and I feel good about it. I think there's going to be more of it happening for certain.
Jason Jacobs: And it strikes me that if more states put forth policies like that, that would be a big boom to not only the Goodr mission, but the Goodr business as well right.
Jasmine Crowe: Yeah. I mean, it's if I was getting you at a place where you, your business is mandated. Right. And so it's like right now, it's like a nice thing to do, but we can get to a point where it's something that people have to do. That's what we'd love to. do.
Jason Jacobs: I mean, I, I know it must be hard with a 13-person team, but is Goodr active at all in pushing forward that policy agenda. And, And if not, do you want to be, or, or would you be if resources, weren't a factor.
Jasmine Crowe: I think if resources, weren't a factor. We'd be more along those lines for certain, I think we're not now, but it's really just because we're a small team and you know, we've got to focus on like the business and, you know, selling to customers and getting more customers on. As opposed to the policy, you know, I'd love to, I definitely do spend a lot of time speaking and, you know, participating in different kind of events and talking around legislation, but yeah, certainly, you know, I'd love to be more, but I am limited on what I can do and what's just being a small team and not having all the resources that I feel like I really need to make that happen.
Jason Jacobs: And what type of capital are you, are you thinking about? Are, are you planning to raise a little or a medium amount or, or a lot, or,
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, yeah, I think I'd like us to be in a position where we can at least have enough money in the bank to really focus on building the business for the next few years. So, you know, we'll be raising a series a and you know, who knows what a series a is anymore.
Right. I've seen people, [laughing], I've seen series As that are 50. Million dollars. I saw one last week, that was $540 million. dollars. So traditionally I used to think series As were between like seven and $20 million dollars. now, who knows what that means anymore, [Laughs]. but yeah, I'm definitely looking at putting us in a position to raise some good money.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And what about profile of that capital? I mean, are you targeting the, the traditional technology venture capital firms or are there other types of capital that you think would be a better fit?
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, we really, I would love to get some kind of like grant funding. That's what I think would be great for Goodr, is something we haven't had the opportunity to really receive a lot of, but I would love that, you know, but definitely we're going to have to have some conversations with those traditional venture capital funds and and hope that they could get behind this. I think a lot of them are starting to, and I feel good about it.
They're starting to say, Hey. We need to support this. We need to be thinking about climate as part of how we operate. And I feel good about that. So I'm hoping that that continues to be something [laughs] that we see happening right now. It's still a new, some people care, some people get it. Some people. don't.
Jason Jacobs: And I think I know the answer to this based on the ground that we've already covered in this discussion, but if you could change one thing outside of the scope of your control or Goodr's control that would most positively impact Goodr's business and trajectory, what is that thing? And how would you change it?
Jasmine Crowe: I think it would possibly be policy. I think that would be the thing that would affect us for certain. And I would also probably have to say funding, you know, I think that a lot of money is spent in the hunger space and it's also spent in the climate space, but it does seem to go to the same kind of organizations and to the same people And, and what that does is it prevents people from growing and, and solving real big problems. And that's just something that I would hope really, in many years to come, will change. I hope that, you know, we're, we're not seeing articles like, oh, are, women only receive two percent of funding because that hurts you as a woman. And, you know, you see articles of people of color only receiving the even smaller amounts in in pools of capital. So all of that, it affects your ability to grow and your ability to be the best that you could be. And I think if those factors were removed, I really get excited about where we could be.
Jason Jacobs: Uh-huh. And for anyone that's listening, that's inspired by your story and mission. Where do you need help? And who do you want to hear from?
Jasmine Crowe: I mean, we're certainly hiring. So anyone who is interested in joining our team you know, I welcome you to come and learn about Goodr. Also you know, I just want to hear from potential investors, people that are maybe looking to invest in climate or invest around impact, I think would be great. And we just love to always hear from supporters. You know, if people are saying like, Hey, my city needs Goodr," I want to hear about that. And I want to make sure that we are standing up and we're there for you.
Jason Jacobs: And Jasmine, is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have, or any parting words for listeners?
Jasmine Crowe: No. I think you asked a lot of questions. Hopefully the listeners are able to get some, some good feedback and I, I look forward to talking to them.
Jason Jacobs: Awesome. Well, it's very inspiring what you're doing. And it's also inspiring how much traction and progress that you've made. And by the sounds of it, you're just getting warmed up. So best of luck to you. Thank you for all the work that you're doing and yeah. Wishing you and your team. Every success.
Jasmine Crowe: Thank you so much. Have a good one.
Jason Jacobs: Hey everyone. Jason here. Thanks again for joining me on my climate journey. If you'd like to learn more about the journey, you can visit us at MyClimateJourney.co. note.
That is dot co, not dot com. someday. We'll get the dot com. but right now dot co. you can also find me on Twitter @JJacobs22, where I would encourage you to share your feedback on the episode or suggestions for future guests. You'd like to hear. And before I let you go, if you enjoyed the show, please share an episode with a friend or consider leaving a review on iTunes. The lawyers made me say that, thank you.
