Oddprod

Delivering the fruit and veg supermarkets refused to put on the shelf.

Oddprod is an odd-shaped fruit and vegetable delivery service I co-founded. We source produce rejected by major supermarkets purely for cosmetic reasons: the crooked carrots, the two-legged parsnips, the perfectly ripe tomatoes that are just the wrong shape. We deliver them directly to customers' doors at a fraction of the price. The food is identical in taste and nutrition. It's only the appearance that's different.

What started as frustration at a broken system became a business that grew to $200k in revenue, diverted tonnes of produce from landfill, and built a loyal customer base who understood that a wonky cucumber is still a cucumber. Alongside co-founding the business, I designed and built the Oddprod website, the primary channel through which customers discovered, subscribed, and managed their boxes.

My Role

Co-founder
Website

Type

Business
E-commerce

Revenue

$200k

in revenue generated as a co-founded startup

~80%

of food waste is caused by appearance alone — not quality or ripeness

~40%

of fruit and vegetables never make it onto a supermarket shelf

The supermarket has a beauty standard. Produce pays for it.

Every year, an enormous volume of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables is discarded before it ever reaches a consumer. Not because it's spoiled. Not because it's dangerous. Because it doesn't look right. Supermarkets operate on strict cosmetic specifications — the right weight, the right length, the right curve — and anything outside those tolerances gets rejected at the farm gate.

Farmers lose income on crops they've grown. Consumers pay inflated prices for produce that's been filtered through an arbitrary appearance standard. And the food that doesn't make the cut rots in a field or a warehouse, generating methane as it breaks down.

~80%

of produce waste is cosmetic — not quality or safety

~40%

of fruit & veg never reaches the shelf at all

1/3

of all food produced globally is lost or wasted

A waste problem hiding in plain sight

The numbers are striking, but the cause is mundane. Straight cucumbers. Round tomatoes. Uniform carrots. The cosmetic filter is so embedded in the supply chain that most consumers don't even know it exists.

Waste due to appearance

~80%

Fruit & veg that never hits the shelf

~40%

Global food lost or wasted

~33%

Same farm. Same flavour. Different shape.

Oddprod goes directly to the source: farms and wholesale suppliers — and buys the produce supermarkets won't take. We then pack it into weekly boxes and deliver it to customers at a price that reflects what it actually is: perfectly good food.

The model is simple. The margins are better than conventional retail because the input cost is low. And the customer proposition is clear: you get fresher, cheaper produce, and you're not contributing to a system that wastes it.

How it works

A subscription-based weekly box, sourced directly from farms and delivered to your door.

Source odd-shaped and surplus produce directly from farms and wholesalers

Pack seasonal mixed boxes — fruit, vegetables, or both

Deliver weekly on a flexible subscription customers can pause or cancel

Price below supermarket equivalents — the savings come from the cosmetic discount

Include a card in every box with what's inside and what to cook with it

Partner with local farms to reduce food miles and support growers directly

Oddly beautiful eggplant at the warehouse

"A wonky carrot tastes exactly like a straight one. The only difference is who decided it wasn't worth selling."

Building to $200k

Oddprod grew from a simple observation into a real business. Starting with a small customer base acquired through direct outreach and social media, we scaled the subscription model by leaning into the story — the waste statistics, the farm relationships, the idea that your box looked different every week because food actually looks different every week.

The growth came from retention as much as acquisition. Customers who understood what they were buying stayed. Word of mouth did a lot of the work. By keeping the supply chain lean and direct, the unit economics worked in our favour even at modest scale.

$200k

revenue as a co-founded startup

Direct

to farm sourcing — no middlemen

Weekly

subscription box with flexible plans