Shreya Dahya
ayesha najmi
Yeonjoo Jang
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
Megan Buchter
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Their mission is to reduce food insecurity and food waste in Cleveland. They use locally sourced perfectly imperfect produce in their boxes, in addition to donating much of this produce to soup kitchens locally.
Real Food Remedy is a subscription service for produce that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to its customers on a weekly basis. The company reduces food waste by using "imperfect" fruits and vegetables, which are often overlooked by grocery stores because they do not meet societal standards. In addition, Real Food Remedy sources its produce from small, local farms, supporting the local community not only by providing food but also economically. On the consumer side, they offer five different subscription box options, with a dietitian creating a new combination of vegetables and fruits every week to ensure that customers receive key nutrients. In addition to delivering these boxes, the company provides access to weekly meal ideas and recipes, live virtual cooking demos, and nutrition education, all working towards decreasing food insecurity and increasing healthy practices in the community.
On the more “food as medicine” side of the company, Real Food Remedy has partnered with registered dietitians and physicians from world-renowned hospitals in Cleveland to develop pre-set box options. According to Ashley Weingart, founder, and CEO of the company, these boxes are catered to “providing key nutrients for managing and preventing chronic illnesses using input from the Cleveland Clinic and dietitians.” Additionally, customers can also build their own custom box by selecting the produce items they like best or what they feel would be best for their health. Currently, the company is finding options that would allow the service to be covered by insurance, so as to reduce costs and contribute to decreasing food insecurity. Essentially, Real Food Remedy is “on the cusp of healthcare embracing food as medicine.”
Real Food Remedy's service is unique in that it focuses on local produce, gives back to the community by donating to local food pantries, and provides a food-as-medicine perspective.
Ashley Weingart is the founder and CEO of Real Food Remedy. With a journalism degree from Indiana University and a family background in a wholesale produce business, Weingart has some experience in the business of produce before starting her company. She started out as a nutrition educator for underprivileged families and soon got further into health education when she wrote for Northeast Ohio Parent Magazine about healthy eating and living. In 2015, Weingart decided to work in marketing and communication for her family produce business where she noticed that “blemished fruits that consumers didn't want were going to waste” and that “there [is] a need in the community for healthy fruits and vegetables.” Therefore, Real Food Remedy emerged in 2016 as a result of Weingart's desire to create an environmentally sustainable approach to feeding the community using perfectly imperfect produce.
The company's first customers were those who signed up via the social media marketing that Weingart had mastered whilst working at her family business. One such notable customer is Betsy Kling, Chief Meteorologist at WKYC 3News. Her unofficial sponsorship of the company allowed Weingart’s company to rise fast, soon getting offers for news stories to spread the word about her mission. Simultaneously, Weingart was still hand-delivering boxes to customers and predominantly gaining a following through word of mouth. The company incentivized customers to refer friends by offering referral codes and discounts. Through all of this, Weingart realized that “Real Food Remedy's customer base transitioned from people with limited access to grocery stores to those interested in supporting the mission of sustainability, reducing food waste, and giving back to the community.”
Logistic-wise, Real Food Remedy's delivery system works with a local courier company, again supporting the community around them. Recently, Weingart has begun to further the technology behind the scenes using Delivery Biz Pro to provide their web platform. It “captures data, addresses, product information, among other information” from customers in one place for more straightforward product creation and delivery. When speaking with Weingart about her team, we were surprised to learn that the company's team is small, really only two main people running the logistics: Ashley and her business partner.
Real Food Remedy has a significant impact on society in several ways. By rescuing imperfect or "ugly" fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste, they are helping to reduce food waste and its associated environmental impact. This can help to conserve resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and alleviate food scarcity. Additionally, by making these foods available to consumers at lower prices than their "perfect" counterparts, they are making healthy, nutritious food more accessible and affordable, which can positively impact public health. By promoting sustainability, reducing waste, and improving access to healthy food, companies that package and deliver imperfect foods are making a valuable contribution to society.
They are lowering the amount of food that goes to waste and is thrown into landfills. This creates a healthier environment. The problem with food scarcity is not actually food scarcity, we produce more than enough food. That food does not get distributed and consumed properly, Real food Remedy is offering a solution to this problem. They are reducing waste and encouraging the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The short-term effects were that people immediately got access to more affordable food. Especially during the pandemic, Real Food Remedies was packaging 500 boxes a day. They made healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables accessible to people at a time when it was very difficult to step outside the house.
The long-term benefits include the overall health improvement of the subscribers (given they consume fruits and vegetables) and the long-term benefits to the environment. Real-food remedies are also sourced from local farms as much as possible and this creates long-term benefits for the local businesses and economy. They also use local delivery and packing services.
Real food remedy is currently conducting research with Cleveland Clinic to identify the effects of getting enough fruits and vegetables on people with chronic diseases. They have also seen measurable progress simply in every box of fruits and vegetables they save from being thrown out.
The impact of their innovation was crucial to their business. Real food remedy is built on the idea of saving imperfect foods and delivering them. Because they were able to build such a strong vendor network they are able to keep their overhead expenses very low and their core team small. They have a strong network of local farms, delivery centers, and packaging centers that they rely on to help carry out the business processes
Real Food Remedy is creating great benefits for society and the environment in terms of community development and food waste reduction. In the case of perfectly imperfect produce, which made the current Real Food Remedy, rescued about 3,000,000 pounds of food that would have been discarded. In addition, they contributed to reducing food imbalances by donating more than 500,000 pounds to the local food pantry. Through perfectly imperfect produce and food as medicine project, Real Food Remedy is not only trying to solve environmental problems in the community but also trying to provide healthier food to people in the community.
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Ashley Weingart, CEO & Founder
