The wholesale marketplace for quality surplus food Yume has recorded the largest number of listings on its platform since it launched in 2014.
Founder and CEO Katy Barfield told Food & Drink Business Yume had been approached by many large and small food manufacturers, distributors and caterers. “These businesses have been left with large consignments of surplus food due to event cancellations, changes in the export market and an overall shift in normal operations,” Barfield said. “This is not something we had our sights on, but it is an extraordinary time creating unexpected situations and outcomes. There will be situations we have never seen before.
“Our mission is to prevent high quality, edible food from going to waste, so today, more than ever, we want to offer our help.”
Yume is a B2B online marketplace that connects two sides of the market, allowing suppliers and buyers to connect with each other and ensure that edible food doesn’t end up in landfill. The products are priced at least 20 per cent below wholesale price.
Barfield said: “We understand that the recent development relating to COVID-19 are severely impacting the Australian food industry.
“If any food businesses suddenly have consignments of surplus stock that they were not planning for, the Yume platform can help them find new business buyers outside of the usual networks who might want to purchase your stock.”
Barfield said Yume is well positioned to help companies with excess stock as it acts as a conduit between the parties. It also means businesses can get a financial return rather than a loss on at least one component of cancellations or changes.
She said the situation is moving rapidly, with yesterday’s largest recorded listings evidence of that. “We have seen a lot of chicken hit the platform, which is different from what you see in the supermarkets, because we work in commercial volumes, not retail sizing.
“We want businesses to know we are here, fully equipped, and that we can give visability to their overstock which they may even get a return on.”
Barfield said it doesn’t matter how obscure the product is, they have found buyers. “We once had 14 tonnes of the artificial sweetner maltitol and we thought, who will ever buy this. A pharmaceutical company that used it as a table coating snapped it up.
“We once had lobster tails from a burger chain who had a new product fail. There were 700 kilograms, so it was a small consignment but of huge value to the vendor. It was sold to a range of restaurants and cafes.
“The platform has extraordinarily high-quality products on the platform and it is one way companies currently facing real challenges.”
