Employees can pre-order a meal via app.
(Photo: Foodji)
Berlin Fresh sushi, falafel bowls or Thai curry instead of lemonade and gummy bears. Foodji’s food dispensers are similar to ordinary snack vending machines. However, you will not find unhealthy snacks in them, but above all wholesome and fresh meals. The Munich start-up wants to replace the canteen with its vending machines, which it has dubbed Foodjis.
It is primarily aimed at medium-sized companies that have too few employees to make their own canteens worthwhile. Foodji now wants to benefit from the fact that more and more employees are going back to the office regularly after the corona pandemic and no longer work exclusively in the home office. “The current trend is to want to do more for employees so that they enjoy coming to the office,” says company co-founder Daniel von Canal. Food plays a central role in this. In any case, the demand for the machines had increased “insanely”.
In order to be able to handle further growth, Foodji has just received fresh money from investors. A total of 23 million dollars came from the Dutch investor Movendo Capital, DLF Venture from Luxembourg, Triple Point from the USA as well as Kraut Capital and Foodlabs from Germany.
Who is the person you are talking about?
Foodji was founded in 2016 by Daniel von Canal and Felix and Moritz Munte as well as Oliver Friedmann and Nicolas Luig. “The idea for Foodji came about when we were still working as management consultants, often sat with customers at night and had to ask ourselves how we could take care of ourselves every day,” recalls Felix Munte.
The start-up set up the first machines in 2020 in the middle of the corona crisis. The company now has 70 employees and manages a mid three-digit number of machines. These can be found in the offices of the solar start-up Enpal, at the online luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa, at Munich Airport or at Cewe.
Foodji offers more than 250 dishes that can be eaten immediately or have to be heated beforehand. The salad and bowl menu in particular is currently being expanded.
Depending on the subsidy provided by the company, the meals cost between 3.80 and ten euros and are cooked to order by manufacturers in Germany. If a company is interested in setting up a Foodji, they can try the offer first. “After a three-month test phase, you conclude a fee-based contract for a certain period that regulates filling, cleaning and much more,” says Munte. The food is selected by the employee directly via touchscreen on the refrigerator machine or via app in advance.
What are the chances of Foodji?
Investors such as DLF Venture and Foodlabs are convinced that Foodji has chosen the right niche in the food supply sector. “Foodji has managed to reduce food and packaging waste to a minimum while offering restaurant-quality food,” says Foodlabs Managing Director Patrick Huber. Louis Kerschen from DFL Venture identifies a competitive advantage in the technology platform. This controls Foodji’s business and supply chain – also using algorithms that forecast demand at different locations. Kerschen estimates that there are 75,000 companies in Germany alone that might need such a vending machine.
>> Read more about that here: The great hunt: why investors are targeting German IT companies
Nevertheless, the challenges are great. This was also shown by the insolvency of Hellofreshgo, a subsidiary of the recipe box provider Hellofresh. Their concept was comparable to that of Foodji. However, she ran into problems because hardly any employees came into the office and used the machines during the pandemic. The company has since been sold to the Swedish supplier Convini. In addition, with Felfel from Switzerland, there is another competitor who focuses on the care of employees.
What’s next?
Foodji wants to invest the fresh capital in growth, continue to improve the technology and expand the range of dishes. Foodji initially only wants to focus on the German market, also with a view to costs.
Unlike many other startups, Foodji is already profitable. The company has grown significantly over the past year. “We were able to quadruple our annualized sales,” says von Canal. Now Foodji wants to further expand its market leadership.
More: You can find more start-up checks here