Founded in 2021, the company offers so-called “rescue boxes”. They contain organic fruit and vegetables that do not conform to the standard due to their size or curvature and are therefore unsuitable for regular retail sale. Customers can put together either fruit boxes, vegetable boxes or mix boxes in three sizes via the start-up’s website and pay between three and a half and five euros per kilo on average.
The company works with farmers according to the supply-led principle and does not bind them to contracts. In turn, this also encourages customers, as their purchases support fair agricultural practices. Moreover, Afreshed ensures that 45% of the rescue box’s price goes directly to the farmers, which is often more than when they sell to industry chains.
The service is based on so-called soft subscriptions, which allow customers to set the delivery interval, change it or cancel it at any time, among others. Delivery every two weeks is particularly popular with consumers, with the five- and six-kilo mixed boxes being the bestsellers.
Afreshed has currently over 5000 active subscribers, while reaching around 45,000 consumers on its platform since its launch in 2021. In 2022, the company generated sales of 2.8 million euros, which increased to over 4.7 million euros in 2023. Afreshed further continued with its steady growth last year, breaking past 6 million euros in sales.
In 2023, Afreshed was also able to gain LTS Transport & Logistik as a partner. Among other things, LTS is the logistics provider behind the Billa online store and one of the largest carriers for Amazon in Austria. In order to bring the goods to end consumers in the greater Vienna area, the startup opened a 1,200 sq m logistics hub near Vienna.
With a much larger network now, the company sources directly from producers – whether in Austria, Italy or the Netherlands. This allows Afreshed to cover seasonality better and offer a wider range of products.
