Phenix was founded by Jean Moreau and Baptiste Corval based on a shocking observation: the astronomical amount of food waste. One third of global food production ends up wasted, occurring throughout the entire chain, from producers to consumers, what we call from farm to fork.
In France, 10 million tons of food are wasted each year, while about 8 million French people are in a situation of food insecurity, with more than 5 million registered in food aid programs.
“Moreover, if food waste were a country, it would be the 3rd largest producer of CO² emissions globally,” explains Simon Baldeyrou. “It accounts for 3% of CO² emissions in France. So there is a huge issue both environmentally and socially, and that’s what we have been trying to tackle for 11 years.”
The main activity of Phenix is related to large retail, meaning that the company supports several thousand stores in France, but now also in Spain and Portugal. “The business of large retail has always been to order as efficiently as possible, to avoid stockouts. But there is always waste, since the priority is to ensure that consumers find shelves stocked with products.”
So anti-waste lies in ordering as accurately as possible. But then, it’s a whole reflection in the days leading up to the expiration dates of products. Phenix has created an app that allows ordering “surprise” baskets with products nearing their expiration dates, at very attractive prices.
The company also facilitates donations to associations, through a network of 3,000 organizations across France. Finally, when products are no longer fit for human consumption, there is still the option of donating to zoos or others.
These solutions also benefit stores, as they save on costs once they no longer have to deal with collection or destruction of their waste.
Moreover, there is an important issue regarding employee engagement. “Anyone who has worked in large retail feels very uncomfortable when products end up in the trash, so I think it’s important in terms of societal commitment,” explains Simon Baldeyrou. “For the store manager, it’s also important in relation to customers. More and more, customers are sensitive to the good practices of the companies they consume from.” Finally, a tax reduction is planned for food donations.
A store that operates autonomously generally manages to recover 20 to 50% of its unsold goods. Phenix aims to help them reach 80, 90%.
“We’re talking about 190 million liters of water saved last year, 190,000 tons of CO² avoided, 75 million meals saved,” specifies Simon Baldeyrou. “So that’s very concrete. We can indeed see what we can bring to society.”
“And then there’s a whole intangible aspect, when we receive daily feedback from our charitable associations thanking us for the products they have received, for the quality of these products as well. We also get a lot of comments from people who can eat under very favorable conditions.”
