Three entrepreneurs aim to combat food waste in Romania with new app

Serial entrepreneur and business angel Grégoire Vigroux, along with former KPMG senior tech consultant Diego Roy de Lachaise and former Apple executive Zsolt Kadar, have launched bonapp.eco, a mobile application that aims to combat food waste, connecting consumers with retailers to sell food that is close to expiration date. Through this app, the food is sold to consumers at discounts ranging from 40% to 80%.

The application, which is available on iOS and Android, currently allows users to buy food by card from a network of 35 affiliated partners in Bucharest, including supermarkets, hypermarkets, restaurants, shops, bakeries, coffee shops and hotels.

Expansion to other cities in Romania is planned for the first quarter of 2022, while roll-out across Eastern Europe will start in Q2.

bonapp.eco estimates the market potential for its application at 5 million users in Romania alone. The typical user profile is an urban dweller who has a bank account and wants to buy quality food while saving money.

“The world wastes 40% of its food supply, according to the WWF. Food waste alone accounts for 10% of all global greenhouse gases. On top of exacerbating climate change, food waste also causes retailers significant losses,” said Grégoire Vigroux, co-founder of bonapp.eco.

He added: “In Romania alone, about 5 million tons of food are thrown away every year – in a country where food is expensive. Romanian consumers devote almost 40% of their budget to food and beverages! bonapp.eco is turning these environmental, economic and social challenges into a sustainable business opportunity for the benefit of everyone. Our solution is a win for consumers, a win for food retailers and a win for the planet.”

Among the first partners to join bonapp.eco’s network in Bucharest are Accor, Cora, foodpanda, PENNY Romania, Starbucks and Up (formerly named Chèque-Déjeuner), with further partnerships due to be announced by the end of the year.

“Up Romania has always been an advocate for sustainability. Our strategic partnership with bonapp.eco is just a natural step in reinforcing our existing strategy. Protecting the environment is of the utmost importance now and one step towards that is to regain control over what we use, eat, and buy. This is only achievable by responsible consumption and awareness of our habits in this area, and by transforming our everyday actions into a positive contribution to the environment,” said Up Regional Director Elena Pap.

Claudia Ivan, Sustainability Manager at PENNY Romania, added: “With sustainability playing an ever-increasing role and customers paying this aspect more and more attention, we embrace as many projects as possible in this field. Food rescue, which is now a worldwide issue, is a priority project. At PENNY, we promote responsible consumption and avoidance of food waste, so the bonapp.eco solution has been a very good opportunity for us. We are confident that our clients will quickly understand all the advantages beyond the discounts for them, their family and communities.”