I just read about a guy who made $386M selling ugly carrots and bruised bananas

I just read about a guy who made $386M selling ugly carrots and bruised bananas.

And it all started with some rotten apples.

I'm talking about Abhi Ramesh, the guy behind Misfit Market.

He sells fruits and veggies that aren't pretty enough for prime time. But they sure are tasty.

Here's how he did it.

1/ How It Started

Rewind to 2018. Abhi's picking apples and notices something strange at the orchard. There are hundreds of apples just lying on the ground.

He asks the farmer what happens to the fallen fruit.

Some become juice or cider. But most head straight to the dumpster. Retailers won’t stock their shelves with mangled produce.

Abhi asks if he can buy them. The farmer's happy to sell.

And it's the start of a foodie empire.

2/ Go-To-Market

Abhi thinks he's onto something big. There's gotta be people who will buy funny-looking fruit. But can he get his hands on enough of it?

He starts dialling farms around Philadelphia.

Turns out there's a lot of it. Lemons, squash, plums. There's a ton that won't make it to grocery shelves. And it's a headache for farmers.

Abhi buys everything he can. 

Then he throws up a Shopify store and runs Facebook ads. He promotes his “mystery boxes” full of perfectly imperfect produce.

People bite.

In the next few years, Abhi hits 90,000 customers.

And then sh*t hits the fan.

3/ Timing is Everything

It's March 2020 and Covid's running hot. Abhi gets ready to shut down his warehouse. His thriving business is about to crash.

Then he catches a lifeboat. Food is essential, which means his doors can stay open.

His lifeboat suddenly turns into a battleship. Over the next few months, growth explodes. People want their fruit. And they want it now.

A few bad apples won't get in the way.

Sales surge to $386M in the next 2 years. That's a whole lot of apples.

4/ Why it works

Abhi does a bunch of stuff right. Here are my favorites:

→ Selling a waste product

Grocery chains are the primary buyers and they don't want it. The farmers are just throwing it away. Abhi exploits this inefficiency.

→ Turning a weakness into a strength with smart branding

Misfit Market is not selling deformed fruit. They're reducing waste by repurposing food. This marketing jujitsu resonates big time. Don Draper would be proud.

→ Side stepping the incumbents

The dumbest thing emerging companies can do is try to compete with giants at their game. You must invent your own game. That’s how you crush the incumbent.

5/ My Take

I love business models that turn trash into cash. And Misfit Market is giving me the good stuff.

Grocers don't want it. Farmers can't sell it.

Abhi comes along and packages everything just right.

To him, those bruised bananas are worth billions.

Credit: Jon Davids

#marketing #business #entrepreneur