Lonely Produce - Connecting farmers to restaurants, one ugly vegetable at a time

# Lonely Produce
## Connecting farmers to restaurants, one ugly vegetable at a time

### Founder
Andrew Clapp (Founder - CEO)

### Period
Jan 2018 - May 2019

### Status
FEATURED IN GEEKWIRE

### Description
A Seattle-based food-waste startup that built an online marketplace connecting local farmers with restaurants and buyers to move surplus or 'imperfect' produce before it spoiled.

### Full Story
Born from a conversation over beer with a local farmer, Lonely Produce addressed the massive food waste problem in the farm-to-table supply chain. Farmers created real-time listings of excess harvests, and buyers could browse, set notifications, and place orders with a single click.

### Problem Solved
40% of food in America goes to waste, with a significant portion being perfectly edible produce that doesn't meet cosmetic standards or arrives at inconvenient times.

### Solution
A real-time marketplace that alerts restaurants when nearby farms have surplus produce, enabling same-day pickup at reduced prices while preventing food waste.

### Key Achievements
- Sweet 16 finalist in the 2018 University of Washington Business Plan Competition
- Graduate of 2019 Class of UW Jones and Foster Accelerator
- Bootstrapped MVP development connecting 12+ local farms with Seattle restaurants

### Features
- Real-time produce listings from local farms
- Push notifications for matching inventory
- One-click ordering system
- Farmer dashboard for inventory management

### Tech Stack
React Native, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, Stripe

### Metrics
- 12+ Farms Connected
- 5 tons Food Waste Reduced
- 25+ Restaurants Onboarded

### Key Lessons
- Marketplace businesses require simultaneous supply and demand growth
- Local food systems have complex logistics that technology alone can't solve

### Press Coverage
- A beer with a farmer sparks Lonely Produce, a new marketplace (GeekWire)