The Wonky Box: New Wellington food rescue business helping consumers, growers and planet

The Wonkers, Angus Simms and Katie Jackson.

Taking food rescue to the next level, a Wellington start-up is helping rescue fruit and vegetable waste from growers in Kāpiti and Horowhenua, while also doing their bit to help the consumer and grower.

The Wonky Box was started by The Wonkers, Kiwi-born Angus Simms and his partner Katie Jackson when they returned to New Zealand in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On their return to New Zealand the couple were shocked at the cost of groceries compared to where they were living in England.

Involved in waste reduction initiatives in the UK, the couple found New Zealand was slightly behind the times when it came to recycling and waste initiatives.

The Wonky Box is a new start-up in Wellington saving excess and misshapen produce that would otherwise be wasted.

"We were always pretty cautious of where we were eating, where we were getting it from and what waste it produced," Angus said.

"Coming to New Zealand we noticed there were lots of food bag options, but with Katie being vegetarian there weren't as many good options which started us on this path researching food waste.

"We started by talking to farmers in Kāpiti and Horowhenua and researching how much waste there was at the source – in the fields."

Noticing that it was a big issue, often not the fault of the farmers but because of labour shortages and the strict criteria of supermarket buyers for selling and exporting, the couple decided to do something about it.

"We did some research and started working with some of these growers to save their excess vegetables and the ones which are not the right size or shape to be packed up for supermarkets," Katie said.

"Within weeks we were up and running after a short trial with family and friends followed by people who were interested after we posted on community pages."

The Wonky Box is now taking off, in just 14 weeks of delivery expanding to include more than 400 households in the greater Wellington region (mostly in the Hutt, Tawa and Porirua), and hoping to expand to Kāpiti within the next few months.

"The values which we want to abide by are to be fair to our growers, be fairer to our customers and be fairer to the planet," Angus said.

"We are rescuing the excess, the wonky stuff that is still good but not accepted by their normal distributors and have tapped into multiple different key issues right now which is amazing.

"It's good to see all the support and interest from both customers and growers and to see some of the success stories we have created with existing growers - essentially opening up a whole new sales channel for some."

Interest in the Wonky Box increased dramatically when Wellington recently went back into into level 2.

"When we went into level 2 lockdown lots of our farmers couldn't get to the markets, so all the produce they had picked throughout the week was just sitting there," Katie said.

"We went and collected all these vegetables and that helped the farmers, as there was a huge amount of money they would have been missing out on.

"We noticed at that point that we were really helping out the growers as well, it was the first time the farmers had reached out to us.

"We drummed up a load of support in Wellington that week and got about 70 more customers.

"It's made me realise how vulnerable our farmers are, and how unpredictable their circumstances are.

"So part of our ethos now is supporting our farmers and helping them get a good and fair deal along with educating our customers on what is happening at the source, the start of the supply chain."

With Katie and Angus sorting orders, picking up produce from growers, driving it down to Wellington, packing it into boxes and doing deliveries along with running the website and finances, Angus took a big step quitting his job a week ago to focus on the business fulltime.

"Now we have more time to head up the coast and speak to growers and suppliers to get more on board," Angus said.

"It's been stressful starting a new business but it's nice to be doing something that's really good for the environment and a bit different," Katie said.

"It's been a voyage of discovery, we're learning as we're going and there are so many things popping up that we are embracing."

The boxes are delivered on a subscription basis with options available for how frequently you want it, packed with a number of staples and surprise options each week of normal and wonky fruit and vegetables.

Each week more postcodes are added as they expand around the region and partner with more growers and farmers.