afreshed: reducing food waste by rescuing food surplus
See how afreshed is reducing food waste by creating new routes to market for surplus fruit and vegetables and contributing to a more resilient food system.
A perfectly good carrot can be the wrong shape. A box of fruit can arrive at the wrong time. For afreshed, that does not mean the food has lost its value.Â
Why vegetables & fruits are particularly vulnerable to food waste
Getting fresh produce from farm to plate is a race against time. Fruit and vegetables have short shelf lives, are sensitive to handling, and can be affected by fluctuations in supply and demand.
The scale of the challenge is significant. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 25.4% of fruit and vegetables globally were lost between post-harvest and retail in 2023, the highest loss rate of any commodity group.[1] In the EU, fresh fruit and vegetables account for almost half of household food waste, including an estimated 14.2 kg of avoidable waste per person each year.[2]
Reducing these losses means finding ways to match fresh produce with demand more effectively, while there is still time for it to be eaten.
The Austrian food-tech company founded in 2021 has built a business around rescued organic fruit and vegetables, working with growers and delivering produce directly to households and businesses.
Scaling a food rescue model across Austria and Germany
What started with afreshed in Austria is becoming a larger cross-border food rescue business. In 2026, the company acquired German competitor etepetete, bringing its established customer base into the group. Expansion continued in September with the addition of Retterbox.
Today, the group brings together afreshed in Austria, etepetete in Germany, and Retterbox across Germany and Austria, with around 45 employees. The expansion marks afreshed's move beyond its early startup phase and gives its food rescue model a wider reach across both markets.
Turning food waste into wider impact
That growth means more food can find a use. Since its founding, afreshed has rescued more than 1,500 tonnes of food and built relationships with more than 50 agricultural partners in Austria and Italy. Today, around 15 tonnes of fruit and vegetables move through its model every week.
afreshed is also looking beyond the food itself. Reusable delivery boxes and route planning designed to reduce transport emissions form part of its approach to getting rescued food to customers.
afreshed in numbers
Building stronger foundations for growth
EIT Food has supported afreshed as it developed the commercial foundations for its next stage of growth. Through the Fast Track to Market programme, afreshed worked on expanding GreenGrocer+ and strengthening the commercial pathway for rescued food.
That relationship has continued beyond the programme, with EIT Food currently investing in afreshed through a revenue-share arrangement.
EIT Food has been an important catalyst for afreshed's growth. The project enabled us to build the digital, warehouse and logistics infrastructure needed to scale our food rescue model. This technological foundation now allows us to take the next major step with Retterbox, expanding into Germany and Austria and rescuing a much broader range of surplus food.
What afreshed's journey shows
- Build operational foundations before entering new markets.
- Food rescue needs a viable route to paying customers.
- Strong grower relationships make supply more dependable.
- Scale can widen impact when logistics and technology are ready.
Expanding food rescue to strengthen a more resilient food system
For afreshed, Retterbox opens up a much bigger opportunity to apply its food rescue model to more of the food people buy every day.Â
Launched in Germany and Austria in September 2026, Retterbox started with around 500 shelf-stable products that might otherwise be written off, from surplus stock and delisted products to items affected by packaging changes or approaching their best-before date.Â
Together with afreshed's rescued organic fruit and vegetables, this brings the group closer to its ambition of offering a fuller rescued food range - and creates new potential to keep more good food in circulation across two major European markets.
About EIT Food's Net Zero Food System mission
We will enable the transition to a net zero food system, measuring and quantifying the change through reduced CO2 equivalent emissions.
Our work focuses on key areas where we can make the biggest difference: building more resilient agriculture, cutting emissions, reducing food waste, diversifying protein sources, using biotechnology to drive innovation, and improving how environmental impact is measured.
Working with partners across the food system, we support innovation and collaboration to develop and scale solutions across Europe.
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References
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). 12.3.1 Global food losses. FAO. https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals-data-portal/data/indicators/1231-global-food-losses/en/Â
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre. (2018). Quantifying household waste of fresh fruit and vegetables in the EU. Publications Office of the European Union. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC110433
