Inglorious

Foodie Friday and this week I have a little video for you.  This one highlights a campaign run by the folks at Intermarché called Inglorious Fruits And Vegetables.  Intermarché is the third largest supermarkets chain in France.  They noticed that there is an awful lot of wasted food – stuff that’s grown but is deemed imperfect or unappealing and which gets tossed.  To fight against this food waste they decided to sell (30% cheaper) the imperfect fruits and vegetables which they called “the inglorious fruits and vegetables”.  Watch the video but the results were amazing:

As one publication put it:

This initiative is a complete success because it’s a win-win-win campaign : consumers get the same quality products for cheaper, the growers get money for products that are usually thrown away and Intermarché increase its business by selling a brand new line of products.

There is a broader business point here.  How many of us reject the imperfect?  Maybe they’re ideas.  Maybe they’re people.  Maybe they’re underperforming assets.  It’s so easy to assume they’re not useful because they don’t fit our current thinking but maybe there us a win-win business proposition lurking somewhere?  Maybe, as some have suggested, that what we see as imperfect is more about us than what it is we’re judging.  Starting with an open mind and a desire to make something work can produce amazing results, just as it seems to have in France.  How can we all apply that thinking to our businesses?  Something to ponder this weekend!