The Spanish startup Freshis, which arrived in Madrid a few weeks before the lockdown, has become the first platform that allows you to receive fresh fruits and vegetables at home directly from the farmer in less than an hour. Founded by three Spanish entrepreneurs, Lluis Puig, Pablo Engelmann and Jaume Puig, Freshis has closed 2021 having served more than 10,000 orders, with an average receipt of 42 euros per order. The startup intends to expand its business throughout the national and international territory this year.
“Our start-up coincided with the closure of the country due to the first state of alarm. At that time, the entire city was trying to do the shopping without leaving home and we began to distribute fruits and vegetables on our personal motorcycles, trying to satisfy all the orders that came to us,” says Pablo Engelmann, co-founder and director of operations at Freshis.
This Q-commerce was born with the desire to be an agent of change in the fresh produce sector, creating transparency in the value chain and eliminating intermediaries and unnecessary costs. Freshis’ proposal is to shorten the times so that, in this way, the consumer can have the product in less than 18 hours from when it is harvested in the field and in less than 1 hour from when the order is placed on the platform. , thus ensuring fruits and vegetables with the best level of maturation and longer shelf life.
According to Lluis Puig, CEO and founder of Freshis, “our goal is to create full transparency so that the consumer can know who the producer is, where each food comes from, the type of crop that has been used and the price that the producer receives. And, in parallel, improve the lives of farmers by paying them a fair price for their work, which is something they have been fighting for for a long time.”
When they decided to create the company, the founders shared the same purpose that motivated them to leave their previous jobs: to do things in a different way, a much more sustainable, conscious and careful way. After years of experience in the sector, these entrepreneurs set out to redefine the rules of the market to offer a good product giving equity to the producer, aware of their claims against abusive commercial practices and, in addition, to do so with a differential service, “at the stroke of click” and with ultra-fast delivery of orders.
After more than a year of experience, Freshis has become a sustainable alternative for eating fresh fruit and vegetables directly from the garden, satisfying new consumer trends since, as the data shows1, two out of three Spaniards are willing to make decisions consumption for reasons of sustainability. In fact, among the most purchased organic or sustainable products in the last year, food products stand out, representing 59% organic fruit and vegetables.
2022 goals: Barcelona and Germany
Freshis, which is in the process of expansion, was created with its founders’ own capital and in the coming months it plans to expand it with a round of external financing.
As the second major milestone, after its launch in Madrid, the platform arrives in Barcelona this February. “Our plans always included arriving in Barcelona, our hometown, after having established ourselves in Madrid. We already have the facilities, the equipment and our fleet ready to start providing service in a few weeks” affirms Lluis Puig.
After the launch in Barcelona, the idea of its founders is to reach three German cities with Freshis in 2022: Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. The objective is to reach the figure of 6 million euros billed in this course and 15 million euros in 2023.
Currently, this startup is the only Q-commerce in the entire national territory that offers a direct product ‘from the field to the table’ in less than an hour from when the customer requests it. “We are able to send a fruit or vegetable in less than 18 hours from the cutting of the plant or the harvest, reducing the current supply chain, which is a minimum of 4 days, and thus ensuring a product of the highest quality” , affirms Lluis Puig.
With the aim of caring for both customers and producers, Freshis orders are distributed in ecological and/or returnable packaging and the distribution is carried out with its own fleet of 100% electric vehicles, thus reducing CO2 emissions and , therefore, the carbon footprint of each product. The ultimate goal is to eliminate unnecessary third processes from the distribution chain so that customers can enjoy the best quality fruits and vegetables quickly, conveniently, sustainably and healthily.
The platform already has more than 3,000 registered customers who regularly purchase these fresh products with Freshis. In the words of Pablo Engelmann, “we want to be ‘the Netflix of fruit and vegetables’ and that is why we offer a service 100% adapted to the needs of the consumer: we collect the preferences and tastes of the client through an algorithm specifically designed for it and, In this way, we can directly understand what interests you most to facilitate the purchase when you return to access our website”.
a positive impact
Freshis has a network of more than 30 local and national producers that supply the platform with products that can be grown in the area close to each city where it is present. This Q-commerce represents a marketplace for farmers who, to be selected as suppliers, must meet certain requirements such as being independent or specialized in a specific product, since Freshis only has one producer for each type of fruit or vegetable. In addition, they must be farmers committed to social, economic and environmental sustainability and possess the best cultivation and maturation techniques to ensure the flavor and health of the food.
In the words of the CEO of the company, “we have a high level of demand for the product and that allows us to have a very close relationship with the farmers, establishing, together with them, a fixed price for the purchase of their food for all the year, which we keep unchanged regardless of seasonality, so that it never harms the consumer or them.This way we ensure that farmers receive a fair price for their work and that, in addition, they have room to reinvest in innovation and in the improvement of their products.
The founders of the startup estimate that, with the Freshis model, producers can increase their profits by 30% compared to the traditional sales model, since the platform pays between 10 and 20 cents more per kilogram than, for example, the hypermarkets and supermarkets.
Ultimately, Freshis’ philosophy is based on having personal and economic relationships that are ethical and fair with both producers and consumers in order to have a net positive impact in the world.
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