Today, produce shopping has become about tapping, clicking, and scrolling through browsers in different hues of greens and reds for an experience of choice but also less contact.
Direct-to-consumer startup Future Fresh takes it all the way back into the supply chain. Maintaining their own indoor farms, they are able to offer an exclusive assortment focused on non-native plants with unique flavors. Co-founder Derya Tanghe lists their produce with a sense of ownership. “So, we have products that people may not be familiar with including our arugula, our type of baby kale, our type of spinach, and especially our type of microgreens,” he told CNN Philippines Life on a call.
Future Fresh, which is operated and run by a multidisciplinary team of agronomists, farmers, and business leads, wants to reimagine next-generation farming in Southeast Asia. “If the Philippines doesn’t have that much arable land left and Manila’s got like 22 million people, how will you be able to feed them good quality produce for years to come?” Tanghe said.
Future Fresh grows its signature varieties year-round in a dense part of Quezon City. To eliminate produce wastage, their team summarizes orders and cuts only what they need on the day of delivery, preserving maximum freshness. They also take care to grow only what they need. Sometimes when you visit the website, some varieties are marked sold out. In case a customer orders something that has just run out, a customer service representative will send a message to figure out a swap that’s close in price or flavor, and to make sure someone is around to receive the order, packed and sealed in reusable ziplock bags that allow it to keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Read more at CNN Philippines (J. Suazo)