Copia CEO Komal Ahmad: Waste less, feed more
Summary
TLDRKomal Amith, CEO of Copia, addresses the issue of excess food waste at events and its potential to feed the hungry. She shares her journey from a Berkeley student to founding Copia, a platform that connects businesses with excess food to nonprofits in need. Copia's technology efficiently matches donors with recipients, leveraging partnerships with DoorDash and Postmates to reduce logistics costs. The service not only combats hunger but also provides tax benefits for businesses, promoting a sustainable solution to food waste.
Takeaways
- 🍽️ Komal Amith, the founder and CEO of Copia, is addressing the issue of excess food waste at events and its potential to feed those in need.
- 👏 The JW Marriott culinary staff and the Green Best team are praised for providing over a thousand meals through their partnership with Copia.
- 🌱 Komal's inspiration to tackle food waste came from a personal encounter with a hungry veteran while food was being wasted nearby.
- 📊 In America, over 365 million pounds of edible food is wasted daily, which has significant economic and environmental impacts.
- 🇺🇸 The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 protects donors from liability, encouraging food donations but misinformation persists.
- 🚚 Copia operates a virtual marketplace that matches businesses with excess food to nonprofits that need it, streamlining the donation process.
- 📱 Nonprofits create profiles on Copia's platform, specifying their food needs and logistics capabilities.
- 📈 Copia uses an algorithm to match donors' excess food with nearby nonprofits, dispatching drivers to pick up and deliver the food.
- 💼 Businesses benefit from Copia's service by reducing waste, saving on disposal costs, and gaining tax deductions for their donations.
- 🌐 Copia has partnered with DoorDash and Postmates, giving it access to 500,000 drivers across 4,000 cities for efficient food delivery.
- 📊 Copia provides businesses with real-time analytics on their donations' impact, including the number of people fed and environmental savings.
Q & A
What is the name of the company founded by Komal Amith?
-Komal Amith is the founder and CEO of Copia.
What is the main issue that Copia aims to address?
-Copia aims to address the issue of food waste by reducing it and solving hunger through an effective distribution system.
How does Copia reduce food waste at events like conferences and weddings?
-Copia reduces food waste by partnering with event organizers and donating excess food to those in need.
What is the significance of the Emerson Good Samaritan Act mentioned in the script?
-The Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects donors from liability when they donate food, which encourages food donation and reduces waste.
What was the initial challenge Komal faced when she started donating food from her college's dining hall?
-The initial challenge was the dining hall managers' concern about liability, which was later addressed by the Emerson Good Samaritan Act.
How does Copia's platform match donors with nonprofits?
-Copia's platform uses an algorithm to match the type and amount of excess food from donors to the nearest nonprofit that can use it at the required time.
What are some of the types of nonprofits that Copia works with?
-Copia works with a variety of nonprofits including after-school programs, domestic abuse shelters, senior citizen homes, and veterans agencies.
How does Copia ensure that the food donations are received quickly?
-Copia has partnered with food logistics companies like DoorDash and Postmates to ensure that food is picked up and delivered quickly, averaging less than 26 minutes.
What are the benefits for businesses that use Copia's service?
-Businesses benefit from Copia's service by receiving tax savings, reduced disposal costs, and the ability to track their impact on reducing hunger and food waste.
How does Copia use machine learning to help businesses reduce food waste?
-Copia uses machine learning to develop predictive analytics that help businesses understand why waste is happening and provide actionable insights to reduce over-purchasing and over-production.
What is one of the key goals Copia has set for itself?
-One of Copia's key goals is to feed four million people this year with food that would have otherwise been wasted.
Outlines
🌱 Introduction to Copia and Food Waste
Komal Amith, the founder and CEO of Copia, introduces herself and the company's mission to reduce food waste. She highlights the irony of excess food at events like conferences and weddings ending up in the trash while people go hungry. Komal shares her personal journey, starting with her encounter with a homeless veteran named John who had served in Iraq and was facing hunger due to delayed military benefits. This experience led her to recognize the broader issue of food waste, especially the fact that over 365 million pounds of edible food is wasted daily in America, costing businesses over $90 billion annually and contributing significantly to methane emissions. Komal also addresses the misconception of liability in food donations, citing the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996, which protects donors from liability, and notes the lack of lawsuits against donors in the past 24 years.
🚚 The Evolution of Copia's Food Recovery Model
Komal describes the early days of Copia, starting as a college campus initiative where students would pick up excess food from dining halls and events to redistribute to the community. She recounts a specific incident where she had to quickly collect 500 gourmet sandwiches and the challenges she faced in finding nonprofits that could use the food immediately. This experience led to the realization that a more efficient system was needed. Komal explains how Copia evolved to create a virtual marketplace that connects food donors with nonprofits in need. Nonprofits create profiles detailing their needs, and donors list their available food, which Copia's algorithm matches in real-time. The platform also provides drivers for food pickup and delivery, ensuring that the food reaches nonprofits quickly. Komal emphasizes the benefits for businesses, including tax savings and reduced disposal costs, and how Copia helps them track their impact.
📈 Scaling Copia's Impact with Technology and Partnerships
Komal discusses Copia's strategic shift to leverage existing logistics infrastructure by partnering with food logistics companies DoorDash and Postmates. This integration allows Copia to access a network of 500,000 drivers across 4,000 cities, significantly reducing the time it takes to move food from pickup to drop-off. She explains the financial incentives for businesses to donate food, including updated tax laws that offer enhanced deductions. Copia also provides real-time analytics to businesses, showing the impact of their donations in terms of people fed, methane offset, and water conservation. Komal mentions the use of machine learning for predictive analytics to help businesses reduce waste by understanding the causes of excess food. She concludes by sharing Copia's goal to feed four million people with food that would have otherwise been wasted, emphasizing the company's role in solving both hunger and food waste at scale.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Food Waste
💡Hunger
💡Logistics
💡Nonprofits
💡Tax Deduction
💡Algorithm
💡Machine Learning
💡Subscription Fee
💡Partnerships
💡Impact
Highlights
Komal Amith, CEO of Copia, discusses how her team is reducing food waste.
Copia has provided over a thousand meals through their partnership with JW Marriott.
Komal shares her personal journey from South Asian immigrant parents to solving world hunger.
The revelation of food waste came from witnessing a homeless veteran's hunger and nearby food disposal.
Komal highlights the staggering 365 million pounds of edible food wasted daily.
Food waste costs businesses over $90 billion annually and has a significant environmental impact.
Hunger is a logistics problem, not a scarcity issue, according to Komal.
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects donors from liability, yet many are unaware.
Copia's initial food recovery program started on a college campus with students.
Komal's frustration with inefficient food distribution led to the creation of Copia's virtual marketplace.
Nonprofits create profiles on Copia's platform to specify their food needs.
Copia's algorithm matches excess food from donors with nearby nonprofits in real-time.
Copia partners with DoorDash and Postmates to utilize their logistics infrastructure.
Food moves from pickup to drop-off in an average of 26 minutes thanks to the partnership.
Businesses benefit from tax savings and reduced disposal costs by using Copia.
Copia provides real-time analytics to businesses on the impact of their food donations.
Copia aims to feed four million people this year with food that would have been wasted.
Transcripts
good morning
so before I get my name is Komal Amith I
am the founder and CEO of copia and
before I began I'd love to see a quick
show of hands how many of you have
attended a conference a wedding had a
lunch at Google and wondered what
happens to all of this excess food this
is the bride pack it up and take it on
our honeymoon
does it just magically disappear
unfortunately in most cases this
perfectly edible food ends up in the
trash and so I'm here to share how my
team and I are changing that reality how
we're dramatically reducing food waste
to solve the world's dumbest problem and
before I continue I want to give a big
round of applause to the JW Marriott
culinary staff to the green best team
for living their values out loud over
the course of the three events that
we've done with them they've already
provided over a thousand meals and
yesterday I think that Eric mentioned we
provided over 560 meals and one of the
nonprofit's was like I have never had
such amazing chicken it's like such a
bougie food I was like yes you know
that's what's incredible about its
incredible food that we all consumed
that would have otherwise been wasted
was repurposed to feed those in need and
candidly I wasn't actually supposed to
be here you know as the daughter of
South Asian immigrant parents I had four
very distinct career options laid out
for me from an early age doctor lawyer
engineer or a complete failure
well I always want to be Bollywood
actress as you'll come to find I ended
up doing something far more realistic
like solving world hunger and my journey
began a few years ago when I was a
student at Berkeley and I was walking
down Telegraph Avenue when I encountered
a homeless man who was begging for food
you know something about him really
compelled me to stop and invite him to
join me for lunch and during lunch he
sat across from me just like you are
wolfing down his food so he was
unbelievably hungry it wasn't a ploy for
anything else and in between bites he
shared a story he said my name is John I
just came back for my second tour in
Iraq
I've been waiting weeks for my military
benefits to kick in
and because they haven't you know I
haven't eaten in three days and that's
really an old for me this is a veteran
someone would give the most selfless
sacrifice for our country only to come
home to face yet another battle that of
hunger and then adding insult to injury
right across the street
Berkeley's dining hall is throwing away
thousands of pounds of perfectly edible
food and it was a stark reality of those
who have and waste and those who are in
need and starve and those two people
right across the street from one another
and what I realized that this is
emblematic of a much larger problem and
that's that we waste over 365 million
pounds of perfectly edible food every
day and to wrap your head around that
number if you imagine the world's
largest football stadium filled to its
absolute brim not with last night's Pad
Thai or this morning's half Inca saw but
untouched unopened perfectly edible food
that's how much food goes wasted every
single day at America and this costs us
businesses over 90 billion dollars every
year and if food waste were a country it
would be the third largest emitter of
methane after the US and China so
there's a massive economic cost there's
a huge environmental impact not to
mention in some of the wealthiest cities
in America
one in four don't know where their next
meal is coming from so clearly it's not
a lack of food that's the issue rather
an ineffective distribution of that food
meaning that hunger is not a spear City
problem it's a logistics problem and
food waste we found out is also a
logistics problem and that's the
logistics problem we become laser
focused on solving and so you know right
after I met with John the veteran I
marched up to our dining hall managers
and I said you know what do you do with
your excess food they said well we try
not to have any and I said well how
often does that work out for you and
after a lot of pushing and prodding they
admitted that they do have excess food
but they have to throw it away and so I
said well why would you throw it away
when you could go right across the
street to people in people's Park and
donate it and they said because of
liability we don't do that I was like
yeah you know homeless people's
high-powered attorneys are standing by
just to see you like home I can't afford
a hamburger but somehow we can afford a
litigator and more than that you were
going to sell this food to us ten
minutes ago at full price so you're
telling me ten minutes
was good enough for Berkeley students
and now ten minutes later it's not good
enough to feed people who are in need
like right across the street where's the
logic here and I was going to accept
this answer so I did my own research and
I discovered that in 1996 Congress
passed what is called the bill Emerson
Good Samaritan Act and it protects all
donors regardless with your corporation
organization or individual from any
liability and get this in the last 24
years the number of lawsuits or legal
claims that have been filed against any
business or individual has been zero but
everybody in their mother has like a
second cousin twice removed uncle's
hotel that shut down because they
donated food when in fact that never
happened and so I print this out I
demand a meeting this time with the
executive director of our dining hall
and I say I want to start this donation
program this is the right thing to do
here's all the protection I have a
pretty persuasive when I need to be and
so in less than tenements need read and
we went off to start one of the nation's
first food recovery organizations on a
college campus which was essentially
students picking up food from our dining
halls or on-campus events or stadium
arena and then repurposing it to the
community great start hugely inefficient
in a one day I'm sitting in class and
our dining hall manager calls and he's
like hey Komal you know no one came to
this event so we have 500 gourmet
sandwiches left over they need to be
picked up in two hours otherwise we're
gonna have to throw them away because we
need the fridge space so do you want
them like yeah I want them he's like
great come get it you have two hours
mind you I'm still sitting in class and
so I grabbed my bag I dashed across
campus they jump into a Zipcar I go
through all these one-way streets up to
our loading dock and I began loading
this food into the trunk of my car and
it's perishable food right so it's a
move as quickly as possible and so I'm
blasting the AC while I frantically
tried to get these there which is in the
trunk and I finally do it I slam the
trunk now thank god this is amazing food
of course there's gonna be nonprofits
that want it and so then I proceeded to
call 30-plus nonprofits in Berkeley in
Oakland even as far as Richmond I'm like
hey I have this amazing food could use
it
hey I 500 gourmet sandwiches do you need
them a third of them don't answer the
phone a third of them say no we're okay
we don't need any more food today and
the last third of like actually you know
what
you can use 10 sandwiches there 15
sandwiches I'm not great
I have 485 sandwiches and I swear I was
summoning my inner South Asian grandma
kay you you look so skinny take this
food they get it eat it it's like a
random people on the street
I remember being pulled over the road so
frustrated why is it so hard to do a
good thing now why is it so hard to do
the right thing and while these are
gonna be black I said one in four were
where are they when I have this amazing
food to give them and it was this
frustration that was essentially the
birth of my inspiration I thought how
much more effective how much more
efficient this whole process would be if
those who have food could say hey we
have food and those that need a food
could say hey we can use that food and
we matched these two people clear the
marketplace and solve a real problem for
both of them so search is like a
match.com for sandwiches that's what we
went off to build fortunately something
far more sophisticated and so we started
with the nonprofit's some nonprofits
they create profiles on our platform
they'll say this is who we are this is
what we're looking for kind of like
dating profiles except they don't lie to
us about how many times they go to the
gym um they'll say we want prepared
package ready to go food because we
don't have a kitchen or we want uncooked
meat uncooked produce because we have to
cook everything house all right because
I'm from San Francisco and people are
super fancy they're like I want
gluten-free vegan food of course you do
they'll think this is what our
refrigeration capacity is this is what
our freezer capacity is this is the best
points of contact and to be clear like
our nonprofits are not just homeless
shelters they are after-school programs
for underprivileged youth domestic abuse
shelters senior citizen homes veterans
agencies the whole gamut of 400
different from the types of nonprofits
across the country and so this
information has been stored in our
virtual marketplace and now the other
side is our donors and they're our
customers so they are food businesses
and businesses with food and I'll get
into that so our customers requests
pickups of their excess food they'll
tell us this is how much food we have
this is the type of food we needed
picked up by x time great either
geo-located and then this information is
sent to our virtual marketplace and it
kicks in our algorithm and our algorithm
will match this exact amount
and type of food to the nearest
nonprofit that could use it at that day
that time that quantity of food
it'll dispatch a driver nearly anywhere
in the United States to go pick up this
food and then on average less than 26
minutes a driver shows up picks up this
food takes it directly to the nonprofit
the nonprofit confirms receipt of the
foods they'll sign this automated
digitized tax deduction receipt so the
business gets to take advantage of the
tens of thousands to potentially
millions of dollars in tax savings and
then we'll also send them photos and
testimonials of the people that were fed
so you get to see the impact you made by
spending just a few minutes of your time
essentially going copia and so it's
technology to solve both hunger and food
waste at scale and so our customers are
innovative forward-thinking businesses
like Cisco Intel's The Cheesecake
Factory Whole Foods and they pay us a
monthly or annual subscription fee not
only because we're helping them do a
good thing for the community but because
we're helping them do the right thing
for their bottom line by helping them
save tens of thousands to millions of
dollars in tax savings and reduced
disposal costs and so we operate across
the country you know when I first
started off I was hiring retaining and
shirring emotionally supporting our own
drivers which is a very expensive costly
process that I do not recommend for any
early-stage sort of and the thinking was
you know why are we trying to start over
well why are we trying to build up our
while building copia why not piggyback
off of this pre-existing logistics
infrastructure that exists not only all
over the country but all over the world
and so that's what we've done we've
partnered with two of the largest food
logistics companies which are doordash
and post mates and we've done a web book
integration that allows us to tap into
500,000 drivers across 4,000 cities and
that's why on average the food moves
from point pickup to the point of
drop-off in 26 minutes and so we're now
geographically
a stick-like nationwide solution and why
do businesses pay for this so our
Congress updated the tax law in 2015
they it used to be that only see corpse
could get enhanced tax deductions now
it's s corpse and LLC's so all food
businesses it used to be that you could
only write off 10% of your net income
and now it's 15%
well that Delta of five specifically for
food donations let's say you're not
profitable or you've hit that
you can now carry that forward for five
additional years so it makes financial
sense for you do the right thing and
we're also providing you real-time
analytics of how many people did you
feed where did this food go
what was your methane offset how much
water was conserved and we help you
celebrate your impact we tell you where
was like your food is too good to be
wasted and we hope you celebrate that
you say you know you've committed
yourself defeating people and not
landfills and now we're also helping
businesses reduce their excess food by
using machine learning to develop
predictive analytics that help
businesses understand well why is this
waste happening is that the Indian food
station is that the Chinese food station
is that on Mondays they said on Fridays
is a raining outside so employees and
commute to work or fan sink go to a game
like what is driving this excess and
then giving them the actionable insights
they need to reduce over purchasing over
production altogether so again we are
solving both hunger and food waste at
scale and I'm also getting kicked off
the stage we're gonna feed four million
people this year with incredible foods I
would have otherwise been wasted which
is enough to fill up a football stadium
37 times over and if you think about
that the Cardinals can't even fill up
thanks I'm gonna just finish the
sentence if you think about that the
Cardinals can't even fill up one NFL
stadium and we can fill up 37 just
kidding guys Cardinal fans I am gonna
yield the rest of my time which I've out
of but thank you so much
[Music]
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