In early 2016, ’s life changed when she was struck by a mysterious illness and was unable to work or eat the foods she regularly enjoyed without intense pain. Three months later, she was diagnosed with : an autoimmune and lifelong gastrointestinal condition.
“But when I was sick, I had a lot of time to myself to spend with my own thoughts,” says Hong, who was then a general manager at , a nutritious meal company. “That meant I was coming up with all of these crazy ideas for businesses and pitching them to my family.”
One of Hong’s ideas was to develop a new app to help restaurants reduce food waste while enabling customers with health requirements – like herself – to pre-order meals at dining venues.
“We talk about food waste in food businesses all the time, but we aren’t really doing anything about it until after it occurs. [What I wanted to do] was solve pain points for consumers and restaurateurs or chefs, and as a consequence, reduce food waste in restaurants and tackle the problem before it happens.”
In late 2016, when Hong started to feel well again, she got to work developing her new business, . She's the company's CEO and founder.
, aims to connect participating restaurants with diners who have dietary needs, and want to pre-order and pre-pay for their meals.
The concept is that customer pre-payment prevents restaurant no-shows and pre-ordering gives chefs a better idea about the exact amount of ingredients they need for service, which in turn reduces food waste. Customers benefit by receiving the exact meal they want, prepared to the portion size they request, in the restaurant setting they desire.
As part of the Ufoodi program, chefs can also receive nutrition training to help them cook modified recipes for people with health needs and eating restraints.
The concept is that customer pre-payment prevents restaurant no-shows and pre-ordering gives chefs a better idea about the exact amount of ingredients they need for service, which in turn reduces food waste.
To date, over 2000 people and food businesses have subscribed to receive first access to the app when it goes live in November.
Ufoodi currently focuses on Sydney-based restaurants – from Sutherland to Parramatta and Manly. However, Hong says the app will launch in other places throughout Australia and the USA next year.
Rob Morales, an American chef with a Hispanic background who works at the Sydney-based chef-hire company , tells SBS he has already signed up.
“What will come in through this app is a reserve order for food,” says Morales. “The idea is that it won’t take any time out of my hands to receive this food order. It will be done for me.
“The other bonus of this app, from a chef’s point of view, is that the meals you create can be customised according to the food products you have in your kitchen. For example, a restaurant may have a lot of carrot tops or turnip greens that are not being used and are then thrown away. Yet, all of these [off-cuts] can be made into a dish that you can feature on the Ufoodi. I think people will respond very well to it once it’s live.”
We talk about food waste in food businesses all the time, but we aren’t really doing anything about it until after it occurs.
Hong explains that Ufoodi caters for many kinds of customers, from people who have medical requirements around what they can and can’t eat, to vegetarians and vegans and people on various weight-loss diets.
“There will be nutritionist-approved meals on the app, which adhere to most dietary protocols – so if you use it for a health purpose, you can have the comfort of knowing that the meal you want meets all the health parameters you have.”
Although the app will be free to download through the and , customers will pay a small fee every time they pre-order.
“This new service is really about finding the restaurants and meals to best suit you,” explains Hong. “It’s really a ‘one size fits all solution’ enabling people with all sorts of food requirements and health issues to eat out. And, at the same time, by pre-ordering your meals, you get to do some good and reduce food waste at restaurants.”
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