A former traveling salesman driving more than 3,000 miles each week, Farmer’s Fridge Founder and CEO Luke Saunders was frustrated with the lack of healthy, 24/7 options available on the road. Determined to solve this challenge, he built a high-tech smart Fridge that dispenses fresh meals within seconds. Despite facing initial doubts about customers ordering salad from a vending machine, Farmer’s Fridge has sold more than 5
million meals – changing the way Americans eat by providing convenient, affordable and healthy food.
Fast forward to today – you can now find hundreds of Fridges across the country in high-traffic locations, including airports, hospitals, office buildings, and college campuses. Each Fridge is stocked with chef-curated meals, running the gamut from layered salads, to hearty grain bowls, to breakfast dishes. Customers can enjoy healthful options including a Smoked Cheddar Cobb Salad, Burrito Bowl with fresh guacamole, or Almond Butter Oats Bowl – with nearly every item under $10. Farmer’s Fridge provides restaurant-quality food without the real estate, and can be placed virtually anywhere with an electrical outlet and 14 sq-ft of space.
The story begins well before the Fridge. Farmer’s Fridge sources the best possible ingredients for each menu item, and works with like-minded partners who share our values. Each meal is made from scratch and packed with care by our team. Over the last few years, Farmer’s Fridge has donated more than 400,000 meals to community members in need and to frontline workers throughout the pandemic. Working towards a zero food waste model, food scraps and meals that can’t be donated are composted.
Another key aspect of Farmer’s Fridge comes from the integration of proprietary technology. All Fridges are connected to a cloud network running algorithms on what food to produce, closely managing inventory and minimizing potential waste. Based on these advanced data models, the company prepares and delivers the right quantity and assortment of meals to each location. The smart Fridges also offer touchless pick-up through our mobile app and monitor the temperature of all items in the Fridge, ensuring food safety by locking access to any meals past their optimal date.
In 2020, we reached a pivotal moment as a company and quickly adapted our business model to address the changing environment.
Within two weeks of the shelter-in-place order in Chicago, Farmer’s Fridge built and launched a direct-to-consumer website allowing our customers to have meals delivered to their homes. This service is now available in 42 states and counting, significantly expanding the Farmer’s Fridge footprint nationwide.
Despite a tumultuous pandemic year, the growth didn’t stop there. Farmer’s Fridge launched in retail, partnering with Target, Jewel-Osco, a Chicago-based grocery chain, and instant-delivery service, GoPuff. Through an omnichannel approach spanning Fridge sites, direct-to-consumer home delivery and wholesale, we are making fresh, healthy food accessible, and fulfilling our mission of making it simple to eat well.
The bottom line: good health starts with what we eat, and eating healthy shouldn’t be hard. Farmer’s Fridge wants everyone to enjoy delicious, wholesome food that enriches their lives.
