Anti-food waste start-up to expand after €140,000 crowdfunder

A Brussels start-up that distributes unsold supermarket produce to the city's most vulnerable residents has raised €140,000 in just three weeks.

Launched last year, Happy Hours Market wants to stop supermarkets throwing out perfectly edible food - such as fruit, vegetables, bread, meat and dairy produce.

The organisation already works with several Carrefour Market franchisees around Brussels, picking up unsold produce just before closing time each night.

The food is sold to the general public at half price, between 19.30 and 21.00, via an app and website, to be picked up that same evening at a designated collection point, currently in Ixelles. Anything left is donated to charities, including homeless shelters and food banks.

The €140,000 crowdfunder will enable Happy Hours Market to expand its activities to all of Brussels' 19 municipalities, with the recruitment of 14 extra staff by the end of this year.

"In just nine months of existence, we have saved more than 20,000 products about to be thrown away and redistributed them free of charge," said co-founder Ludovic Libert.

The estimated value of the donated food so far is €90,000 - about two tonnes of food per month.