The founders of social enterprise Good & Fugly have departed the business suddenly after five years, with OzHarvest Ventures and chef Matt Moran looking to give the “ugly” fruit and vegetables subscription service a second life.
Cofounders Richard Tourino and Jonathan Englert announced that the Sydney startup had “ceased trading under our leadership, effective immediately” on Tuesday.
“This was not a decision made lightly. From the very first box we packed, our goal was clear: to fight food waste, support Aussie farmers, and prove that purpose-driven businesses could thrive by embracing what others overlooked — the wonky, the twisty, the “fugly” fruit and veg that still had so much to give,” the duo wrote.
“But like many startups and small businesses, in an environment with extreme rising costs of operations and investment uncertainty, we faced challenges that became too great to overcome. Despite our best efforts to find solutions to continue, the time came to make the difficult decision to close this chapter.”
Good & Fugly founder Richard Tourino
Founded in 2020, the startup raised $528,628 at a pre-money valuation of $13.5 million in a Birchal crowdfunding campaign in 2022, and 12 months ago, $217,089. All up more than 800 people invested.
A key problem they set out to solve is the fact that a quarter of produce, while perfectly edible, never leaves farms because it’s not “pretty” enough.
That produce is offered in four box options – from school and small to large and corporate – for between $50 and $80.
When the May 2024 crowdfunding campaign launched, they’d sold 100,000 boxes in the previous two years and saved nearly 1 million tonnes of food from landfill.
OzHarvest Ventures is the social enterprise arm of pioneering Sydney food rescue charity OzHarvest, who’s teamed up with chef Matt Moran, who runs more than a dozen restaurants in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, including Opera Bar, Aria, Chiswick, Barangaroo House and the Art Gallery of NSW restaurant.
Like Good & Fugly, OzHarvest is dedicated to fighting food waste.
While Tourino’s statement said the new owners “are not taking on the business or our operations”, Moran told Startup Daily that they’re currently assessing the state of the Good & Fugly brand and hope to resume sales in NSW in the coming weeks as “OzHarvest Ventures and Matt Moran presents Good & Fugly 2.0“.
“I’m passionate about backing Aussie farmers and reducing food waste, that’s what drew me to Good & Fugly in the first place,” he said.
“I’m proud to be joining forces with OzHarvest Ventures to give this mission a second chance and build on what the founders started. There’s more to come. Stay tuned.”
Tourino said: “We are genuinely grateful that the spirit of Good & Fugly and the brand we love so much, will live on — in new hands, with new leadership, and new ideas. We’ll be supporting them and cheering them on as they reimagine the next chapter.”
OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn, currently in Poland at sustainable cities conference Urban Future, said the new business will operate independently from the former company, and the deal was an asset transfer rather than a company acquisition.
“We are saddened by the closure of the Good & Fugly business, and respect the commitment of Good & Fugly’s founders to its original mission,” she said,
“We have always believed in the idea behind Good & Fugly and as a result, we are thrilled to be giving it a second chance that aligns with our values and mission.
“We’ve always believed in second chances. We’ve done that by rescuing quality surplus food and nourishing people for more than 20 years.”
You can sign up for when things kick off at Good & Fugly 2.0 here.
