/Ending Food Waste with Phood
Interview with the Luc Dang, founder and CEO of Phood
Tell us about Phood. What do you do?
Phood helps commercial-scale food businesses stop food waste before it starts. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so Phood makes measuring easy and nearly contactless. Using computer vision and AI-driven software to track and analyze food waste, Phood provides actionable data insights to help operators make more conscious purchasing decisions and cut their waste in half. The social and environmental reasons to address food waste are urgent, and food businesses have a real economic incentive to do something about it.
What is Phood’s origin story?
Phood was founded in 2015 when I came across an article headlined, “40% of all food is wasted.” I honestly didn’t believe it. The article went on to say how higher education dining halls were a huge culprit, so I called up my alma maters to see how they measured up to what I was reading.
I soon learned that they didn’t measure, and that was the problem. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so when food is coming in and out of
The saying goes, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” so I immediately thought, what if we came up with a solution that tackled this waste, saved these companies money and reduced their carbon footprints. The solution was there — measure the waste.
I realized that in order to make the impact that we truly need, we had to start at the top — the top of the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy and the top of the industry. We built and created a product that is impact-driven, with the power of it sitting at the intersection of environmental sustainability and smart business.
From there, Phood was born.
Had you been involved in the industry before this startup? What is your background?
I grew up really close to the food supply chain without realizing it. I lived on a farm in rural Connecticut with rescued wild mustangs, chickens, goats, gardens…you name it. My mom and I would sell our leftover eggs and surplus produce to the local farmer’s market and compost our scraps, throwing things out was never an option.
However, after graduating college and working in the corporate world, I quickly realized they didn’t share the same ethos. I was doing a lot of work, but it didn’t seem meaningful or fulfilling, when one day I came across the article that read “40% of food produced never meets the consumer,” and from there, I was hooked.
I got obsessed with the food waste problem. I read everything I could get my hands on, snuck into restaurants to interview chefs (while occasionally getting kicked out), and attended as many sustainability events as I could.
I soon recognized this space that had so much potential to grow and change, so I redirected my career trajectory and put all my energy into discovering a solution.
Take us through a day in your life. What does the typical day look like?
I wake up at 6:45 every morning and start my day with morning exercises, whether that be aerobics, strength training or even just getting outside for a walk around the block. I’ve found that starting each day with those 30 minutes helps me stay calm, relaxed and less stressed overall.
Afterward, I spend 15 minutes mapping out my day, reviewing meetings and ensuring that I’m prepared for what’s to come. Then, I dive into my email, spending several hours “digging” out of that email nightmare. I usually filter and sort by priority and quick responses.
Everyday my team has “Daily Standup,” which is essentially a check-in to identify progress, and more importantly, any blockers. I think that meeting with the team everyday is a really integral and important part of our business to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
The rest of my day is filled with either 1:1 meetings with team members, project meetings or investor calls.
What has been the most challenging part of growing your company?
COVID-19 brought challenges investment-wise. In the beginning of the pandemic, there was so much uncertainty and investors were very wary of where they would be willing to put their money. However, as businesses start to build back from their losses, why not build back better? Our company was primed for this very moment and investors are now recognizing the impact and importance of investing in social responsibility.
What has been your best marketing channel? What are some channels you are looking to explore next?
Our company has primarily utilized social media, such as LinkedIn for marketing. It’s been a great way to connect with industry professionals and potential customers. More recently, we’ve been gaining traction in the media, and with that has come great in-bound marketing. We’re currently exploring Google Ads/Analytics, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and email marketing.
What apps do you use that you would recommend to others?
Our company primarily uses Slack to communicate on a daily basis.. For meetings and collaboration on documents within the team, we use G-Suite. Mixmax is another great tool we use to schedule emails, see open rates and views, and store and save templates. To send materials to customers, investors and partners, we use DocSend. Some other tools our team utilizes that I would recommend are LinkedIn Premium and Pitchbook.
Do you have a book, podcast, or Youtube channel you would recommend to other Entrepreneurs?
I’d recommend the book, To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink.
What are your short-term and long-term goals for your company?
At the moment, our company’s short-term goal is to close this round of funding. However, long-term, we really hope we can educate consumers and corporations on the issue of food waste as a meaningful and impactful climate change objective, while also giving them a feasible solution. Our product helps businesses save money, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce labor. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and our company is urging food businesses to start measuring their waste so they can better manage it. We want to help fix the logistical issue of food supply chains by providing actionable data insights to businesses that help inform their decisions.
If you could go back in time to the day you founded your company, what advice would you give yourself?
It’s better to be wrong. Most startup founders are used to being right. They’re smart men and women that are usually at the top of their class or space. But it’s OK to be wrong, even better in my opinion. It provides the opportunity to learn something. If you’re always right, you never really learn or grow. Entrepreneurship is about fostering new ideas, collaboration and building something better together and as an entrepreneur, and more importantly a leader, it’s important to always have a growth mindset.
