Oddbox is celebrating a decade of tackling food waste, having grown from delivering fruit and veg boxes out of a car in south London to covering 70 per cent of the UK.

The surplus produce specialist was founded in 2016 by Emilie Vanpoperinghe and Deepak Ravindran after the pair encountered a misshapen but flavoursome tomato while on holiday in Portugal.

Initially launched as Tasty Misfits, the business began by delivering boxes to just 20 customers in Balham before expanding across the capital and into other parts of the UK.

Over the past decade, Oddbox has delivered more than 11.5 million boxes to over 574,000 households and rescued more than 140 varieties of fruit and vegetables that might otherwise have gone to waste.

The company says it has now rescued more than 67,000 tonnes of fruit and veg and worked with around 110 growers in the UK and overseas.

Oddbox works directly with growers to source crops that are surplus to requirements or fall outside conventional retailer specifications because of their size, shape or appearance.

Co-founder and chief executive Vanpoperinghe said the business had grown “beyond anything we imagined”, while retaining the community-led approach that characterised its early days.

She recalled packing the company’s first boxes in a church hall near the founders’ home in Balham and exchanging fruit and vegetables for use of the space.

Oddbox has expanded beyond its original subscription-box model in recent years.

In October 2024, it launched its Pick Your Own feature, allowing shoppers to swap products within their weekly boxes.

It followed this with the launch of The Market in 2025, an online add-on service selling products including loose refillables, jars, tins and rescued food alongside customers’ fruit and vegetable deliveries.

The Market saved 260kg of plastic during its first year, according to the business.

Oddbox also redistributes surplus produce through charities including FareShare, KIND and City Harvest.

It donated 146 tonnes of food to City Harvest during 2025, helping the charity redistribute surplus produce to people across London.

The company’s anniversary comes as increasingly volatile weather creates fresh challenges for growers and the wider grocery supply chain.

Oddbox said it rescued 10 per cent more produce between January and July 2026 as heatwaves led to higher levels of crop rejection.

During this summer’s hot weather, the business rescued 6,000 heads of sunburnt cauliflower in a single week after the produce failed to meet conventional retailer specifications.

Earlier this year, growers supplying Oddbox were also hit by freezing temperatures, flooding and storms, with some Lincolnshire producers losing up to 20 per cent of their cauliflower crops to frost damage.

The changing climate has highlighted the role of alternative routes to market for growers faced with crops that remain edible but may no longer meet supermarket specifications.

Oddbox said its model provides producers with a flexible secondary market while paying fair prices for crops that could otherwise be left in fields, diverted to animal feed or sold at significantly lower values.

The company has continued to broaden its offer as it enters its second decade, including launching its first dedicated mobile app earlier this month to make managing boxes and orders easier for customers.

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