The only thing better than food is having food sent to you automatically so you don’t have to think about it. Avocado is a new online food delivery service straight to your door, in Luxembourg. In this Silicon Pitch interview, founder Kristina Rasmussen tells us the story of the launch of this subscription-based concept in Luxembourg and how she manages the day-to-day, from the recipes creation to the product delivery, the financing and the promotion of her startup at numerous events and online. A fresh and very inspiring interview!
What is the purpose of your concept?
With the concept of Avocado.lu I wish to spread a healthier and happier lifestyle to our community. We are all so busy and have little time to look after our health, an unfortunately we often grab for easy solutions for food. Avocado.lu helps establish a healthy eating routine which can easily be integrated into the busy lives of our customers.
What is your product?
We offer recipes and all organic ingredients to cook your own meals at home. The boxes are delivered once a week and come in various sizes and themes. All the customer needs to do is choose the recipe he wishes to cook, assemble the ingredients from the box and follow the easy instructions on the recipe. We offer various boxes for different nutritional needs. Examples are The Classic Box with meat, fish, vegetables, dairy and whole wheat or spelt products. We have a Vegan Box, a Vegetarian box, a Low Carb Box the latter which is without any grains and dairy.
What is your business model?
The services are subscription based. But always with the customer in mind. You can choose single purchase, once a week or every two weeks. And the subscription are flexible to be paused and cancel by the client any time. Payments are automatic and since the payment is done before we order produce from our suppliers it is a low risk for us. We are sure only to buy what we need to fill the orders we have received. This is good for the business model and for the environment since we have very little left over food.
How do you differentiate from your competitors?
We are very focused on the customer. We offer a service for our customers and we wish to learn and grow with them. We are building a community of health conscious people who have common values. This promotes a very loyal clientele and a strong bond from which both clients and we can learn a lot from each other. I don’t think this is seen in a lot of companies now a days.
How do you promote it?
Our sales are entirely online. This is why we tap into social media a lot. We have also had the fortune to receive a lot of interest from the local media which has enables us to be featured in various articles. But what we love the most is to talk to people first hand. Its just much more personal and just shows the customer or prospect that we are genuine. This aspect is especially important to us since we have no “physical” space which customers can visit. So we participate at various events. We will be at the Oekofoire this weekend (26-28.09) and at the lët’z go local the the Rotondes next weekend (4-5.10)
Who are your clients and how many do you currently have?
Our clients are very different on the outside and yet they share common underlying values. We have singles, couples and familes. All with different nutritional needs either because of conviction or health issues. But they all have the common goal that food is important. And not just any food, but food which is good for man and nature. Currently our sales are growing with approx. 10% each month which I am very pleased with.
On financing side, how did you finance the start? Are you looking funds at the moment?
All financing comes from personal funds. Launching a new business is a huge risk and even by planning an estimating, you can just never be sure how it will turn out. We are currently not needing any outside funds, but I am of course open to anyone who is interested in investing their time, knowledge or money into the Avocado.lu concept.
What is your news?
We constantly evolve with the needy of our clients and we listen and learn from their feedback. This has led to various changes in our boxes lately. Next week is the first week that we will offer a Healthy snacks box which contains all you need to keep you going during the long school or work hours. Also our Low Carb Box has its debut next week. I am personally really looking forward to the response of these new items. And don’t forget to visit us at the Oekofoire this weekend!
More info on www.avocado.lu
