Volcanic Veggies

Every year, over 2.6 billion pounds of vegetables rot in the fields, because farmers do not have viable markets for imperfect produce. This is the tip of the iceberg regarding food waste, and yet there are still over 13.8 million food insecure households in America.

To solve these problems, I am starting Volcanic Veggies, which offers a range of healthy freeze-dried snacks sourced from local farms with excess produce. Our flagship product is a line of spicy zucchini sticks that will be sold at corner stores in food insecure areas. Freeze-drying perishable produce enables us to use food waste to address food insecurity.

Volcanic Veggie’s target market are the 114 million American households that recently purchased salty snacks, including the 12.4 million that are food insecure.

Our competitors are packaged snacks, like Flaming Hot Cheetos and Red Hot Riplets.  While delicious, these items are not nutritious. Our line of snacks are equally as tasty, but they also offer the same nutritional value of fresh vegetables.

Salty snacks account for over $1.1 billion in annual consumer spending.  At only ½ of a percent of market share, we can sell 7.4 million units at $0.75 each to generate a net revenue of $1 million with this single product line.

This could divert 5 million pounds of food waste annually and influence healthier diets for millions of food insecure families.

Join Volcanic Veggies to simultaneously tackle food insecurity and food waste.