Introducing Earth & Wheat — the world's first ‘wonky’ bread subscription service. With a mission to reduce food waste by saving fresh goods which would have otherwise been thrown away because of their odd size or ‘wonky' appearance. Earth & Wheat rescues bread, fruit & veg, and more, and delivers it directly to subscribers’ doors for an affordable price.
Earth & Wheat was founded by entrepreneur James Eid in March 2021, initially to combat the massive amount of waste in the baking industry. Starting with baked goods like pancakes, crumpets, tortilla wraps, flatbreads, and naan breads, originally sourced from his family’s company, Signature Flatbreads, Earth & Wheat have since expanded into fresh produce and beyond.
“The amount of food that is wasted in the baking industry is eye watering, which is exactly why we founded Earth & Wheat — to redistribute wonky, yet perfectly delicious bread. We have now partnered with different industry suppliers and have a rapidly growing range, including fresh vegetables and more.”
With the global cost of living rising faster than James’ loaves, one would think that at this stage, any food waste at all would be a thing of the past. As the first food waste reduction solution to solve the problem straight at the source, Earth & Wheat hasn’t just entered the market, they’ve created one entirely.
“16% of all food is wasted at the point of production, and it’s this invisible waste that Earth & Wheat is fighting to reduce to help save the planet. While no business has tried to rescue ‘wonky’ bread before, what makes us stand out is that we source products directly at the point of production which is delivered directly by the supplier, meaning our food is fresher than that at the shops, despite its wonky appearance.”
For Earth & Wheat, the decision to implement a subscription-based delivery model felt natural. Not only would this allow them to prove to suppliers that there was a real demand for wonky products, but it also gave customers greater convenience — fresh produce delivered without hassle!
“Our flexible subscription delivery model, available 5 days a week for most products, allows our wonky warriors to receive their boxes at a regular time that suits them, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.”
While the wonky concept wasn’t completely new, Earth & Wheat were the first that have pulled it off with such an emphasis on freshness, and certainly the first to do it with bakery items.
“Having our fresh produce arrive exceptionally quickly after the day of rescuing is crucial for us — as a general concept, ensuring fresher food, with less waste, is key to what we do.”
Even if it wasn’t always easy, James and his team certainly always relished the challenge — with their enterprising challenge paying off significantly as the months have rolled on.
“All businesses have their own unique challenges, and when one is resolved another one will surely pop up. At Earth & Wheat, we like a challenge, and it was a great moment when we managed to find the perfect balance between freshness, being interesting, and getting things right for our planet.”
Earth & Wheat already tried several other platforms in the past, but nothing quite hit the mark like Subbly, which they saw as having everything their growing business needed.
“We believed Subbly would provide the right tools for our fast growing business — and since we started, we’ve noted that their customer support has been exceptional. They are flexible, and any issues we may encounter are viewed as a challenge worth overcoming – Subbly has a can-do attitude.”
Since switching to Subbly from an enterprise software platform that didn’t meet their needs, Earth & Wheat have invested time into exploring all of Subbly’s subscription-first features.
“Subbly has fantastic marketing features which they continue to improve, meaning customer acquisition will become increasingly efficient over time. Further, since Subbly is a platform powered by subscription, it has great features for maximizing customer lifetime value and reducing churn.”
Earth & Wheat is a fantastic example of a company that’s realized the potential of what happens when you combine a conceptually unique, financially sound, and wholly sustainable subscription business idea with a subscription-first platform that has all the features needed to bring it to life under one roof. Even with an additional layer of KPIs, Subbly and Earth & Wheat will evolve symbiotically, each providing what the other needs to continue raising the bar.
“We have many internal KPIs which will differ from platform-specific goals. Through Subbly, we aim to reduce churn, provided our product is right, by utilizing their many features which essentially heighten the customer experience.”