Every year 11% of French agricultural production of fruit and vegetables is wasted, i.e., 1.3 million tonnes of produce. To address this issue, Thibault Kibler, a 2019 graduate of ITEEM, decided to co-create Atypique in March 2021. By offering a second life to downgraded fruit and vegetables, the young start-up aspires to be the French reference wholesaler that aims to better remunerate French producers and fight against food waste.
By offering a responsive service between suppliers (farmers, cooperatives, producers’ companies, etc.) and buyers (supermarkets, restaurants, specialised shops, etc.), Atypique enables customers to benefit from competitive prices while supporting French agriculture. Currently in the start-up phase, their ambitious project is receiving a growing interest in their downgraded products: small and large sizes, aesthetic or shape defects, harvest surplus.
Located in the Lyon region, the Atypique start-up has saved more than 60 tonnes of fruit and vegetables since its launch. Despite the obstacles and difficulties of working with these products (perishability, unstable crops, and rapid sales) associated with the problem of buying small volumes, Atypique is developing and plans to set up a replica of their warehouse in major cities. At the same time, Atypique is developing its digital axis and will soon be offering a more sophisticated version of their mobile application to optimise the flow of information with producers.
The two experts with complementary backgrounds share a common vision and entrepreneurial spirit. Thibault says: “For us, the strength of the project is to work in complete transparency, to have the same strategy and vision of entrepreneurship, to get to know each other, to be enriched by our engineering cultures and our own experiences, to divide up the missions according to our knowledge, while having a common goal: to save as much fruit and vegetables as possible.”