•  PimpUp collects bizarre fruits and vegetables from producers in the region, organic or in sustainable agriculture, at the National Interest Market in Montpellier.

  • “These are completely consumable products, as much as the others.

    There is no reason for us to do this sorting, ”assures Manon Pagnucco, the co-founder.

  • PimpUp delivers an average of 40 baskets each week, and 700 customers have trusted the small business since its inception.

Ten million tons. This is, according to a study by Ademe, the ecological transition agency, published in 2018, the number of foodstuffs lost or thrown away, each year in France, throughout the agro-food chain. Including many fruits and vegetables considered too ugly, which supermarkets do not want. In Montpellier (Hérault), Anaïs Lacombe and Manon Pagnucco wanted to act at the local level, to fight against this waste on a large scale.

"It is a part of the production which is considered too imperfect to be sold in traditional distribution channels, even though it is purely based on aesthetic criteria," explains Manon Pagnucco.

They are completely consumable products, as much as the others.

There is no reason that we do this sorting.

It is a total inconsistency of our time.

"These two young engineers created, last February, PimpUp: this small Montpellier company collects bizarre fruits and vegetables from producers in the region, organic or in sustainable agriculture, at the National Interest Market (Min) of the city .

"We show them exactly as they are"

"We buy them at an attractive cost, not at the same price as traditional products," continues the co-founder of PimpUp. But it's the producers who set their prices, and we align with them. Because they also have to find their way around. Those zucchini, carrots or pears can be twisted, but that can also be a matter of caliber. "Sometimes, these products will be too big or too small", for mass distribution, notes Manon Pagnucco. Or not quite the right color, or have a few spots. But there is no question, for these two entrepreneurs, of transforming these products into ready meals, as some do. "We show them exactly as they are, raw, as they are," notes Manon Pagnucco.

From these products, they make baskets, which they distribute at home, or in relay points in the area. They are offered between 15 and 30 euros, depending on their sizes. “They are designed so that we can cook for a week,” continues the entrepreneur. The small basket, for one or two people. The average basket, for two to three people. And the large one, for a family of four to five people. Today, PimpUp works with 32 producers. Including Marcia Gomez, farmer in Valergues. “I work with PimpUp, and another organization, to which I sell these second-best fruits and vegetables”, confides the producer. “It's very good, it makes it possible not to throw them away, because they are quite edible. And then that makes a little additional income. "

PimpUp delivers an average of 40 baskets each week, and 700 customers have trusted the small business since its inception.

To accelerate the development of their activity, Anaïs Lacombe and Manon Pagnucco have just hired a work-study employee.

Two other recruitments are planned.

And the two young women intend to export their concept elsewhere in France.

“First in the South, then across the country,” notes Manon Pagnucco.

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  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Fruits and vegetables

  • Agriculture

  • Montpellier

  • Planet

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