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Brisbane food rescue company Funky Food has partnered with Sydney artisan bakery Sonoma to deliver cosmetically imperfect sourdoughs, rolls and specialty loaves to households across South-East Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne, extending its rescued-produce model beyond fruit and vegetables for the first time.
The partnership comes as Australian households grapple with rising grocery costs and the country wastes an estimated $36.6 billion worth of food annually, or about 1.4 per cent of GDP, with around 456 million loaves of bread thrown away each year.
Funky Food operates a subscription box service that delivers produce rejected by major retailers for cosmetic reasons, claiming savings of up to 30 per cent compared with supermarket prices.
Since launching, the company says it has delivered more than 657,000 boxes and rescued close to 7.9 million kilograms of food that would otherwise have gone to waste.
Funky Food was founded in in 2022 by Kamran Kasaei-Nejad, an Iranian-Australian entrepreneur who started the business initially to combat the rejection of natural produce by supermarkets and provide an environmentally conscious option for consumers.
The addition of Sonoma's artisan bread marks a significant expansion of the model.
Sonoma, founded in Sydney's inner west, produces handcrafted sourdough and specialty loaves that by nature vary in shape and appearance from batch to batch.
"Every loaf is handcrafted, and sometimes that means one might not look exactly how we intended," says Sonoma general manager Aine Doran.
"But inside, it's every bit as delicious. So, partnering with Funky Food means those incredible loaves don't go to waste.
"Instead, they go straight onto family tables where they're appreciated exactly as they should be."
Funky Food CEO Noah Pratt says the move into bakery products is a natural fit given the scale of bread waste nationally.
"This partnership was a no-brainer," he says.
"We've rescued millions of kilograms of fruit and vegetables over the past few years, and adding artisan bread means we're saving even more incredible food from unnecessary waste.
"Families are feeling the pinch right now. If we can help people save money, support Australian producers and stop great food ending up in landfill, that's a pretty good day's work."
The average Australian household wastes about four kilograms of food per week, costing an estimated $3,000 per year, according to Funky Food.
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