Lean Canvas Design Thinking
Problem
Food waste post-harvest, largely
due to oversupply or harsh
cosmetic standards set by
supermarkets. This has serious
negative environmental impacts
and also causes income loss for
farmers.
As it stands, there are a limited
number of charitable organisations
that rescue this perfectly edible
produce and redistribute it.
However, they only provide to a
small population, meaning they
only rescue a small amount of food
waste.
Existing alternatives-
Organisations that collect surplus
produce and redistribute to
vulnerable groups:
-Foodbank
-OzHarvest
-FareShare
Proposed solution
A subscription box of imperfect
looking but perfect tasting fruit
and vegetables. This box
includes all the produce that
didn’t meet the standards to be
sold commercially but still hold
all the nutritional value of
regular supermarket level
produce. Curvy carrots, wonky
cucumbers, small apples, short
bananas, tall celery – they all
belong in the box not the bin.
Key Metrics
(Success Indicators)
-Sales
-Google Analytics
-Advertisement interest
-Social media following to track
engagement
Unique Value Proposition
A concept that is very trending is meal
kit subscription boxes: consumers are
loving the ease of having groceries
delivered to their door without having
to think about it. One downside to this
convenience: it’s expensive. People
also don’t know where their produce
is coming from.
Our box is not a meal kit so there is no
direct comparison, however our box
provides the convenience (that
consumers clearly want) for a fraction
of the price. Our box allows
consumers to support local, reduce
food waste and feel the satisfaction of
doing their bit for the environment all
at once. What’s more? All this for a
ridiculously low price and all at the
click of a button? It’s a no brainer.
High level concept
This product/service has the
opportunity to redefine how
Australians purchase their fruit and
vegetables. It has the potential to
shake up consumer behaviour in
respect to less focus on what the
produce looks like. In turn, less
demand for perfect supermarket
produce may even lead to
supermarkets considering lowering
their high cosmetic standards which
10 STEA Innovations Class Lean Canvas Bec McKinney Shenton College
Unfair/ Advantage 2. Customer segment
Unlike existing alternatives, this -Households with both parents
box does not provide for vulnerable working (parents time poor)
groups. Instead, it is aimed at -Households with young children
Australians who regularly shop at (for ease of avoiding supermarkets
the supermarket for their fresh with young children)
produce. Although the current -Families (lots of people to feed)
existing alternatives have a -Young professionals (time poor as
commendable purpose, they reach focused on career)
a small population. I believe this -The elderly (for ease of delivery
product/service has the potential and the “hate waste” culture of
to reach thousands of people and that age group)
in turn the large demand would
require a large supply of produce to
be rescued from ending up as food Early adopters
waste.
I expect the initial users of the
product/service to be those who
Channels are social media savvy as this is
(Communication) where they will first see the
product/service advertised.
Social media is undoubtedly an
effective platform that is free and
easily accessible. It has the
potential to reach thousands and
build connections directly with
consumers. Paid advertising on
Instagram is also effective in that
you can select exactly the target
audience you want, and it is
relatively low cost.
Word of mouth is another
important channel for promoting
the business. This can be
incentivised through social media
 would be beneficial for both the
environment.
platforms by offering competitions
or discounts for those who upload
photos of the produce box and tag
us. This in itself is advertising:
putting the word out about our box
to their friends, who are of a similar
demographic, meaning they are
also likely to have an interest in our
business.

Potential costs Potential revenue streams

-Cost of produce from the growers -Sale of the boxes

-Rent -Partnerships with other companies
-Warehouse
-Refrigerators -Potential donation of some items (**not revenue but a reduced outgoing)
-Van hire (likely won’t have enough funding to purchase capital
while business is still young)
-Employees
-Delivery drivers
-Drivers to collect surplus produce from growers
-Website creation and ongoing maintenance
-Cost of supplies/stationery such as boxes, gel packs etc.
-Advertising
-Licenses and ongoing business costs such as accountant, lawyer etc.

10 STEA Innovations Class Lean Canvas Bec McKinney Shenton College