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Yopla, a startup promoting conscious food choices
Yopla gives us some food for tought in their fight on reducing food carbon foodprint. But how did this impact based climate organisation started? We sit down with Purvi and Oscar, the driving forces behind Yopla to learn more about their journey, their vision and their mission to promote conscious choices.
What drove you to begin a startup?
Purvi: Yopla's journey began at Tilburg University where I studied "strategic management" focused on sustainability. I came to the Netherlands because sustainability is extremely well regarded here. And I did find a wealth of data on sustainability, but to my surprise not much was actually being done with all that data. I myself come from a part of India where, for example, it is very natural to reuse everything. Most food comes without packaging and so on. That’s why I saw a lot of opportunities to integrate sustainability into life here!
What became your plan?
I wanted to use this unused data to make sustainable choices in the food service industry. As much as 30% of all greenhouse gases come from the food industry. Time to change that! We would like to make people aware of -sometimes unexpected- sustainable choices taking all the data into account. With my startup idea I won the Tilburg University Startup Challenge, which was quite a ‘big thing'. From here Yopla got really started. Further during the journey, I came in contact with Manisha and then later on Oscar, who joined hands with Yopla towards the same vision.
'As much as 30% of all greenhouse gases come from the food industry. Time to change that.'
Oscar, your focus is on entrepreneurship and innovation where sustainability plays a big role. How does Yopla contribute to a more conscious food industry?
Oscar: At Yopla, it's all about "K.I.S.S.” - Keep It Smart and Sustainable TM . We are introducing a climate label for food, specifically focused on food services. We rate food on global standards and give it a rating in 'pinecones'. Why pinecones? They have powerful meaning as seeds of wild trees. Yopla stands for "Your Plan for Your Planet" and uses AI to combine all the data and thus promote conscious choices without compromising on taste.
That sounds like a huge undertaking, how do you start something like that?
Purvi: We collect data on food and the entire supply chain, such as the origin of coffee beans, for example, through life-cycle analyses. Some data is available, but we also generate our own data. We work closely with food services at the business level and integrate our findings into their processes. This is how we arrive at a detailed measured sustainability index that we make accessible through our rating.
What does 'Level Up' mean for Yopla and what are your next steps to raise awareness?
Purvi: Startup event 'Level Up' was a fantastic opportunity to meet inspiring people, and we are glad we were invited by Braventure. Our next steps are to build a Dutch climate label and raise awareness. We want to show that small decisions, like choosing a Spanish tomato over a Dutch one, can collectively have a big impact on the environment.
'Startup event 'Level Up' was a fantastic opportunity to meet inspiring people'
Wait a minute, you have to explain that one. It's better to eat a Spanish tomato than a Dutch one?
Oscar: Yeah, that's pretty wild, right? But if you put all the data side by side, you see that growing tomatoes in Spain causes much less co2 emissions. So the journey that huge piles of tomatoes make to get here are less taxing than the tomatoes you grow here in greenhouses. We initially thought about expressing our rating in tomatoes because we think it's such a good example, but we liked pinecones even better.
How can interested foodservices contact you to collaborate?
Oscar: Foodservices interested in making sustainable choices can contact us at hello@yopla.io. We look forward to working together to make the world of food more sustainable by applying all that data. Or in the words of Purvi: “Let’s put sustainability on the Menu, collect pinecones and earn rewards.”