We recently connected with Jasmine Crowe and have shared our conversation below.

Jasmine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

Many companies are stuck in their ways and donate to the same giant food banks and organizations as opposed to taking a change on a startup that is making direct impact when it comes to food waste and food donation. In 2018 Goodr signed our first major client, Atlanta Airport and from there we saw an increase of trust from more businesses. We need more corporations to take a radical approach when it comes to making change.

Jasmine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Jasmine Crowe is an award-winning social entrepreneur, children’s book author, TED Speaker, and determined leader working to make the world a better place one cause at a time. In 2017, after years of feeding people experiencing homelessness from her own kitchen, Jasmine launched Goodr, a sustainable waste management company that leverages technology to combat hunger and reduce food waste. She has been featured on CNBC, Oprah Magazine, Forbes, Fast Co., New York Times, and named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 100 influential female founders. In 2021 Jasmine released her first children’s book, Everybody Eats, a compelling story focused on character building and educating children on food waste.
About Goodr:
Founded in 2017, Goodr is a sustainable waste management and hunger relief company that leverages technology and logistics to help its partners reduce their food waste and provide meals to those in need. Goodr, a certified B-Corp, is built on the principle that food insecurity is not an issue of scarcity; it’s a matter of logistics. Goodr offers a variety of Hunger Relief and Food Waste Solutions, which include Surplus Food Recovery, Organics Recycling, Pop-Up Grocery Markets and Goodr Grocery Stores. Headquartered in Atlanta, Goodr operates nationwide with clients in industries ranging from food service and hospitality to arenas, universities, celebrities and more. As of 2022, Goodr has provided over 30 million meals to those in need, while redirecting over million pounds of material away from landfills. For more information on Goodr, visit www.goodr.co or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, @goodrco.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

When I first had the idea for Goodr, I knew that I wanted to leverage technology but I was not a technical founder. I entered a hackathon and worked with Georgia Tech students to build a clickable prototype of the Goodr app. I used that prototype to enter every pitch competition I came across. I practiced my pitch a million times until I had it perfected and won just about every competition I entered.

I won over $200,000 prize money combined and used that money to pay my first employers. From there, I began taking investor meetings (at one point I had reached 200 meetings!) to raise my seed round. Learned a lot of lessons about being selective and more targeted with investor calls. After much perseverance, I raised 1.5 million to bring on more employees and expand our technology.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

During the beginning of the pandemic, we were faced with many of our restaurant clients pausing or cancelling their food pickups due to businesses shutting down. We had to think fast about how we can still get food to people in need and remain a profitable company.

We introduced our drive-thru Popup Grocery Markets, Senior Delivery Program, and SnackPack Delivery by partnering with cities and major corporations. They sponsored groceries for us to deliver directly to seniors sheltering in place, students that relied on free lunch that were now virtually learning, and the millions of people that were experiencing hunger for the first time. We organized food giveaways in food deserts where people could drive up and we load their car with 7-10 day’s worth of groceries. With this pivot, we introduced new services to our model that we continue today. We’ve worked with City of Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Orlando, Amazon, NBA, NFL and many other corporations to bring food to people in need.

Contact Info:

• Website: goodr.co
• Instagram: @goodrco or @jasminecrowe
• Facebook: Jasmine Crowe / Goodr
• Linkedin: Jasmine Crowe / GoodrCo
• Twitter: @TheGoodrCo / @ JasmineCrowe

Image Credits
Images curtesy of Goodr