Imperfect Produce is a customizable weekly produce delivery company that offers irregular produce at reduced costs. The company was born out of a desire to reduce food waste. According to their website, “more than 20% of the fruits and vegetables grown in America never make it off the farm because they aren’t perfect enough for grocery store standards,” resulting in “billions of pounds of wasted produce every year.” This is an issue that I’ve been aware of for a while, after having seen the documentary Just Eat It, but I didn’t really know what to do about it aside from picking less desirable-looking produce at stores. So I was really excited when I found out that this service had become available in LA, having first established itself in Northern California.
I’ve been using the service for a few months now and there is much to recommend it, which I'll get into later, but as a graphic designer I’ve been especially impressed with their branding. See below for examples of what I mean:
My produce comes in a box like this every week. Their logo is cute and friendly.
They use all sides of the box to reinforce their brand and message.
One side tells the company story with some humorous copy.
Their website continues the look and feel of the brand well, and is easy to use.
This came in one of the boxes, a card celebrating their 2nd anniversary.
On the inside were some complimentary googly eyes.
I made use of the googly eyes.
It's friendly, humorous and well-designed--really appealing all the way around. Also, it's consistent. The tone and elements you see on their packaging and collateral are repeated on their website and email blasts, and I imagine whatever other marketing materials they may have. These are the types of brand executions we strive for in what we design for our clients; appealing, consistent branding is critical in creating brand advocates. See another one of our recent blog post that talks about this very subject. They have certainly done a good job of making an advocate out of me!
So how is the service? Like I said above, it's been a few of months now since I've started, and while not perfect, it has my loyalty. I'm a believer in what they're trying to do, but if the product isn't any good there's no point. I'm happy to say that I've been happy with about 95% of the produce. The fruits tend to be more hit-or-miss than the vegetables, but even so there was only one time I'd received something that I found to be totally inedible (some plums that never ripened). Their customer service is really responsive, though; when I told them about the less-than stellar produce they credited my account for them promptly. I love how easy it is to customize my weekly box on their website, where you can also schedule delivery holds and access other account services. I've been eating way more vegetables and fruit than I used to, saving money, and helping the environment--what more can I ask for?
So how is the service? Like I said above, it's been a few of months now since I've started, and while not perfect, it has my loyalty. I'm a believer in what they're trying to do, but if the product isn't any good there's no point. I'm happy to say that I've been happy with about 95% of the produce. The fruits tend to be more hit-or-miss than the vegetables, but even so there was only one time I'd received something that I found to be totally inedible (some plums that never ripened). Their customer service is really responsive, though; when I told them about the less-than stellar produce they credited my account for them promptly. I love how easy it is to customize my weekly box on their website, where you can also schedule delivery holds and access other account services. I've been eating way more vegetables and fruit than I used to, saving money, and helping the environment--what more can I ask for?
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