In a country where thousands of tonnes of perfectly consumable food are discarded every year, four youngsters from Kerala are trying to turn surplus into sustenance through their startup, ‘Plenti’.
What began as a long-held thought in the mind of Mathews Martin during his student days at IIM-Nagpur has now evolved into a fast-growing “food rescue” platform operating across Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
Touted as India’s “first food surplus marketplace”, Plenti connects customers with restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and consumers on one platform. It offers meals, baked goods and groceries — with the tagline: “Get everything at one-third price.”
“While staying in the hostel, I used to see large quantities of food getting dumped every day. I kept wondering why it could not be redirected somewhere else instead of being wasted,” recalls Mathews.
Years later, he began developing the idea further with his brother Cyriac Martin of IIM-Amritsar and friend Mohammed Shine from IIT-Madras, eventually shaping what would become Plenti.
The final piece of the puzzle came through Bharath Mohan S, an alumnus of the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai, who had spent years working in the food and events industry.
Having regularly witnessed nearly 30 to 40kg of food going to waste after events, Bharath too had long been disturbed by the scale of wastage.
“While working in Europe, I came across a similar concept called ‘Too Good To Go’. The idea really inspired me. When I came back to India, I wanted to build something of my own in this space,” says Bharath.
Through a common friend, Bharath connected with Mohammed, and the four eventually came together with a common goal: reducing food wastage while making quality food affordable.
“Every year, nearly 70,000 tonnes of consumable food go to waste here. Restaurants, bakeries and cafés often end up with surplus food for multiple reasons. Instead of dumping it, they can sell it through our app at nearly one-third the original price,” Bharath explains.
“The shops are able to recover nearly 33 to 35 per cent of their cost. Usually, they spend money to dispose of leftover food. We help them earn back a portion of that while also preventing food waste.”
The idea was formally proposed in November 2024. The following three to four months were spent building the brand, researching consumer behaviour and understanding the restaurant ecosystem.
“We personally interacted with nearly 800 customers and over 200 restaurant owners before launching the first version of the app,” says Mathews. “Right now, we are already on the third version.”
Thiruvananthapuram became the launch city because all four founders were based there and wanted to test the concept in their hometown first. Their next stop was Kochi.
The model is simple. Customers place orders through the app and collect the food directly from the partnered restaurant or bakery during a designated pickup window mentioned by the outlet.
That pickup-only structure is also what allows the platform to keep prices extremely low.
“That is why people are able to buy food for, say, just `29. If we add delivery charges, the price would go up by another `50 or more. We wanted to keep it affordable,” Bharath says.
But operating in the food redistribution sector also comes with serious concerns around quality and safety — something the founders say they treat with utmost seriousness.
“Food has multiple risk factors. It has to reach people safely and within the right time. So we developed a strict food quality checking system,” says Mathews.
The startup follows a three-layer quality-check system.
The first stage begins even before onboarding restaurants. Plenti partners primarily with outlets that maintain strong customer ratings — generally above 3.8 or 4 stars — while also reviewing their history on platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, along with any recent FSSAI-related issues.
“The logic is simple. Restaurants that value customer feedback are unlikely to compromise on quality,” Bharath says.
The second layer involves the restaurant itself deciding the food’s availability period, packaging time and consumption limit. Every package carries a “best before” sticker mentioning when the food was prepared, how long it remains safe, and by when it should ideally be consumed.
The third layer comes through app-based tracking and notifications, through which users are reminded about the recommended consumption time for the food they purchase.
“We are not compromising on quality at any point,” the team stresses.
Bharath also dismisses the common assumption that surplus food necessarily means stale food.
“If a shop is open till 10 pm, the food someone buys at 9.50 pm directly from the store is essentially the same food being sold through Plenti,” he says.
Like many startups attempting behavioural change, convincing restaurant owners and customers initially proved difficult. But the response has grown consistently over the months.
Today, the platform has close to 400 restaurants and bakeries onboard, including brands such as Pandhal, Muffin House and KR Bakes.
In just five months, the app has crossed 20,000 orders and built a user base of over 1.1 lakh people.
“We have managed to save nearly 60 tonnes of food from going to waste, which also translates to roughly 55 tonnes of carbon emissions reduced,” the founders say.
According to the team, nearly 80 per cent of the orders receive four- or five-star ratings, while the platform currently enjoys a retention rate of around 68 per cent.
The startup is now active in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, with operations in Kozhikode and Thrissur expected to begin later this month.
Beyond business, the founders also see the platform as a community-driven sustainability initiative. When Plenti crossed 10,000 orders in Thiruvananthapuram, the team organised a large-scale food donation drive with support from 40 partner restaurants, serving nearly 500 meals.
“A similar initiative will happen in Kochi once we hit 20,000 orders there,” says Mathews.
Looking ahead, the team is focusing on expanding to more cities while also exploring solutions for event catering surplus and manufacturer-level excess food management.
“Even if we can make a small difference in the larger food wastage numbers, that itself is meaningful,” says Bharath. “At the same time, we want people with smaller incomes to also enjoy good food from premium restaurants at affordable prices.”