2022 Packer 25 — Matt Schwartz
The 2022 Packer 25 is our annual tribute to 25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain. Each year, The Packer invites the produce industry to nominate distinguished veterans, leaders and rising stars of the fresh produce industry. As always, our editorial team was energized and awed by the talented pool of nominees this year. Now in its 18th year, The Packer is once again spotlighting 25 dynamic and inspiring people who are moving the produce industry forward.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Matt Schwartz, CEO and co-founder, Afresh, San Francisco, Calif.
What do you do in your current role as CEO of Afresh?
Schwartz: Most of my day to day at Afresh is spent overseeing our internal team operations or talking to our retail customers, as well as planning and executing strategies that help Afresh achieve our vision of nourishing the world sustainably with fresh food. Ultimately, we aim to optimize critical decisions across the entire fresh food industry — thereby preventing millions of pounds of waste and making food fresher.
With our recent $115 million Series B funding, we’ll be expanding our product offering beyond the store level and into other categories of fresh food. We’re also working on deploying Afresh to nearly 3,000 stores by the end of the year, from about 250 stores at the end of 2021. We're seeing massive demand from grocers who want to utilize Afresh in their stores, and I spend a lot of time figuring out how to scale our solution to every grocery store across the country and internationally.
How did you get your start in the produce industry? Did you envision landing where you did?
I feel incredibly blessed to be leading Afresh and to drive impact in the industry. My start in the produce industry stemmed from my operations work at Simple Mills, my previous CPG company Statfoods, and during my time studying the food system in Stanford’s earth program with a focus on food and agriculture.
Together, these experiences led me to believe that specialty crops, produce and fresh food were the strategic heart of the food industry. Digging deeper into the fresh supply chain showed that a lack of fresh-focused technology for retailers and the supply chain created excessive waste, reduced product shelf life, and limited profitability.
So, among even the largest retailers, produce managers ultimately relied on gut intuition and pen-and-paper processes to manage inventory. This gap in technology led to billions and billions of dollars lost due to food waste and operational inefficiencies, placing an irreversible toll on the planet. Knowing how essential fresh food is to retailers, people and the planet, I felt overwhelmingly compelled to start Afresh and help grocers build better systems.
What’s something that has surprised you about the produce industry?
I was shocked to learn, despite produce’s critical strategic importance to grocers, that most retail technology was originally built for non-perishables. Produce is the ‘hero department,’ bringing shoppers into stores, yet it’s wildly underserved by technical solutions. It was so surprising to see produce managers — while super talented and hard working — ultimately having to rely on gut instinct and pen-and-paper processes to manage millions of dollars of annual ordering decisions. This really motivated us to equip such an important industry with game-changing tools.
What are you most passionate about right now in your role or the industry? Why?
Right now, I’m super passionate about promoting the idea of ‘fresh-first technology.’ Produce is so important. When compared to other types of processed food, fruit and vegetables are intrinsically more nutritious and delightful.
So, instead of bending tech built for cereal or soda to work in produce, I think we ought to design these systems intentionally for perishables. Technology is so powerful — if we can use it effectively in the produce industry, we’ll be able to prevent waste, add days of shelf life to product, and multiply the profitability of all constituents across the supply chain. As a result, fresh-first technology unlocks the potential to drive transformative value for business, people and the planet.
What is the craziest fruit or vegetable you’ve ever encountered? What made it so unusual?
Folks running hothouses won’t find this crazy at all, but I remember early on, when getting exposed to agriculture, the first time I ate a cherry tomato grown in a desert environment. It blew my mind that something so delicious and moisture laden could thrive in a ridiculously hot and dry climate.
