Losses at food waste pioneer Oddbox have almost doubled as the wonky fruit & veg box seller froze its prices in an effort to retain customers.
Revenues at the business nudged up by £300k to £27.7m in the year ended 30 June 2025, its latest accounts showed.
But operating losses widened by 98.7% to £1.4m and pre-tax losses worsened by £700k to £2.1m as margins were eroded and costs increased.
Oddbox said it held firm on pricing to help maintain a robust subscriber base after a recent strategy reset. The company has been lossmaking for four consecutive years, with total losses since FY22 now standing at £12m. It shifted its strategy in 2024 to cut costs and focus on profitability over growth, resulting in losses coming down from a peak of £4.8m in FY22.
Oddbox added the decision to freezes it prices was a proactive step to ensure a solid foundation as it pushed forwards with its new strategy, led by an investment in a state-of-the-art packing line, which allowed the business to increase its product range and offering.
CEO and co-founder Emilie Vanpoperinghe told The Grocer the past year had been an important period of transition for Oddbox as it expanded the offering beyond fruit & veg with the launch of the Oddbox Market, an ecommerce marketplace platform where customers can supplement their weekly box with loose refillable items, “rescued” branded products and curated essentials.
“Last year, we made a conscious decision to protect our customers during the cost-of-living crisis by freezing prices, while continuing to invest in the evolution of our business and growth,” she said.
“While this had a short-term impact on profitability, revenue remained stable and we continued to grow our impact by rescuing surplus food from farms and other food producers that might otherwise have gone to waste.”
Vanpoperinghe, who founded Oddbox with Deepak Ravindran in 2016, added the company was back in revenue growth for the current financial year.
“The increase of our year-on-year subscribers is in double digits, we have improved retention and a seen a double-digit revenue growth,” she said.
Oddbox works directly with growers to prevent odd-shaped and surplus fresh produce from going to waste.
It rescued 8.9 million kg of fruit & veg during 2025, with just more than 56% of the total coming from the UK, up from 52% in 2024.
In 2025, just 0.7% of all food the business purchased ended up going to waste. An improvement from the 1.1%, wasted in 2024. Anything that wasn’t put into customer boxes was donated to charity partners such as Fareshare, The Felix Project and City Harvest.
With 2025’s total, the group has now rescued a total of 60,500 tonnes of fruit & veg since launching.
“We expect the year to be another exciting year in the history of Oddbox with development of the existing market in the UK and the continued fight against food waste,” the company said.
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