1) The document outlines a business model for helping restaurants in NYC implement sustainable composting practices in a simple and cost-effective way. 2) Customer interviews revealed that composting does not actually reduce costs for restaurants and consumers do not choose restaurants based on their composting practices. 3) The main challenges are the high costs of transporting compost long distances to processing facilities and the lack of nearby composting infrastructure in NYC.

1. 1
Helping restaurants who want to be sustainable
reach that goal by making composting simple and
cost-effective.
Valeriya Greene | Gregory Cox
# Customers Interviewed in Last Day: 17
# Customers Interviewed Total: 62
• 9 Consumers | 39 Restaurants| 2 Waste Services | 3 Advertisers | 8 Local Farms / Compost Sites

2. Day 1: Business Model Canvas
2
Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer Relationships
Key a
Key a
Key a
Key a Key a
Key Resources Channels
Key a
Key a
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
Key a Key a
Customer Segments
 Waste Management
Companies
 Green markets
 MintScraps
 Develop customer
relationships
 Organic waste consulting
 Website / App Development
 Marketing & Create
Awareness
 Build Brand
 Restaurant Composting
Consultant
 Relationship with Waste
Management Companies
 Financing
 Simplify and streamline the
composting process for
restaurants
 Reduce cost of waste
management
 Acquire consumers who
care about environment
through branding and
awareness
 Consulting
 Measurement of % waste
reduction and $ cost
reduction
 Build brand
 Website
 Direct Selling
 Green Markets
 Restaurants in NYC
 Website & App development
 Salaries of Consultants
 Marketing & PR Campaigns
 Economies of Scope for consulting
 Subscription services for ongoing support and branding
 Upfront fee for initial end-to-end process – based on % of Cost Savings

3. Day 1: Here’s What We Thought
3
HYPOTHESES:
1. Composting costs restaurants less than trash collection
2. Restaurants find composting to be complex, but we can make it simple
3. Consumers care about how restaurants dispose of their waste
Restaurant
Composts
We Simplify
Compost Process
Restaurant
Reduces Costs
Attracts New
Customers
VALUE PROPOSITION:

4. Day 2 – 4: Here’s What We Learned
 “It’s nice to know that this restaurant composts, but
that’s not why I come here”
– Consumer
 “Composting actually increases my costs. Composts
bags cost more than $1 each!”
– Manager, Ekxi Restaurant
 “Our restaurant composts because our founders feel
strongly about it. We consider the increased cost a cost
of doing business”
– Restaurants that compost
 “We don’t have the space to compost. It’s too hard. Our
customers don’t care”
– Restaurants that do not compost
4
LEARNING: IMPLICATION:
Branding restaurants that compost won’t bring
in new customers
Composting won’t reduce customer costs
Cost of composting is not the key pain point for
restaurants that compost
Hard to convince restaurants to begin
composting unless part of values

5. Day 2 – 4: Here’s What We Learned
Restaurants that compost today don’t need our
help to simplify process
•Target customer segment expands to include
farm to table restaurants
•Education is key
Is there a way to process our compost locally?
5
LEARNING: IMPLICATION:
 “Any restaurant who's not composting is too lazy to find
out how easy it is.”
– Restaurant that composts
 “I probably should be composting. I already source
locally. This would be a logical next step. Who can cart
it away?.... It costs the same?”
– Farm to Table Restaurant
 “I charge the restaurant the same $/ton to cart the
compost away, but it costs me $85/ton to send compost
to Delaware and only $59/ton to send it to the landfills”
– Action Environment Services
 “How can we say that we are being sustainable if our
compost is being sent to Delaware. There has to be a
better way”
– Restaurant that composts
•Lack of nearby composting infrastructure
drives the high cost of composting
•Why isn’t there a closer facility?

6. Day 2 – 4: Learned the Food Waste Decision Journey
What Type of
Restaurant Waste?
White Bag /
Bin
Recyclables (Non-
Compostable
Plastics / Paper /
Gloves)
Organics
*Compostable
Supplies (forks,
bowls)
Food Scraps
**Meat, Bones,
Dairy
Fruits, Vegetables,
Coffee
Rest (including
glass)
6
Black Bag/Bin
“Action” Picks up,
Consolidates &
Trucks to Transfer
Station
Green Bag
/ Bin
“Action” Picks
up, Sorts &
Sells
“Action” Picks
up &
Consolidates
Action drops off
at Delaware
Composting
Facility
Cost:
• Gas for Pickup
• Labor
Revenue:
• $/ton of waste
• Sell Recyclables to
China
Cost:
• Gas for drive &
additional emissions
• Labor
• Tipping Fee < Tipping
Fee Landfill
Top Soil created
and facility sells
to Landscapers
Revenue:
• Top Soil Sales
Costs:
• Fixed Costs of
Facility
• Processing Costs
Cost:
• Gas for Pickup
• Labor
Revenue:
• $/ton of food waste
= $/ton of trash
Cost:
• Gas for Pickup
• Labor
• Tipping Fee to
Landfill
Revenue:
• $/ton of waste
*Special Considerations:
• Easier from process & contamination
standpoint
• Need Industrial Composting Site to
decompose
• Cost more than standard utensils, bowls
**Special Considerations:
• High Quality fertilizer is made using
Fruits, Vegetables, Coffee beans, Breads –
not Meat / Dairy
• However, additional sorting creates time
and efficiency issues
Key Questions:
(1) Why isn’t there a facility built closer that accepts
restaurant waste?
(2) Will restaurants further sort their waste to gain the value
of a lower cost / $ ton and the positive social feeling that
its being processed locally and sold to local farms?
(3) Where do local organic farms buy their fertilizer? Will
locally made fertilizer cost less than what they currently
buy?

7. Day 5 Business Model Canvas
7
Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer Relationships
Key a
Key a
Key a
Connection to free compost and
Key a Key a
Key Resources Channels
Key a
Key a
Receive Compost to
support farm needs.
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
Key a Key a
Customer Segments
 Waste Management
Companies
 Green markets
 FoodTech Companies:
MintScraps / LeanPath
 NYC Department of
Sanitation
 Organic Farms
 Website Development
 Marketing for both
restaurants
 Build Brand
 Access to composting
farms.
 Reduce cost of waste
management through ability to
compost locally at small-scale
farms and composters.
 Connections to composters.
 Website
 Direct Selling
 Green Markets
 NYC Restaurants who do
compost and can do it better
 NYC Restaurants that are
sustainable but do not compost.
 Decisionmakers are restaurant
owners, with input from chef,
manager, and other staff.
 Website development
 Marketing & PR Campaigns
 Salaries
 Per compost royalty fee
revenue
Organic farms and small-scale
composters in NYC who need
fertilizer and believe in availability
of composting.
Website
Direct Selling

8. Total Market Size
• 31,427 restaurants in NYC on Yelp
• 5,519 tagged “organic”
• Est 500 currently composting
• Average garbage in a year: 75 tons
•Average compost for high-quality fertilizer: 22.5 tons
•Average cost per lb: .05
•Royalty for Taking Root: .005
Realistic Market: $112,500
Market Size
8
Total Market: $7 million
Total Potential Market:
$1.2 million
To
Realistic Market:
$112,500

9. Total Market Size
• 247 farms and composting facilities within a 4 hour
drive of New York city, average size 211 acres.
•1 restaurant serves one acre of farm
• 600 community gardens, most serviced by
neighborhood composting
•From customer discovery with farms, few have the
ability to compost on-site that exceeds farm’s own
production of compostable waste.
Realistic Market: 24
Market Size
9
Total Market: 847 composting
entities
Total Potential Market:
247
To
Realistic Market:
24

10. Some Interesting Problems to Investigate
10
 “Our biggest problem is that gloves aren’t compostable”
 “Compost bags cost more than $1 each”
 “We can’t track what we throw out well”
 “Compost that is made from fruits and vegetables realizes a larger price”
 “Local sourcing is not easy. We worry about the weather constantly”
 “We want to compost in Linden, but there is no one reliable”

11. Organic compost
retail
Manufacturing
Platform
What do we do next
11
• Continue customer discovery on what customer problems are
Must Haves
• Research and impact regulations and laws around composting.
Preparation for a mandate by 2016 will mean a lot more
restaurants who must compost. Decreasing the number of
regulations around ability to compost will increase appetite for
compost.
• Research areas of compost funding for NYC. Preparation for a
mandate by 2016 will mean a lot more restaurants who must
compost
• Consider non-profit options that bring in funding from
stakeholders interested in reducing the 1.2 million tons of food
waste going to New York and New Jeresey landfills.