“World’s first” packaging-free supermarket Pieter Pot stalls bankruptcy through acquisition

22 Feb 2023 --- Dutch start-up Pieter Pot announced its acquisition by one of its vendors, Delicatessenfabriek, in order to avoid bankruptcy. “Pieter Pot grew fast, but ultimately not enough to make the business model profitable on his own two feet,” founder and CEO Jouri Schoemaker shares. 

Food production company Delicatessenfabriek has been a partner of Pieter Pot for the washing of reusable pots. It came to the grocer’s rescue as it faced headwinds in the form of competition from established supermarkets and small profit margins.

“Pieter Pot is the first in the world to have a fully circular packaging model. We are also the first to try to make this profitable. And that is challenging. Even more challenging than we initially thought,” the start-up says.

“Due to the competitive landscape of Dutch supermarkets, it is very important to run large volumes quickly, as we make small margins in these. Despite our loyal regular customer group, growth has unfortunately leveled off in the past year.”

The acquisition eliminates the need for a third-party washer and refiller as Delicatessenfabriek takes on some of the operational steps in-house, creating additional efficiency gains. 

“It is still too early for me to be able to reflect with distance and for now, I am still involved to continue to empower the Pieter Pot brand,” underpins Schoemaker.Supermarkets have been trialing refill stations for groceries. 

“Since its founding in 2019, we’ve introduced more than 50,000 customers to packaging-free groceries, enticed major brands to adapt their chains and saved more than four million packages. A system change has been initiated and we have shown that consumers want to opt for packaging-free. It is the start of a movement, the beginning of change.”

Continuing the packaging-free journey
Customers can continue to order as the start-up transitions to its new owners. In the coming period, Pieter Pot will investigate how it can scale up its range of products.

“We see that customers still feel the need to order groceries from another supermarket in addition to Pieter Pot. The ambition is, therefore, to expand the range with, among other things, packaging-free refrigerated products. This makes us an even better alternative to the regular supermarket,” says Dominique Rommers, an owner of Delicatessenfabriek.

Reportedly, Rommers and co-owner Jordan Koppelle wrote a letter to the suppliers urging them to claim only a percentage of the outstanding credit. The start-up still faces a cash crunch and debt restructuring measures are necessary to keep it afloat.

Adopting circular models
Pieter Pot works on a deposit system where the consumers pay a refundable amount of €2 (US$ 2.13) each for jars and wine bottles, €0.10 (US$ 0.11) each for beer and soft drink bottles and €3.50 (US$ 3.73) per order for bags, regardless of the total number of bags.

“We have made extensive calculations with which we can guarantee that Pieter Pot is the most sustainable choice to order your groceries in terms of CO2 savings,” explains the start-up.The packaging-free supermarket start-up delivers groceries in reusable glass jars (Image credit: Pieter Pot).

“This is mainly due to the fact that plastic and cardboard that come into contact with food must be made from new material. As a result, food is never packaged exclusively with recycled plastic or cardboard. Recycling packaging also costs enormous energy (and therefore CO2 emissions). Additionally, our glass jars can be reused up to 40 times.”

It further asserts that in the Netherlands, 490 kgs of waste per person per year is generated, 20% of which comprises packaging.

“A ridiculous amount of packaging waste now ends up in rivers, oceans and on rubbish heaps. Every household in the Netherlands throws away about 3,300 plastic packs every year. That is a lot and also unnecessary,” Pieter Pot details.

“Since our start, Pieter Pot has already made more than three million disposable packages obsolete.”

Last October, the major FMCG player Kraft Heinz adapted its supply chain processes for two of its traditional Dutch breakfast products – chocolate sprinkles from Koninklijke De Ruijter and Brinta oatmeal – to offer packaging-free bags to Pieter Pot consumers in the Netherlands.

Kraft Heinz also supplies products such as Heinz Tomato Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise in reusable glass jars at the packaging-free supermarket.

The start-up aims to stimulate systemic changes to inspire big players within the food and packaging industries to adopt circularity. “More and more parties are joining the movement we are creating together. On to a new, waste-free standard,” it concludes.

By Radhika Sikaria