Lisbon-based fresh produce distributor Equal Food is using an AI platform developed in-house to automate orders, plan purchases from local farmers, and optimize deliveries, aiming to reduce food waste and support Portuguese agriculture.
In a statement shared with Portugal Startup News ahead of World Food Day on October 16, the company said it serves around 300 customers daily and more than 1,000 weekly, including restaurants, offices, and households.
The business operates through two brands: Equal Food Biz, which supplies professional kitchens, and Equal Food, which offers fruit and vegetable subscription boxes and office fruit deliveries.
Its corporate clients include Ageas and Leroy Merlin, which provide fresh fruit to their employees through the company’s office fruit program.
Using AI to connect demand with local farmers
The company has integrated AI into its own fresh produce distribution operations, from processing customer orders to managing delivery routes.
Developed internally over the past few years, Equal Food’s AI platform automatically reads and records orders received through email, WhatsApp, and PDF files, eliminating the need for manual data entry. Customers can also place orders through an online portal.
The platform maintains a live record of each customer’s orders, invoices, incidents, and preferences, allowing the team to anticipate customer needs and respond to requests on the same day.
It also uses demand data to forecast purchases and prepare only what customers have ordered, while algorithms optimize daily delivery routes to minimize kilometers traveled and meet scheduled delivery times, helping reduce waste at each stage, according to Equal Food.
Food waste can occur before produce reaches consumers through unsold harvests, unexpected surpluses, and fruit or vegetables rejected because they do not meet conventional size standards.
By purchasing produce based on actual customer demand rather than estimates, the company aims to buy only what will be consumed, give local farmers greater certainty about what they can sell, and create a market for “imperfect” produce that might otherwise go to waste.
Targeting a fully electric delivery fleet
Equal Food currently operates seven delivery vehicles, approximately half of which are electric, and aims to electrify its entire fleet within two years. The company also uses reusable crates to reduce the environmental impact of deliveries.
“We started selling fruit and vegetables with a simple idea: fresh produce should reach the people who eat it without getting lost along the way,” said Alberto Mojtar, CEO of Equal Food.
The next step in the company’s efforts to improve its distribution operations is to power deliveries with clean energy, he added.
Featured image: Alberto Mojtar, CEO of Equal Food (Photo courtesy of Alberto Mojtar/LinkedIn)
