Hi everybody! I’m Nina – nice to meet you! Today, I’m going to share the story of GoNina – the Climate-Tech Startup fighting Food Waste, and the place I proudly call home. GoNina was founded in Zurich by my dear friends Matthieu and Ferdinand with a mission to reduce Food Waste. Their innovative solution has two parts: First, GoNina provides a Surplus Food App, where you can rescue perfectly fresh food from being thrown away – at up to 66% off its original price. Second, AI Forecasts, which predict food demand for restaurants, takeaways, bakeries, and more. By forecasting demand, only the right amount of food is produced, cutting down on leftovers and waste. But why did my friends take on this important problem and create GoNina? To understand that, we need to rewind a little… to my birthday!
The Beginning of My Story
I hatched from my egg on August 14th, 2021, in the icy wilderness of coastal Antarctica (1). I was the daughter my proud emperor penguin parents had always dreamed of, and my mother instantly named me Nina. Why Nina? It’s a name with a bittersweet but meaningful story. Antarctica’s ice mass has been melting at an alarming rate – about 150 billion tons a year, according to NASA (2). Melting ice caps cause sea levels to rise and threaten our home, taking away the only habitat my family and colony have ever known. You probably know some of the reasons why this is happening. Exactly! One of them is climate change (3). Changing temperatures and disrupted ocean circulations have always been a huge threat to my family and all the emperor penguins in our colony (4). We longed for something to cool the Earth and stop our home from disappearing. And there is a phenomenon on Earth that does exactly that – La Niña. La Niña is a “cold event,” where colder, nutrient-rich water rises to the surface off the West Coast of the Americas (5). For years, my family dreamed of something cold like La Niña to save us. To honor that hope, my parents named me Nina. Sadly, hope wasn’t enough to stop the ice from melting. Rising temperatures forced my family to abandon our home. We were relocated to a beautiful zoo in the heart of Switzerland – Zurich.
From Antarctica to Zurich
Although I miss the wide-open spaces of Antarctica, I’m grateful for the safety and care we received in Zurich. Life at the zoo was fun, especially in winter, when we waddled through the snow and saw children’s smiles light up their faces.
One day, however, it wasn’t a child smiling at me – it was an important looking Swiss Businessman. His name was Matthieu Ochsner and he was evidently touched by my story. My journey inspired him to think deeply: What caused my situation? What drives climate change, and what can be done to stop it?
Matthieu, together with his friend Ferdinand, started researching. What they discovered shocked them: Food Waste alone is responsible for 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (6).
Even more shocking, they learned that one-third of all food produced worldwide is wasted, amounting to billions of tons of food each year (7). Matthieu and Ferdinand couldn’t believe something so valuable and nourishing could be discarded so easily. They cared deeply about my story, about food waste, climate change, and our planet’s future. That care led them to found GoNina – on my second birthday, in 2023. Following great work from Food Saving Companies like Too Good To Go, GoNina started to take on the Food Saving Movement in their very own way!
The Early Days of GoNina
After months of research, Matthieu and Ferdinand developed their idea. Restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, and shops are some of the largest contributors to food waste. They realized they needed to:
Help vendors produce the right amount of food daily, reducing surplus.
Connect consumers with surplus food to ensure it doesn’t go to waste.
They spent months interviewing vendors and consumers to design a solution that fit real needs. They also worked on setting up AI Forecasts, which help vendors plan for spikes in demand caused by weather, events, holidays, and more.
GoNina Today
Fast forward to February 2024: GoNina’s Surplus Food App launched! Since then, we’ve saved over 8,000 portions of food – lovingly called Wonder Bags – and launched forecasting pilots with vendors across Zurich.
While we’re currently focused on Zurich, exciting plans are in motion to expand to other Swiss cities. Soon, new restaurants, bakeries, and shops will join us, allowing even more people to save food and fight waste.
Looking Ahead – The Future of GoNina
As for me? I couldn’t be prouder of what Matthieu, Ferdinand, their team and I have built together. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll take them on a trip to Antarctica to show them its beauty. But until then, I’d love for you to join us on this journey!
Download the GoNina App, check out our Wonder Bags, and follow us on social media to stay up to date. Together, we can make a difference and create a future with less waste and more hope.
I hope my story inspires you to help save food and protect our planet.
Cheers,
Nina the Penguin🐧
Sources:
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