Have you ever thought about the plastic cutlery that’s seated at the end of your take-out bag with paper napkins? While they’re a staple in many restaurants’ take-out culture, some people believe it creates more waste than use, and that would be accurate.
About 11 million metric tonnes of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year, and this value is projected to triple by 2040 unless stringent large-scale actions are taken. A chunk of this number is credited to single-use plastic utensils which are tossed away without a second thought, according to National Geographic. People have realized their folly and are now advocating for combating this contribution to innate waste by bringing their own cutlery instead of using the available plastic ones.
A passionate entrepreneur with Indian roots, currently based in Morrisville – Dinesh Tadepalli founded an eco-friendly alternative to help reduce plastic waste with his company – IncrEDIBLE Eats. Tadepalli’s vision was to create vegan, gluten-free au naturel edible spoons made from non-GMO corn, wheat, chickpeas and brown rice as a replacement for plastic disposable utensils.
An excerpt from the website reads “By 2050, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. Help our ocean friends by switching from plastic and eating your spoon.”
After appearing on Shark Tank’s Season 13, the IncrEDIBLE Eats’ success story reverberated with pre-orders of $50,000 just two days after the episode aired. The company has recently hit a goal of reducing 5 million single-use plastic spoons. Here’s a feature to take you through the journey of Tadepalli through his roots, ups and downs, Shark Tank, partnering with one of the largest ice-cream companies, Dippin Dot and future goals.
The Beginning Of IncrEDIBLE Eats:
Dinesh Tadepalli hails from a Telugu family based in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh from South India. He moved to the U.S. in 2007, to pursue his Masters after completing his undergraduate degree in Electrical engineering in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
In 2018, Tadepalli was having ice-cream with his daughter at a famous dessert parlor and was flabbergasted when he saw a bin filled with a massive amount of plastic spoons.
“It just hit me that even with being aware of the plastic pollution, why didn’t I think twice before using a plastic spoon?”
As a young parent, Tadepalli had always been passionate about preserving a cleaner environment for his children. The commitment to reduce the pollution caused by the notorious plastics drove his search for the best alternative to single-use plastic. That’s what made him stumble upon a Hyderabad-based startup selling edible spoons. With the startup’s decision to not scale up to mass production, Tadepalli set up his machinery in the US with the help of another Indian, Kruvil Patel who is now an integral member of the core team.
Tadepalli’s goal to start his company for edible cutlery was never about just the money, but to make a significant impact. The company was first called Planeteer and was later revamped to IncrEDIBLE Eats.
Tadepalli and his team observed that among the existing “greenwashed” compostable cutlery, only 9 percent got composted correctly due to the dearth of composting discipline and facilities.
The journey was not easy. Tadepalli had to sell his home in the US to use the proceeds to improve the production capabilities of the facility. The first edible spoons were introduced to the world in February 2019. After participating in trade fairs, he was invited to pitch on Shark Tank.
IncrEDIBLE Eats And Shark Tank:
The world is privy to the machinations of Shark Tank and how the investors dubbed “Sharks” never invest in badly-pitched deals.
Thankfully, that was not the case with our success story IncrEDIBLE Eats. Tadepalli described his company quite enthusiastically to the sharks and instead of ending with the ordinary, “Who wants to invest in us?” he questioned the sharks, “My question is who wants to join us to save the planet, one spoon at a time?”
He told the sharks that he wanted to change the world by replacing plastic cutlery, entirely. On tasting the spoons, Shark Lori Greiner said that it was like a “spicy, pizza-flavored breadstick.”
All the sharks lauded his innovation and were eager to hear the revenue numbers.
The appeal started to wane when Tadepalli told them of the revenue of $170,000. The company had been impacted by the pandemic with its B2B model.
He had initially bagged offers from four sharks, something that is rarely heard of. In the end, after Shark Cuban dropped out of his offer, he chose Greiner’s counter-offer to his pitch of $500,000 for 7% with an increase in the equity share to 15%. While sources say that the deal did not close due to some complications, appearing on Shark Tank did wonders for Tadepalli’s IncrEDIBLE Eats.
The Success Story Of IncrEDIBLE Eats: Neutralizing The Plastic Footprint:
The edible spoons are dairy-free and made in a facility which does not process nuts and are lightly flavored so it does not alter the taste of the food it carries. The plastic-free cutlery can withstand both hot and cold temperatures for 20-30 minutes, by lasting longer in cold foods.
Food-tech website, THE SPOON reviewed the product and appreciated the flavoring and the sturdiness of the IncrEDIBLE spoon which did not crumble or break in hot broth or cold milk.
The four sweet and savory flavors include Black Pepper, Vanilla, Oregano Chilli, and Chocolate.
“We are self-funded, bootstrapped and now scaled to make up to 40,000 spoons per day.”
Each spoon is wrapped up individually for portability in recyclable paper sleeves that are Rainforest Alliance Certified and IncrEDIBLE Eats plants a tree for every three boxes sold to offset the emissions from the freight of raw materials and final product deliveries. The shelf life of the products is six months and if not used, they can be decomposed.
With Edible Spoons, Sporks and Straws already gaining IncrEDIBLE traction, Tadepalli says that future developments include edible chopsticks, edible coffee stirrers, edible cups and edible bowls.
On being questioned on the reason for continuing his job as an engineer, Tadepalli told TrepTalks that he was on an immigration visa and had to support his children.
“I set a goal for myself: till I don’t reduce 100 million single-use plastics from the planet, I will not take a single penny from the business.”
88 percent of consumers are looking for a brand that can help them make a difference, says Tadepalli. Each incrEDIBLE spoon contributes to 4x impact of less plastic and more trees because the company offsets the freight emissions; social justice because it provides full-time employment opportunities at the factory in India; and animal welfare because the upcycled leftovers at the factory are fed to stray animals.
Challenges Faced By IncrEDIBLE Eats:
While the organic outreach of the environmentally-friendly company was quite good, Tadepalli’s concept was not sailing smoothly from the beginning. In a presentation to Research Triangle Park in April 2022, Tadepalli elucidated some of the hardships and failures he experienced while building the company.
It would always be important to Tadepalli to promote IncrEDIBLE Eats for the bigger picture as an alternative to plastic and that’s why when a famous fast-food chain offered to sell the products as snacks, he politely declined. The same chain was approached by Tadepalli to replace its cutlery with his edible spoons because they dispose of 70 million plastic spoons every year. While the sustainability team was on board with the idea, the financial team accounted for it as an additional expense, much higher than plastic.
Another instance was when the company went live on Amazon with their own website in late 2020, the company faced a massive roadblock: their products were too expensive. To resolve this, everyone on the team worked second jobs and held low margins on this venture.
In an interview with TrepTalks, Tadepalli also narrated the challenges of international shipping with raw materials arriving from India. It took a minimum of six to seven weeks and with the pandemic, the entire production was off track and the company had to ramp up production to capitalize on the Shark Tank fame.
Accomplishments Of IncrEDIBLE Eats And Futuristic Outlook:
In January 2022, the edible cutlery company partnered with America’s favorite beaded ice cream company, Dippin’ Dots. The brand is famous for its remarkably fresh and flash-frozen unconventional ice cream made using cryogenic technology.
Some of IncrEDIBLE Eats’ goals for Sustainability are investing in renewable energy projects in Aruba and India, supporting Plastic Bank in Haiti and Waste Ventures in India.
According to SharkTankTalks, the net worth of IncrEDIBLE Eats could be estimated between $0.6 million – $0.8 million. The valuation of the company in Shark Tank was $3.3 million. In 2021, the edible cutlery company received seed funding of $200,000 from Big Idea Ventures.
The growth of the company is going quite well with an incredible line-up of innovative products ahead. Dinesh Tadepalli envisions the brand encompassing every ice cream, soup and dessert.
