Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Relevance: As a provider of reusable to-go tableware, Relevo is a simple, all-in-one digital solution for sustainable food distribution for restaurateurs and end consumers. As a digital reusable solution with an app, we offer a deposit-free rental system that partners can use as a pay-per-use system without having to change their current processes, allowing end consumers to live sustainably and conveniently at no cost. We are Gregor (34, physicist and mathematician), Aaron (33, commercial specialist), and Matthias (31, business economist), along with a team of 30 highly motivated world savers. The three of us founders came together around the idea and shared vision of making single-use packaging obsolete.
1 million disposable packaging discarded every hour
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Relevance: In Germany alone, over 9 billion items of single-use packaging are thrown away annually. That's about 1 million every hour. We think this is simply garbage. Because in addition to environmental pollution and unnecessary resource consumption, a huge amount of climate-damaging CO2 equivalents is also produced. And the coronavirus pandemic has caused the use of to-go and takeaway to explode again, as the overflowing trash cans on our streets sadly testify. With Relevo, we are making this environmentally and climate-damaging single-use packaging obsolete.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Relevance: Reusable systems have been around for a long time, to be precise since the 1970s, when deposits were introduced as a promising solution in various sectors. Unfortunately, over the years, deposits have not proven to be the hoped-for savior. On the one hand, deposits require integration efforts on the part of the restaurateur (deposit handling and reserves), and on the other hand, the deposit amount is always disadvantageous for end consumers: too high when issued and too low when returned. With Relevo and our smart reusable system, we can solve all of these problems and make a truly measurable climate-friendly contribution. This way, restaurateurs do not have to accept any process interventions, do not have to pre-finance reusable tableware, and do good for end consumers free of charge without having to "take out a loan to cover the deposit." Furthermore, as a full-service operator, we can proactively resupply restaurateurs and remind end consumers to return items at short notice, thus enabling us to operate the cycle sustainably.
Lockdown forced to pivot
Munich Startup: Has there ever been a point where you almost failed?
Relevance: We wanted to launch Relevo on March 16, 2020, and had everything prepared for our go-live, so we were full of anticipation. That was until the first coronavirus lockdown was announced on Friday, March 13, and everything was put on hold. The following weeks were very tough and full of uncertainty, even more so than before. We had to go through our worst-case scenario – when else would all the restaurants be closed?! However, the "quiet phase" forced us to pivot, streamline our business model, and then hit the ground running at full speed at the beginning of June 2020, growing to a team of over 30 employees within just 12 months.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Relevance: In the past few months, we've already experienced significant growth and saved hundreds of thousands of single-use packaging units. This only further increases our motivation and ambition. We see ourselves as the clear number 1 for reusable systems in Europe in the future. And with our new catering partner, the Duni Group, we have access to a fantastic network. Furthermore, our digital solution will enable us to offer our users a variety of value-added services in the future, making an urban, sustainable lifestyle even easier.
Munich is competitive in the reusable market
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Relevance: Munich is a great location for us! Firstly, there's a wealth of great talent for us as a company, and secondly, there's an existing ecosystem of other startups that inspires and enriches each other. And Munich was also the perfect starting point for a reusable system. No other German city was as competitive in the reusable market as Munich. This challenged us from the very beginning and spurred us on to achieve peak performance. And today, we can proudly say that we are the market leader in the food-to-go sector in Munich.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Relevance: We are very aware of the challenges posed by the climate crisis and environmental pollution, and we still see a huge mountain of work (reducing waste) ahead of us. To-go consumption continues to rise, as does environmentally harmful disposable packaging, and thus our ambitions. Accordingly, we have considerable staying power, and we look forward to the coming years.
