A new bargain-driven business is being launched in Azerbaijan. Subsequently, stores and restaurants will be able to sell unsold or difficult-to-sell goods at a lower price through the new system. This will take place through the "SnackPack" project based on the "Night Market" concept, which will be introduced in the near future.
With this project, it will be possible to sell unsold food products at a relatively low price. This approach will draw the attention of restaurants and confectionery shops. For this purpose, they need to register in the newly launched "SnackPack" application.
It is worth emphasizing that the system of selling food at a discounted price has existed for a long time around the globe. The most well known of these is "Too Good To Go". Food products are available at a discounted price through the project, which is executed in the USA, Europe and other nations. This allows restaurants and businesses to sell food that is not sold and will not be sold by the end of the day, at a relatively cheap price. This benefits sellers, consumers, nature and the economy. In other words, food cooked and prepared at the expense of energy and effort is not wasted, it rather brings benefits to its owner.
The "SnackPack" application will operate on the same principle. According to Ramil Tagiyev, Head of the project, on average 20% of the product is discarded unsold in restaurants and confectionery stores, as well as in facilities where flour products are sold all over the world. This scenario also applies to Azerbaijan, and it is more profitable for business to sell these products at a discount rather than throwing away.
To use the "SnackPack" application, restaurants and food vendors must register through the application and display the previous and discounted prices of their products. Although the project is called "SnackPack", in fact, discounts at any time of the day will be announced here: "We are all familiar with the term “night market.'' This means buying food, bakery products, etc. at discounted prices in the evening. And we simply digitize this concept with the mobile application we have developed."
The owners of the new project, which will start operating in the near future, are currently negotiating with partners. Current partners of the project include cafes and confectionery shops. Market chains and hotels will also join it in the future. The concept of "night market" originated from the above-mentioned folk expression. The authors of the project have previously worked on innovations in various fields. "We`ve always wanted people to be healthier and more progressive, as well as to do something more productive, beneficial for nature itself. Consequently, we started doing research and stumbled upon the statistics on food waste. We realized how much fresh food was wasted and decided to develop a mobile application to address this significant issue using the concept of the local "night market".
Following that, this process proceeded as in traditional startups: "That's when we started our first steps of assessing the market, contacting cafe owners to learn more about major challenges facing them, and conducting an online survey among students, whom we think of one of our customer targets. Subsequently, we started promoting our mobile application, website and Instagram page, and we are now about to build our business."
The Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBİA) recently awarded SnackPack Startup certificate: "As they had faith in our potential and idea, they presented us with a Startup certificate, which exempted us from taxes and allowed us to focus more on product development."
At present, the process of attracting investors is underway for the launch and expansion of the project: "We are currently negotiating with an angel investor. We attended the pre-acceleration program of “Startup Wise Guys” and are very grateful to them for this opportunity. It is worth underlining that "Startup Wise Guys" ranked as the top accelerator in 2023. We gathered a lot of information on new startup concepts, forged valuable connections and witnessed massive interest from foreign investors.
According to Ramil Tagiyev, the price of the project, which has already passed several stages and is about to start, is tagged around 1.2 million dollars: "The potential and profitability of the project is undeniable, hence at this stage, it is estimated approximately at 1.2 million dollars."
The authors of the project are open to proposals from outside investors, but they do not intend to present a large share of the project to investors: "It is obvious even from our calculations that 1 percent of our project is 12 thousand dollars. Therefore, we can offer investors this price, however, we can only give a maximum of 5% share and we do not intend to allocate more than the above-mentioned rate.
According to the authors of the "SnackPack" project is primarily environmentally friendly: "Thus, by selling already cooked food instead of overcooking, we can stop wasting extra energy and resources".
Furthermore, this innovation supports the "Green World Movement" that was launched in Azerbaijan: "By the way, 2024 has been declared the "Green World Solidarity Year" by Mr. President, and we as "SnackPack" will contribute to this initiative.
Other beneficiaries include business owners, who can save costs, while also help the environment by saving public funds.
The authors of the project express gratitude to the Innovation and Digital Development Agency and KOBİA for their support in the early phases of the startup: "We would also like to thank the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA), Pasha Holding and KOBİA for the business environment and the immaculate conditions provided for those willing to work at their companies and achieve something remarkable. Our team appreciates the various projects and events organized by IDDA to help strengthen the local startup ecosystem. We are confident that this is a series of long-term activities that will shortly yield remarkable results for the public. The authors of the project are particularly grateful to KOBİA:
"KOBİA is an organization that helps us a lot. Therefore, we are very grateful that we can turn to them for any questions or challenges we come across with our startup business. They help us fully free of charge with accounting, legal assistance, development of a business plan and even writing an investment contract for an angel investor."
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