1,000 Jobs For a Better Food System
While googly-eyed fruits and vegetables may be the face of our company on Instagram, the real stars of Imperfect are our team members. They’re the ones working to ensure that our farmers and food purveyors have outlets for their ugly items and get a fair price for them, that our customers get affordable, fresh groceries delivered straight to their doors, and that our food bank and non-profit partners receive consistent donations, because we believe that everyone deserves access to fresh, nutritious food. When we talk about building a better food system for everyone, it’s our employees who are doing the heavy lifting and deserve the recognition for our successes.
This is why our focus has been first and foremost on taking care of our team members. Over the past three years, Imperfect has raised $47M in funding, allowing us to expand into 22 cities across the country and bring produce and other imperfect grocery items to hundreds of thousands of happy customers. While this additional capital has helped us expand our food recovery impact (we’re on track to recover nearly 50 million pounds of produce in 2019 alone), we’re just as proud of the fact that it has allowed us to create over 1,000 living wage jobs — some of the best jobs in food. For us, fundraising is only as valuable as how we’re able to reinvest it in our people and our community.
We pay a living wage, 25–50% more than our competitors, and nearly all of our team members are full-time employees with full healthcare benefits, which is unfortunately rare in the food industry. While other food companies seek cost savings by employing people part-time and paying them as little as possible, we’ve decided to do things differently by investing directly in our employees. We see their success as our success, which is why we provide an equity stake in the company to all employees in every city we operate in. This extends to all team members including warehouse operations, distribution, and customer care. We wholeheartedly believe that supporting our employees through higher wages, training, flexible schedules, and jobs designed for growth ultimately creates better outcomes for both our food system, our continued expansion, and our customers.
We believe that every role is crucial, no matter how big or small, and our pay and benefits reflect that. We also believe in second chances and hiring the best person for each job. That’s why all of our jobs are open to those formerly incarcerated, and we’ve worked with organizations like World Relief Seattle, Trellis Inc., Refugee One, and Goodwill CASC to provide employment for refugees and the differently-abled community. Unlike other delivery companies, jobs at Imperfect aren’t just a means to get food to our customers as cheaply as possible. They’re a way for us to provide enriching and educational opportunities for our employees and our community as well.
In the coming weeks we’ll be sitting down with Imperfect team members who represent a handful of the many wonderful folks who have helped Imperfect grow and thrive to hear about their journeys, their experiences, and their advice on careers — so keep an eye on this page. We couldn’t provide the jobs that we do without the support of our customers and community, so thank you for being part of this exciting journey.
