David Côté
Co-founder, LOOP Mission
LOOP Mission is a company on a mission — as its name suggests — to end food waste and to transform the food industry.
Food waste is a major issue in Canada and around the globe. The statistics are shocking: 58 percent of food produced in Canada is lost or wasted each year. Food waste costs the Canadian economy over $49 billion each year and creates about 56.6 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions. When food waste ends up in landfills, it also contaminates the soil and affects biodiversity. That’s why Canadian company LOOP Mission decided to fight it.
Promoting a circular economy
LOOP Mission is a circular economy company that aims to reduce food waste by repurposing the outcasts and overstock of the food industry. It saves fruits, vegetables, and other foods from landfills and transforms them into amazing cold-pressed juices and other products.
LOOP is so much more than a juice company — it’s a food waste fighting powerhouse. And it’s growing, helping to make the circular economy business model mainstream. The company is expanding its mission beyond the grocery store, into bulk and across the border. LOOP’s products are now available at Costco in Canada as well as in the U.S.
David Côté, co-founder and superhero of LOOP Mission, shares more about the company’s history, mission, and latest initiatives.
What inspired you to co-found LOOP Mission?
It all started with a phone call six years ago. A guy had heard that I liked creating new innovation in the food industry. He called and told me that his company was throwing away 16 to 25 tons of fruits and vegetables every single day. My partner Julie and I went to visit his warehouse and saw what they were throwing away that day: perfectly ripe and tasty mangoes, peaches, pears, celery, and more. It was all overstock being sent to the landfill. We couldn’t believe it. That call changed my life.
Tell us more about your mission.
We’re changing the behaviour of CEOs and CFOs by telling them that what used to be a waste can become a financial gain for them. By changing the big corporations in the food world, we’re having a huge impact on food waste.
What products does LOOP Mission currently produce?
We started with juices made from upcycled produce but now we also make probiotic sodas, gin distilled using upcycled potato cuttings from a chip factory, beer made with day-old bread, and soaps made from discarded cooking oils. We also have energy bites!
What is your latest project, LOOP Synergies, all about?
LOOP Mission is currently a semi-finalist in the Food Waste Reduction Challenge run by the Canadian government, and LOOP Synergies is the project we developed for the challenge. We’re transforming food waste into more stable products — juices, purees, and powders — to resell to other food manufacturers for them to incorporate into their products. This helps other companies to participate in the circular economy movement without having to deal with the complexity of working with food waste.
