The Berlin startup Sirplus became known for its supermarkets for rescued groceries. Now the company is closing all branches – but it should continue online.
Four years ago, Sirplus opened its first “Rettermarkt”, a TV appearance in the “Den of the Lions” ensured nationwide recognition in 2019. Now the food startup is closing its now five Berlin branches and only wants to continue online.
The shops in the Berlin districts of Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Friedrichshain and Steglitz should be closed by the end of September at the latest. All 50 employees and trainees from the supermarkets are losing their jobs, as Sirplus founder Raphael Fellmer confirmed to the RBB.
Sirplus cites a drop in sales in the Corona crisis as the reason for the closings. “Many supermarkets have benefited from this, but due to our special range of goods, the changed purchasing behavior of consumers has had a negative effect on our offline sales,” writes Sirplus on his website. “We tried everything, but these months-long deficits in the rescue markets are now noticeable, which is why we had to make the decision with a heavy heart to concentrate on pure online rescue.”
Sirplus had caused a sensation in the past few years with its concept of “rescue markets”. The company buys remaining stock that has expired or is defective and sells it to an urban audience that cares about food waste. Just a few months ago, founder Fellmer raved about a “completely new market” in an Arte documentary. “After vegan, organic and fair trade, we want to make ‘saved’ really big,” said Fellmer.
Criticism of the Sirplus concept
However, the concept was not without controversy, since the re-use of leftover food is actually the domain of the food banks, which give food free of charge to those in need. In the Arte documentation, for example, employees of the Tafel express themselves critically about the commercial food savers. Sirplus, on the other hand, has always denied competition because the panels have the first access right.
The start-up already received media attention – and criticism – in 2019 for its appearance on the founders’ show “Die Höhle der Löwen”. Fellmer and his colleagues did not find an investor in the program, TV lion Georg Kofler even disgusted the founders as “moral apostles” who glossed over a capitalist business model.
After the broadcast, Sirplus found other investors and opened additional stores. It was not until July 2021 that the bustling Fellmer won TV advertising worth three million euros in a ProSieben / Sat1 competition in front of a jury for Joko Winterscheidt. However, the food saver startup has never made any money, even before the Corona crisis. “Every month we lose between 50,000 and 100,000 euros,” says Fellmer in the Arte documentation.
Now Sirplus is pulling the plug on the physical markets. But founder Fellmer wants to stick to his mission, as he writes on his Facebook page: “For this we will now be able to put even more strength and focus on our online shop and expand it so that everyone in Germany can save food from home even more easily and conveniently ! ” In the company’s online shop, both individual products and veggie and vegan boxes are currently advertised with high discount promises.
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Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
