Dr. Tim Breker | Founder
Interview given to Good Move Initiatives
-Please introduce “Vytal” and its main focus.
Vytal is an operating system for reusable packaging and we are very much focused on to-go consumption and delivery food. We provide restaurants, canteens, retailers, event organizers with reusable food packaging that is individually traceable with an individual QR code and/or an RFID-tag.
Consumers download our app and they can borrow as many containers as they want for free limited to 14 days. If they don’t return within 14 days, they have to start paying for the service. Consequently, people return it reliably and quickly and this is important in terms of system efficacy and sustainability impact. On average, the containers are returned in less than 5 days and the return rate is above 99% .
-What is Vytal’s main target audience ?
Restaurants is the largest number of partners, then we have canteens as the second pillar, our restaurant and canteen business are rather 50-50 so we have more impact with a smaller number of locations and then we are in the retail segment and event space. Retail is small so it’s mostly salad bars and hot lounger counters and event is the most fast growing sector because our software creates a lot of economic advantages for the event organizers.
-Who does the washing ?
Most of the washing is done by the partners themselves, that is the restaurants or canteens. With the event space, we have a third party washing provider network in case companies don’t have the cleaning capacity in their stores.
-What is your goal through Vytal and what are you trying to achieve ?
We have a solution for a global problem but there aren’t many spaces where Europe or Germany has a location advantage. When it comes to sustainability, Europe is the best place to be and when you look at circular packaging, there is no better place than Germany because due to its deposit system, cans and bottles , there is a developed culture of consumers returning stuff. We already see EU regulation driven by consumer consciousness spreading around countries. Our app is available in 10 different languages so we are in a path to reach a bigger area.
Our vision is to fuel the circular economy and be “the Paypal account” for consumers in terms of reusable packaging that you don’t only check out and manage your food containers, but also ecommerce, shopping containers, beauty products that come in reusables etc... Reusables may not always be the best packaging option, but there is a large space when reusable is more financially and environmentally better than single use and this is where we expand. For now, the to go-consumption and delivery case is the way to begin building an efficient circular packaging system.
Based in Germany, we have wholly owned subsidiaries in Austria, Paris, London and we also have a franchise model where we work with local franchisees. For example, in Norway, Ireland and Mexico local entrepreneurs license our technology and brand to build up local Vytal systems and are comfortable with our German system. It is possible to borrow a cup in Mexico and return in Paris for e.g. etc to solve the single waste problem through the Vytal solution.
-I saw on your website that you collaborate with large brand names such as Pizza Hut, Dominos, KFC etc…
We have a number of success stories to be proud of. KFC in Germany is one of them together with Pizza Hut which is a European partnership. Delivery players are intermediaries for the system. With the next Lieferando order, you can return the previous containers which is a huge convenience for the consumer.
We really hope that these partnerships will affect the rest of the world. Being the only reusable provider to provide a pan-European or global system, we’re best position to drive this global transformation to reusable packaging.
We also work with Universities such as The University of Sheffield or Antwerp University which are really good starting grounds to other countries.
-What are restaurants’ motive to join the Vytal system ?
Their motive is basically threefold; they save packaging cost with our system, they increase the frequency of guest visits and at least in Germany and Netherlands they become compliant in terms of regulation.
-Is it a matter of culture and education of consumers or are there also other challenges that you are facing ?
Certainly. However, it is not only education, but also about lack of awareness. Most people are already challenged by selecting what to eat. Thinking about the packaging is next level for them and you need to work with all stakeholders to make reuse of the default system.
We have more than half a million of registered users who value the environment and they want to switch to reusable. To push the reusable in the mass market, you need to make it the default solution together with gastronomists, regulators and other industry players. This is where the economic advantages of Vytal come into play for gastronomists and event organizers.
The EU consumes 2,8 times as many resources as the planet can provide which is a huge waste of resources. Single-use containers are the symbol of this resource inefficiency because most of the times we use them 30-60 minutes and throw them away which doesn’t make any sense…
In general, a challenge we always face is making the default solution both for restaurants and consumers.
All these lobbying efforts and engaging into politics is a real challenge. At the beginning of the journey, I thought entrepreneurship alone would be sufficient to pass on but we do need regulation and we also need to rely on politics and subsidies to accelerate the transition to reuse. There is a greater benefit that can easy be leveraged for governments and the public.
-Does the German government support such an initiative ?
Yes, we have received subsidies in building the company in the last 3.5 years. Especially in Germany, the idea for the regulators is more to cover the reuse obligation.
All gastronomists are obliged to offer reusables to their customers as prominently as the single use option. No one controls for it so far, so for now, it’s oftentimes a useless legislation where gastronomists either ignore it or don’t know about it, so it hasn’t had the expected effect but it did triple the number of our partners. Now we need to engage the consumers’ side.
On city level, there is a financial incentive to switching to reuse and we see promising developments.
On EU level, there is huge lobby battle of single use lobbyists vs reuse players with clear reuse targets which are discussed in the commission.
-What are your goals for the near future ?
We are always on the look for investors and partners who will help us fund our endeavor because it’s an exciting journey with global impact. We have already raised more than 12 million for our company, but we are still in the early beginning. So our goal is to build great partnerships.
We are investing in adapting our product to make reuse easier so we are aligned to adapting our product in even more segments and scale integrations with existing systems and processes.
Thank you.