What’s happening with Olio?

Arthog

The founder of Olio was on You and Yours at 12 noon Radio 4 on a Thursday some weeks ago. The programme is about ideas developed to fill a niche.felt by the founders, It is no doubt available on BBC Sounds.

themadvix

The reality is that they are clearly not charging the companies whose waste they collect enough - it shouldn’t be funded by the volunteers and those collecting - Tesco etc should be paying more as it is doing them a huge favour. I’m an SC but have stepped down from my regular collection (after 2.5 years) because collectors were becoming thin on the ground due to the ads and I was ending up with a lot of bread leftover every week (and I needed a break from ungrateful and uncooperative collectors).

shykins

i agree if its true tesco only pay a few pound a collection then this should be upped to a more realistic level

shame you had to step down, my collectors are lovely and once I explained how best to request they all stick to it and it goes fairly quickly.     we live in a rural area with a couple of animal sanctuarys so anything left at the end the owners of these request it 

themadvix

My regulars (who were lovely!) seemed to have disappeared and I just got people who didn’t give the time or how many they wanted and/or didn’t show. I expect I’ll go back to it at some point (and pick up the odd cover slot as SC), but I just needed a break. We’re technically not allowed to give for animal feed now as it’s illegal without registration, which made it difficult to get rid of. I did have a charity shop I could take to, but time was becoming an issue. 

I think the founders are lovely but not business-minded enough to deal with big multinationals.

BestnamesRgone

Tessa Clarke, the CEO of Olio, was also MD of the infamous loan shark company Wonga although apparently she came in to “clean up” the company.

The app is very glitchy and can make being a FWV harder work than it should be, a recent example I got a warning for listing some (prepackaged) bagels and was told I should have listed them as loose bakery items (even tho they clearly weren’t!) and I would be banned from collecting if I did it again…. Then at the next webinar Tessa said yes there are issues with the app but fixing them isn’t a priority. I keep asking myself why do I carry on collecting.

Olio is no longer able to attract investors, I think ads and subscriptions is not going to be enough to save them.

shykins

thats interesting about Tessa, and if fixing the app issues are not a priority they damn well should be.   i guess its not them that have to deal with them tho is it!!!

this food registration thing is a farce, i read through all the documentation about it and unless we are a company supplying food to animals in the food chain we CANNOT register.   it actually states that giving  food to rescues and pets etc are exempt.   so Olio are telling people to do something that they actually cant do .   

i didnt join Olio to bin food so i get my animal people to request like anyone else and what they do with it is up to them!! 

them keep saying they are struggling and will go under unless something is done,  does not encourage you to pay out £30 to join does it 

elsien

Just come back to say I’ve requested tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks and the adverts have gone again? Which I’m very pleased about. Does anyone know if they’ve gone for good?

YoungBlueEyes

I think they might be moving in a different direction, businesswise. There's a school fairly near me that I drive past, and they've a new board outside that says something like "an exciting new partnership, proudly working with Olio". Assuming it's the same Olio...

Rosa_Damascena

I very occasionally volunteer for collections as there is inevitably so much left over that is perishable, esp salad and bakery items. More often I give away any excess stuff I can't use from TGTG bags.

shykins

mine stopped to elsien, then they started again so it seems a bit ht and miss.   there was some saying that it depends on how much you request as to whether you get adverts but am not sure what the amounts were 

Olio already partners with some catering places like schools and offices (more in cities)  so its quite likely they could be doing a school near you blueeyes

i rarely have things left over as we have a couple of sanctuaries near me that request stuff if there is a lot of it and they can often take what others dont want .