How Bicycles Can Help Food Startups Meet Consumer Demand for Sustainability

Startups in 2023 can’t afford to skip sustainability. According to a McKinsey study, almost 80% of American consumers put value into a sustainable lifestyle and are likely to spend more money on products/services that meet their eco-values. This remains relevant across industries, including in the food sector. 

If you’re a food startup, you might be considering how you can create a more eco-conscious business model to meet the demands of your audience. That’s where bicycles come in. Using the power of pedaling you can reduce the CO2 emissions of your entire company, delivering food to your customers without the footprint!

Sustainability and Food Startups

If you’ve noticed a rise in vegan alternatives and a surge in the popularity of locally-grown groceries, you’re not alone. There’s an eco shift happening in the food industry that’s being powered by consumers.

Around a third of Americans are currently buying what they believe to be sustainable food products, whilst over half want to understand more about the environmental impact of the food they eat. This has led to companies offering a wider variety of eco-conscious options, from organic vegetables to dairy-free cheese. In other words, consumers want eco-friendly food!

As a food startup, therefore, it’s vital you focus on sustainability to meet growing demand. This eco trend isn’t going anywhere soon. In fact, there’s plenty of research that shows eco-consciousness is going to continue to grow, with brands that don’t comply struggling to find success in the future.

Why Food Delivery Should Be a Focus

In terms of sustainability, there are many areas of your food company that you can focus on, from the ingredients you use to the packaging you choose. If you’re planning on doing food deliveries, though, there’s no doubt this should be a key part of your eco-conscious initiatives.

According to Thrust Carbon, the average motorbike will create around 1kg of CO2 for every 5-mile drive – not to mention the emissions produced from making the bike in the first place. As a food startup offering delivery, that’ll quickly rack up a fair few kilograms every day to add to your business’s carbon footprint.

If you’re looking to reduce your emissions, how you deliver your food is an obvious area to work on. Fortunately, eco-friendly delivery isn’t actually too tricky, either, with bicycles offering a simple solution.

Bicycles: A Zero Carbon Delivery Option

Aside from the initial footprint of bicycle production, cycling offers up a zero carbon option for moving your food from A to B. According to UCLA’s transportation research, riding a bike can reduce an average person’s CO2 emissions from transport by almost 70% every day. As a food delivery company, that figure is likely to be even higher. 

Tips For Smooth Cycling Deliveries

If you opt for bicycles to deliver your food products, ensure your employees and customers have a smooth delivery experience by optimizing your processes. Here are some ideas to consider implementing for smooth, fast, and sustainable deliveries.

Allow For Contactless Payments

Not everybody wants to pay for their food before they get it. Ensure customer satisfaction by enabling different payment systems, including cash on delivery and contactless card readers for fast, secure payments. SumUp card readers are a great option to make it easier for your cyclists to take a payment without having to hop off their bikes, allowing them to move quickly onto the next delivery.

Optimize Cycling Routes

Not every route is going to be suitable for cycling. Be sure to map out the best roads, highlighting those with designated cycle lanes and where there’s less traffic for safer driving. This’ll also speed up deliveries so that your food gets to the customer on time.

Use Data and Analytics

Investing in products to monitor your deliveries is well worth it. By analysing the data, you can work out which routes are consistently the quickest, how much time your delivery cyclists spend taking payments, and where you’re seeing the most customers. All of this data is vital to improving your cycling delivery service and boosting business growth.

Provide All-Weather Uniforms

The biggest drawback of using bicycles for deliveries is the weather. Protect your staff from wind, rain, and cold with sturdy, waterproof uniforms. Be sure to provide different protective cycling clothing for different seasons, too! If you’re concerned about the weather, look into cargo bikes with roofs or umbrellas attached.

Bicycle Options to Optimize Your Deliveries

There are a number of options for delivery bicycles you can invest in for your startup. Here’s a brief look at each, including their differing sustainability. 

Pedal Bikes

Pedal bikes are the traditional option. Entirely manual, they’re the most sustainable in terms of running them, requiring no electricity or fuel. The drawback is that cycling all day on a pedal bike is pretty tiring, and you can’t carry huge loads with you. Delivering groceries, for example, isn’t likely to be easy on one of these. But, for lightweight deliveries, like meals or snacks, it’s a fantastically eco-friendly choice.

E-Bikes

E-bikes are a step up from the old-school pedal bike. A harmonious blend of manual pedals and an electric motor, electric bikes make it easier for cyclists to travel long distances quickly. In terms of daily deliveries, it’ll be much less tiring to get around on an e-bike than a pedal bike!

The only downside is that an e-bike does need electricity to run, which raises the carbon footprint. However, it’s far better than petrol or diesel, and a renewable energy provider will lower the carbon footprint of deliveries even further.

Manufacturing an e-bike has a carbon footprint of between 130-170kg of CO2. This is far less than that of a small car, which is around 5.5 tons.

Cargo Bikes

Cargo bikes are bicycles that are designed to carry more than just a person, and many consider them the future of urban transportation. For food startups, cargo bikes that’ll benefit your company are those with large storage capacities attached to the back that makes it easier for your cyclists to move around with large loads of food. They can do multiple deliveries on one route, or do one delivery of a whole lot of food!

Cargo bikes can be either fully manual or electric. In terms of replacing cars for deliveries, they’re the best option and can cut emissions by 90% compared to diesel vans.

Final Words

As a food startup, enabling deliveries is a fantastic business model to help you keep up with the competition. Hopefully, this article has shed some light on how you can deliver your products whilst reducing your carbon footprint with bicycles. If you’re convinced, keep reading our magazine for more bicycle-related news and advice.