Approved Food
Approved Food is a UK-based e-commerce retailer that sells clearance, short-dated and surplus food and drink at discounted prices directly to price-sensitive British consumers via its owned website approvedfood.co.uk. Founded in 2007 in Sheffield, the company operates a niche, value-led online grocery model focused on reducing food waste.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersSheffield, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Approved Food does
Approved Food is a UK-based direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer specialising in clearance, short-dated and surplus food and drink, selling discounted grocery items year-round through its website approvedfood.co.uk. The company targets price-sensitive UK consumers willing to purchase food approaching or past its best-before date in exchange for materially lower prices, a model also associated with reduced food waste. It was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Sheffield, operating with a small team of 11–50 employees.
The core business model is procurement arbitrage: Approved Food sources excess, discontinued or near-expiry stock from manufacturers, brand owners and wholesalers at deep discounts, then resells the inventory through its own online storefront at prices materially below mainstream supermarket equivalents. Fulfilment, pricing and merchandising are run in-house, and the company relies on a single owned web channel rather than third-party marketplaces based on available data. Public materials emphasise ongoing low-price positioning across ambient, chilled and grocery categories.
Approved Food is a private, for-profit company and has raised a single disclosed funding round of approximately $202,102 in December 2017 from undisclosed investors. There is no further disclosed capital activity, ownership structure, leadership team, partnership footprint, or financial detail in the source material. As a result, revenue, profitability and growth rate cannot be reliably inferred from the input; the firm should be characterised as a small, established niche e-commerce operator with limited publicly observable corporate development.
Approved Food firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Approved Food
- Website
- https://approvedfood.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Approved Food is a UK-based e-commerce retailer that sells clearance, short-dated and surplus food and drink at discounted prices directly to price-sensitive British consumers via its owned website approvedfood.co.uk. Founded in 2007 in Sheffield, the company operates a niche, value-led online grocery model focused on reducing food waste.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Approved Food is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sheffield
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Approved Food business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel
Approved Food product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Approved Food is an online retailer that sells clearance, short-dated, and surplus food and drink products at discounted prices throughout the year. The company sources end-of-line, near-expiry, and overstocked grocery inventory from manufacturers and resells it directly to consumers through its e-commerce website, approvedfood.co.uk.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Clearance Food and Drink
Companies that use Approved Food
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Approved Food technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Approved Food partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves2 records
Expansion highlights1 record
Approved Food competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- MuscleFood: UK-based online retailer selling clearance and discounted protein/lean meat directly to consumers via e-commerce. Closest comparable business model to Approved Food, focused on short-dated and surplus meat packs sold at discount online.
Broad incumbents
- Iceland Foods: UK frozen food discounter operating supermarkets plus The Food Warehouse bulk-discount arm. Overlaps with Approved Food on discount pricing and frozen/short-dated food handling but offers a much wider frozen grocery range and a physical store footprint.
- Aldi UK: UK arm of one of Europe's largest hard-discount supermarket chains. Competes on price/value food proposition to UK consumers; broader range but increasingly overlapping on discount food positioning.
- Lidl UK: UK arm of the German hard-discount supermarket. Competes with Approved Food for price-sensitive UK grocery shoppers via aggressive everyday low pricing across an expanding UK store estate.
- B&M: UK-listed discount variety retailer with significant grocery and short-dated food assortment across hundreds of stores. Overlaps with Approved Food on discount food and clearance-style buying but operates physical rather than online-only.
Regional players
- Farmfoods: UK frozen food discounter with a regional store base. Comparable value-led positioning and reliance on frozen/short-dated inventory, though distributed through physical stores rather than e-commerce like Approved Food.
- Home Bargains: UK discount variety chain selling groceries including short-dated and clearance food lines. Compares on discount food assortment but is primarily UK regional bricks-and-mortar rather than e-commerce-led.
- Netto UK: Limited-footprint UK discount supermarket operated in partnership. Comparable hard-discount value proposition to UK consumers, though geographically narrow versus mainstream discounters.
Emerging players
- Too Good To Go: European surplus-food marketplace connecting consumers with restaurants and retailers to rescue unsold food. Conceptually aligned with Approved Food's waste-reduction and clearance pricing narrative but operates as a marketplace app rather than an owned-inventory e-commerce retailer.
Others
- Approved Wholesale: UK trade supplier of clearance and short-dated food to businesses. Adjacent to Approved Food within the same clearance food supply ecosystem and indicative of shared upstream suppliers, but serves B2B rather than the consumer-facing e-commerce model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Approved Food social profiles
Digital presenceApproved Food financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Approved Food leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Approved Food funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Approved Food M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Approved Food
What does Approved Food do?
Approved Food is an online retailer that sells clearance, short-dated, and surplus food and drink products at discounted prices throughout the year. The company sources end-of-line, near-expiry, and overstocked grocery inventory from manufacturers and resells it directly to consumers through its e-commerce website, approvedfood.co.uk.
When was Approved Food founded?
Approved Food was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Approved Food based?
Approved Food is headquartered in Sheffield, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
Who are Approved Food's main competitors?
MuscleFood is listed as a direct peer. Broad incumbents are Iceland Foods, Aldi UK, Lidl UK and B&M. Regional players are Farmfoods, Home Bargains and Netto UK. Too Good To Go is listed as an emerging player. Approved Wholesale is listed as an others.
Does Approved Food have an API?
No public API is recorded for Approved Food.