A cancelled order or discontinued product line can depart a producer with usable inventory and no apparent purchaser. Refreshi Alternate is growing a B2B market to assist companies discover one other path to market earlier than that stock loses its worth.
A product can lose its place on a grocery store shelf lengthy earlier than it turns into unusable. Packaging adjustments, cancelled orders and selections to discontinue a line can depart suppliers holding items that also have business worth however now not match their authentic gross sales channel.
For South African producers and distributors, discovering another purchaser is a race in opposition to time. The remaining shelf life should accommodate negotiations, transport and the client’s means to make use of or resell the products. As that window narrows, so can the vendor’s choices.
Refreshi Alternate is constructing a business-to-business market round this downside. Its proposition is to attach surplus meals and client items with verified business patrons, giving suppliers an extra approach to get well worth from stock.
In written responses to AfricaBusiness.com, Richard Honeyman, co-founder and chief business officer of Refreshi Alternate, defined each the chance and the challenges of creating a market by which the appropriate patrons have to be accessible for the inventory on provide.
From accessible inventory to accomplished gross sales
In responses equipped on 17 September 2026, Honeyman stated the Alternate had been formally dwell for 2 months following a delicate launch.
In an replace equipped on 5 October 2026, he reported greater than 10 accomplished transactions, 41 verified sellers and 55 lively tons, with slightly below R5 million in surplus stock listed.
The excellence between these figures issues. The determine of slightly below R5 million represented inventory provided on the market, slightly than the worth of accomplished transactions. The corporate didn’t disclose combination gross sales worth or quantity. In his September responses, Honeyman stated it was too early to report a significant sell-through price.
“From day one our focus has been on constructing the right combination of product classes, not chasing uncooked sign-up numbers,” he stated.
For a surplus market, a rising catalogue is just one a part of the enterprise. Patrons should need the merchandise accessible, be capable to settle for the portions provided and have sufficient time to place them to make use of.
The platform’s early problem is subsequently to develop a sufficiently assorted community of patrons. Extra listings can create extra alternatives, however they don’t robotically produce accomplished gross sales.
Why surplus develops earlier than merchandise expire
Honeyman recognized overproduction as a typical purpose for surplus, together with circumstances the place demand forecasts exceed precise gross sales. Minimal manufacturing runs at producers and contract producers may generate extra stock independently of forecasting accuracy.
Cancelled orders and packaging adjustments create additional problems. A product should still be usable, but now not match the necessities of the client or retail channel for which it was produced.
Retailers’ personal acceptance home windows may depart suppliers looking for alternate options. In response to Honeyman, a product can have six months or extra of remaining shelf life and nonetheless fall exterior a specific retailer’s necessities. He additionally described discontinued traces provided via the Alternate with greater than a 12 months remaining.
These examples broaden the dialogue past last-minute clearance of near-expiry items. They present how adjustments in business preparations can create surplus properly earlier than a product reaches the top of its usable life.
For suppliers, recognising that state of affairs early leaves extra time to discover a appropriate purchaser and negotiate a workable value.
Discovering patrons for various sorts of surplus
Commodity merchandise have been simpler to maneuver than some manufactured, branded items, Honeyman stated. An ingredient that a number of companies can use could have a broader potential market than a completed product aimed toward a specific buyer group.
“On the client aspect we’re equally targeted on getting the right combination, since a slender purchaser base means surplus tends to funnel into the identical few classes,” he stated.
Honeyman described an unnamed worldwide producer with recurring surplus of a commodity {that a} restaurant chain may buy for its personal operations. The restaurant enterprise additionally had a retail product line struggling to maneuver via conventional channels, making it a possible vendor in addition to a purchaser.
The instance illustrates how the identical enterprise can take part on each side of a secondary market. Nevertheless, the corporate didn’t provide transaction values, portions or supporting information, so the monetary outcomes can’t be quantified from the data offered.
In his September responses, Honeyman stated exercise was concentrated in Gauteng, though the Alternate operated nationally. The precedence was to deepen home buying and selling exercise and broaden the client community, with no lively plans to broaden past South Africa.
What makes a secondary sale worthwhile?
The value of surplus relies upon partly on how a lot time stays to discover a purchaser. Honeyman stated items with longer remaining shelf life could be provided at costs meant to draw patrons whereas preserving some margin for sellers. Reductions are inclined to deepen as that window closes.
The corporate didn’t present a typical low cost vary or a measured price of worth restoration.
For a vendor, the business calculation extends past the agreed value. Transport, dealing with, storage and any transaction prices have an effect on the quantity finally recovered. A sale that appears engaging earlier than these prices could ship a a lot smaller profit as soon as the products have modified palms.
Patrons face the same calculation. They should assess the whole delivered value and whether or not they can use or resell the inventory throughout the time accessible. A low buy value alone doesn’t make a consignment commercially helpful.
Because the Alternate develops, accomplished gross sales, time to sale, repeat purchases and sellers’ web restoration shall be extra informative measures of its efficiency than the worth of stock listed.
Belief stays important to the transaction
Honeyman stated private relationships stay necessary when bringing South African companies onto the platform. Sellers and patrons usually desire a face-to-face introduction earlier than committing to a brand new buying and selling channel.
The corporate’s processes additionally rely upon product info and verification. In response to Honeyman, inventory stays with the vendor whereas listed, and sellers should file best-before dates and batch numbers. The platform checks purchaser identification and legitimacy earlier than onboarding.
Sellers decide their most well-liked shelf-life thresholds and whether or not to pursue resale or one other route, together with donation. These are the corporate’s descriptions of its working procedures; unbiased assessments of storage circumstances and cold-chain efficiency weren’t equipped.
For collaborating companies, the sensible questions stay particular to every consignment: its situation, location, dealing with necessities, supply preparations and suitability for the meant use.
“The info on accessible surplus already exists inside producers’ programs, it’s merely by no means been made seen or actionable at scale,” Honeyman stated.
Making that info accessible may also help companies establish alternatives. Changing a possibility right into a profitable transaction nonetheless requires confidence within the product, the counterparty and the supply course of.
The broader food-loss problem
A CSIR research printed in 2021 estimated South Africa’s annual meals losses and waste at 10.3 million tonnes. That was equal to 34.3% of native manufacturing or roughly 45% of obtainable meals provide after accounting for imports and exports. Processing and packaging accounted for 49% of the estimated complete.
The calculations used common food-supply portions for 2014–2018. They supply historic context slightly than a measurement of meals waste in 2026.
The nationwide estimate additionally can’t be handled as the amount accessible for business resale. Losses happen for various causes, and the CSIR briefing notes that some materials is diverted into animal feed and different non-food makes use of.
A surplus market addresses a extra particular alternative: items that stay appropriate to be used however want another purchaser. It may well sit alongside donation and different acceptable routes, whereas companies proceed to deal with the causes of avoidable surplus.
Refreshi Alternate’s early expertise highlights the work concerned in creating that market. Figuring out accessible inventory is the start line. Its business worth will depend on discovering patrons who can act in time, finishing transactions reliably and leaving individuals with a purpose to return.
This text is predicated on written responses from Richard Honeyman equipped to AfricaBusiness.com on 17 September 2026 and an replace equipped on 5 October 2026. Enterprise figures and examples are company-reported. Nationwide food-loss estimates come from the CSIR’s Could 2021 briefing, “Rising dependable, scientific information and data on meals losses and waste in South Africa.”
