FoodMaven, a company born in Colorado Springs with plans at one point to bring its online marketplace for surplus food to 100 cities nationwide, has downsized and shifted direction after facing crushing “headwinds” during the pandemic.

Now based in Denver, FoodMaven has received $2 million to finance its shift from being a wholesale provider of surplus food to developing an online platform to help wholesale food buyers compare prices for items like meat and produce that vary in size and weight.

The company last year sold off wholesaling operations in Colorado and Texas and this year launched a test version of its online price shopping platform, FoodMaven CEO Ben Deda said.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had hindered the company from reaching “critical mass” in its original plans.

FoodMaven launching retail food sales in Colorado Springs, Denver, Dallas

“We needed to get to critical mass, and we had a lot of headwinds during COVID, so we had to put it (the expansion) to a stop,” Deda said.

“Our team of seven (employees) is focused on our new business model, which is using the technology we developed to help buyers in the food service industry more easily compare prices for non-standard items. We standardize that data to make comparisons easier.”

FoodMaven employed dozens of people in Colorado Springs, Denver and Dallas in early 2020, but stay-at-home orders early during the pandemic forced restaurants to close for months to indoor dining and prompted the company to begin selling surplus food directly to consumers. As waves of COVID cases continued into last year, FoodMaven sold the Dallas operation in March 2021 and the Colorado operations in April.

FoodMaven lands $15.3 million for Texas expansion

To aid its shift to a food price comparison platform, FoodMaven landed $2 million late last month from Serra Ventures, a Champaign, Ill., venture fund that specializes in technology startups, and Boulder-based investment firm Trailhead Capital, which specializes in food and agricultural startups.

The company’s remaining staff now work remotely in the Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs areas. Deda said much of the funding will be spent during the next 18 to 24 months expanding the company’s engineering, sales and marketing operations, including adding up to four employees later this year as FoodMaven launches the online platform nationwide. The platform will be free but will have additional “premium” features in a paid version, he said.

Colorado Springs-based FoodMaven names new CEO

FoodMaven grew out of a food rescue group started in 2014 by a Colorado College student. That idea blossomed into an online marketplace that sold surplus food bought from grocery stores and food distributors to more than 300 restaurants, institutional kitchens and commercial food-preparation businesses along the Front Range and the state’s mountain resorts.

The company raised more than $34 million from investment groups linked to the wealthy Bass, Pritzker and Walton families, who remain investors in FoodMaven, to finance its expansion. Co-founder and former CEO Patrick Bultema once said he wanted to “do to the food industry what Uber did to the taxi industry.”