Today we visited FoodCloud. It was great to hear about how FoodCloud operates, and it was very interesting that they had such close ties to Pittsburgh. They showcased their connection to 412 Food Rescue, which is centered in Pittsburgh. FoodCloud modeled some of their business after them, which was very fascinating to learn about.

From our visit, I can tell that FoodCloud is highly connected to their community. This stems from their mission as a business. The entire goal of their business is to give back to their community by helping others who may not have the capacity to buy food. Everything they do is about helping their community, and due to this, they are highly connected to them.

The aspect of their business model that makes them so successful is their innovative way to obtain food. As displayed through our site visit, FoodCloud had two different sections of their warehouse that sectioned food from overstock on one side, and on the other, a fund in which they could buy the food. While they do make profits, all of that money is invested back into the business to better help the business and their community, which is something that also sets them apart from other businesses. Finally, they seem to be the only company in the community that operates a business in this manner. While they are not a food bank, they operate to help them, and that is very unique about their business model.

I believe the most innovative aspect of FoodCloud’s business is technology that they use in order to operate their business. During the visit, he mentioned that some people could consider FoodCloud to be a technology company, and that they make all of their tech in-house. This was very interesting to hear because they are not a large business who have lots of employees to create and operate the app that they created. Overall, I had a great time learning about FoodCloud!