Fresho: Fresh food meets frictionless tech

We may live in a technologically advanced society, but for many sectors, manual operations are still the primary way of dealing with business.

Nowhere is this perhaps more true than in the food wholesale industry, where most food orders are still placed between 6pm and 2am, often over voicemail, says James Andronis, co-founder of Melbourne-founded startup, Fresho.

“Then someone has to transcribe 200-plus orders, often making mistakes that lead to waste and unhappy customers. With Fresho, all of that is automated.”

Andronis, who spent 25 years in the seafood business, is more than well-equipped to transform the fresh food business. Fresho, which he founded with Huw Birrell (who has a background in tech and finance) began with a simple idea: to make it easier for fresh food wholesalers and hospitality venues to do business.

“We’re passionate about reducing the stress, waste and inefficiency that has long plagued this industry,” Andronis says. “This was the tech solution I wish I’d had.”

Fresh food meets frictionless tech

Since launching in 2015, Fresho has grown into a global B2B platform that connects thousands of fresh food suppliers with chefs and restaurants across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and the United States.

Fresho’s intuitive digital tools help seafood, meat and fruit and vegetable wholesalers move away from error-prone manual systems and into a streamlined digital workflow.

That means managing everything from orders and picking to delivery, invoicing and payments – often replacing voicemails, faxes and handwritten notes with a few clicks or swipes.

Slashing time and waste

For chefs and restaurateurs, this translates to easier ordering, clearer communication and real-time access to product availability and pricing. For suppliers it means fewer errors, more time and better relationships with clients.

Andronis cites the example of one UK wholesaler, Fisher & Woods, who reduced admin time by 50 hours a week by digitising their order intake, which allowed the company to move staff from overnight phone duties to building customer relationships and boosting sales. Other suppliers have reported reduced food waste and smoother cash flow.

Fresho is now piloting tools to measure its impact on food waste reduction – a growing focus as hospitality businesses face pressure to cut emissions and run more sustainably. “We’re building a way to help suppliers link waste reduction to real dollar outcomes,” says Sarah Rumbold, Fresho’s Chief People Officer.

Preparing for scale

Having raised over $30 million in investmentment – including a $17 million Series B round in late 2024 – Fresho is expanding fast. Its London office has been operating for five years, and the team is now preparing for a major push into the US market from September 2025.

To help scale the business effectively, Fresho recently joined LaunchVic’s 30X30 program – a strategic coaching initiative designed to support Victoria’s next generation of global tech companies.

“Scaling brings its own challenges,” says Andronis. “One of the biggest things for me was learning how to prioritise and being a bit brutal with ourselves, asking the question: ‘if we don’t do this now, what’s the impact?’ And if the answer is not a lot, then why are we doing it?”

Rumbold adds that the program helped her clarify what she needed to do to scale effectively into the US – “the build required for that market entry is huge; just setting up payroll in the US is hugely complex” – and prioritise accordingly.

“I was getting really stretched across my current workload and all of the US work … and 30X30 allowed me to sit back and question if I could do all of these things that strategically were great … but perhaps not the most important right now.”

Both praised the open, honest environment of 30X30, where founders shared real challenges without the polish. “It was refreshing,” says Andronis. “You’re not dancing around problems – you’re solving them.”