I love the ethos behind Eat My Lunch. Changing something as simple as the act of eating lunch to create a massive social impact.
The Eat My Lunch crew are skilled brand builders, chefs, and doers – and they’ve built a pretty kick ass team and crowd around them. [ed note: Anna, put some money in the swear jar]
I met Lisa, Iaan and Michael last year when they were still crammed in a family home making hundreds (if not thousands) of lunches a morning. I rocked up at just before 6:30am to a quiet and dark street in Mt Eden. There was another confused looking chap outside the house, checking his phone to see if he was actually in the right place. When we made our way inside, we were embraced by a hive of activity that belied the fact it wasn’t even 7am. And, we got put to work.
For months, Lisa and Iaan welcomed dozens of new people into their home every morning, and Michael provided instructions on what needed to be made (and where). They had early support from the likes of Lorde, Mini Cooper and even the actors on Shortland Street. And, then they turned their morning military precision towards a crowdfunding campaign a few months after launch.
When they crowdfunded last year they were our most pledged to campaign – with over 2,500 pledgers rallying around to help them move from their home kitchen to a professional set up.
In less than a year, they’ve already gifted 150,000 lunches to kids in need in Auckland and now Hamilton, but they want to go bigger. With the help of their crowd, we think that they are about to go next level again – looking to borrow money transparently off their crowd to expand their business even further.
We’re excited that the first campaign we will launch on PledgeMe.Lend will be Eat My Lunch.
And, I’m personally excited because Eat My Lunch are proving a few things that I hold dear:
- That there are women CEOs out there making good companies happen.
- That you can create a social enterprise in New Zealand that has a big impact
- That you can focus local and be successful
- That you can bring together a diverse set of backgrounds to make something truly beautiful happen.
Want to learn more about their campaign? Sign up to their newsletter here. Read about their campaign in the news here.
