In recent years, people from every corner of the world started noticing meat consumption's negative impact. Considering the animal abuse in factory farms, this created a shift in the overall global diet, turning veganism into an accepted, even popular, choice.

Way before the internet started to bloom, vegetarianism and veganism weren’t nearly as recognized or understood. People believed they stood for eating raw vegetables and fruits or food with a blunt taste, with no variety of other products to choose from.

The fast-paced life wasn’t making things easier, directing people to reach for fast food instead of home-cooked meals. As a self-conscious individual personally affected by the busy life we all live, Andrew Levitt decided to take control of this problem.

After discovering how much his eating habits affected the disease he was fighting, Andrew drastically changed his diet. Wanting to share his idea, Andrew founded a company - Purple Carrot - in hopes of changing the lives of others like him.

How It All Began

Ever since he was a child, Andrew was an extrovert who exhibited entrepreneurial dreams and characteristics. His willingness to succeed and be a business owner followed him later in life and brought him to the foundation of Purple Carrot. Before starting the company, Andrew was in the pharmaceutical sector for 20 years and enjoyed his job. Yet, an unfortunate event turned his life upside down and inspired Andrew to create something bigger than himself.

In 2012, Andrew Levitt was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. He was prescribed a therapy that should better his condition. Yet, it wasn’t until he noticed that shifting his regular diet towards plant-based meals affected how he felt; moreover, it drastically changed the state of his disease.

While fighting his disease and thinking of creative solutions for his health problems, Andrew couldn’t shake the need to help others who face the same challenges. Wishing to share his experience with the world, Andrew Levitt founded Purple Carrot two years after being diagnosed.

After long hours with doctors and specialists on this topic, a plant-based diet delivery company was created. Not long after its founding, Purple Carrot expanded its services on the market. It reached thousands of people who desperately needed to change their lifestyles and improve their condition from the same or similar diseases.

The Foundation of Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot was founded by the end of 2014, as a plant-based meal kit company, with Andrew as a founder and CEO. Purple Carrot's aim, since day one, was to shift people’s mindsets about eating veggies and vegan food and find alternative solutions to the food delivery process.

The first motive of Purple Carrot was, and still is, health. Purple Carrot meals have been clinically tested and proven to help people lower their cholesterol in just 4 weeks. Also, a vegetarian or vegan diet is a possible solution to minimizing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The second goal behind Purple Carrot's foundation is our planet's well-being. Countless examples prove how effective a plant-based diet is for global warming. Purple Carrot aims to motivate people to reduce their CO2 emissions and general waste.

The carbon released in the atmosphere from producing plant-based meals is lower by approximately 70% compared to the releases that result from the average American meal, which includes meat. Also, water usage gets lowered by around 50%, which is quite the impact if we look at the statistics that 660 gallons of water are required for just one burger.

So far, Andrew’s initiative has reached its primary goals. Not only can people have healthy food at their doorsteps, but there is a variety they can choose from at Purple Carrot. There are over 20,000 edible plants on our planet. And while we can’t even start to imagine all the dietary possibilities, Purple Carrot is actively trying.

The Plant-Based Market & The Challenge It Posed

The real challenge for a company like Purple Carrot was to differentiate in the plant-based market, which had a sudden growth. Since people started becoming more aware of the importance of proper nutrition in their lives, new plant-based delivery companies began to emerge. This increased the competition for Purple Carrot and made the company bring their A-game and deliver even better services.

Creating a different menu that would keep the choice interesting for customers was a challenge too. Offering a different approach to cooking vegetables with new and more diverse recipes kept Purple Carrot afloat in this hectic market for a very long time.

Actions Drive Results

“Our plant-based revolution is fueled by infectious ideas that just might make the world better if we work together.”

Andrew is definitely striving toward a better tomorrow with every new service that his company introduces. Starting his company from zero and pushing it forward was only possible because of their noble cause.

Learning how hard life is with a chronic disease and how little it takes to bring a positive change into someone's life, Andrew wasn’t ready to keep his dietary solution to himself. By founding Purple Carrot and being the driving force behind the company, Andrew inspired a change in many people’s mindsets about how they view food and how they should consume it.

Food Consumption

The action that they primarily put the spotlight on is the alleviation of the food industry. Every day, an enormous amount of food is thrown away in the US alone. This is a well-known problem, as the imbalance of consumption, waste, and hunger could never be brought to stability.

A great number of Americans are hungry each day while tons of food is being thrown away - and Purple Carrot works towards diminishing this problem.

Carbon Footprint to Bare Minimum

Decreasing the carbon footprint is one of the many goals Andrew had envisioned when he established Purple Carrot.

That is why the packaging of the delivered food is 100% recyclable. It was created as a tool to minimize the environmental impact plastic has. Purple Carrot’s packaging is made from 95% post-consumer materials and recycled cellulose paper that are totally disposable and of no harm to the planet. Andrew brought this initiative after the meal kits started to take off, and a greater reduction of plastics was set as a goal.

Purple Carrot also has its own branding of clothes, some completely organic, aiming to inspire people to use clothes from 100% organic materials.

Funding & Finances

Purple Carrot is an example company that works even for the good of those that are not yet ready to turn to veganism. Andrew started the company with minimal funds, but his ambition, paired with a knack for leading a business, brought the company to overcome all challenges.

Funding was a particularly big issue for Purple Carrot. Although, today, many companies offer plant-based meal deliveries, Andrew’s business was among the first of its kind in the US.

However, Andrew was confident in his mission, and with the help of his team, he successfully attracted 5 big investors to support his dream. In total, Purple Carrot has acquired $13.8 million from external funding.

The company went through 5 funding rounds. The latest funding was from a Corporate round at the end of April 2020, bringing $910,000 in investments.

All the funds were directed towards further developing carbon-free delivery kits and creating new and improved Purple Carrot products.

Purple Carrot Today

Almost a decade after its founding, Purple Carrot is going strong and continuously changing the lifestyle of thousands of people. Andrew Levitt is still the driving force behind the company, posing as the founder and CEO.

The company is headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts, United States, and currently has around 80 employees.

The Focus - More Convenient Plant-Based Meals

Purple Carrot is sharing its success and teaming up with other companies sharing the same goals, exchanging exciting recipes for more convenient plant-based meals, and coming up with new ideas. The company is skipping the fake meat production and focusing on what is already given to us as a gift from the earth, ultimately delivering a new approach to veganism.

Thousands of customers depend on Purple Carrots’ services daily, and even more are inspired to lead a better life, eat healthily and reduce their overall carbon footprint. Andrew's story exemplifies how even the worst challenges have a silver lining and can inspire you to bring a positive change into the world. But in order to do great things, first, start with yourself and start small.