The EU-Startups Podcast | Interview with Tessa Clarke, Co-founder and CEO of Olio

Feb 5, 2026 - 19:00

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Tessa Clarke, Co-founder and CEO of Olio, a community-powered platform built to redistribute surplus food and household items at scale.

Founded in 2015, Olio connects neighbours and local communities to share surplus food and non-food items that would otherwise go to waste. Alongside peer-to-peer sharing, the platform works with major food retailers and organisations, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Pret and Compass Group, to safely redistribute surplus food through a large volunteer network. Today, Olio counts over 9 million users globally and has helped redistribute more than 135 million meals, rehome 15 million household items, and prevent around 300,000 tonnes of CO₂e, combining social impact with measurable environmental outcomes.

Tessa’s journey into entrepreneurship began long before Olio, shaped by growing up on a dairy farm in Yorkshire and later by senior roles at companies such as Dyson and Wonga. In the interview, she reflects on the moment that sparked Olio’s creation, the realities of building a purpose-led startup, the power of volunteer-driven models, why household food waste, which accounts for roughly half of global food waste, remains one of the hardest challenges to solve at scale, and much more!

Key Points

How growing up on a dairy farm shaped Tessa’s views on food, work and waste
The moment that sparked Olio – and how a few sweet potatoes led to a global platform
Lessons from scaling a purpose-led startup from a WhatsApp group to millions of users
Why household food waste is harder to tackle than supply-chain waste
The role of community, volunteers and trust in making circular models work at scale
Where Olio’s peer-to-peer model fits within the wider European FoodTech ecosystem

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