Healthy Eats’ Bankruptcy: What Went Wrong with the Innovative Health Food Startup?

Last week, an offer was requested in the health food startup Healthy Eats, the Bergen company led by Vilde Regine Tellnes.

The company invested heavily in food walls and so-called healthy fast food kiosks at workplaces and in public places.

The company landed its biggest deal to date last year, when it won the tender delivery of food baskets at Haukeland University Hospital.

The food cupboards, or “smart canteens”, were to become adjuncts to the canteens in the hospital. Cabinets were placed around eight different locations in the hospital, where staff could pick up healthy lunch containers.

The offer was submitted for two years, with an option to extend it to five years.

Less than a year later, Healthy Eats had to make an offer. The food cupboards in Haukeland were left empty.

He bought up

Just a week after the breakup, the news came that it was

” /> buys a bankruptcy estate of Healthy Eating.

Managing director Bjørn-Arild Petersen says in a press release that they believe Healthy Eats has excelled with innovative solutions, which will now take them further.

– We celebrate everyone who makes healthy choices in our daily lives easy and accessible. That is why today we are betting on an exciting future with Healthy Eats as part of Lunsj.no, says Petersen.

Vilde Regine Tellnes says the following after it became clear that the company’s bankruptcy estate will be bought:

– I am happy that they are passing the baton with Healthy Eating. It needs to be easier for people to choose healthier food options.

Hoping to take over an agreement

In connection with the acquisition, Lunsj.no hoped to take over and continue the food contract at Haukeland.

When BA spoke to Petersen on Tuesday, he was still hopeful the deal would go ahead.

On the same day he received the news that it is not happening.

– We have now been informed that the agreement will not be continued, and that a new tender will be announced for Helse Bergen. So we are going to close and build the lockers that are in Haukeland, says Petersen to BA.

He admits that they had hoped to continue with the food contract at the hospital.

– Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way, but this is beyond our control, he says.

BA has asked Sykehusinnkjøp, which manages the offers at Haukeland, to comment on this. They did not respond to BA’s questions on Tuesday.

– Hard to find

Outside the hospital’s cafeteria on the third floor, the Healthy Eats food cabinet was empty Tuesday, except for a few bottles of water.

There is a note on the cupboard saying that the company has announced an offer.

While the healthy food cupboard is empty, there are plenty of chocolates and soft drinks in two nearby cupboards.

In the dining room, BA meets Eli Furnes, who recently had an extended stay at the hospital where she had enough time to check out the food available at the hospital.

– At the end of my time, I was able to move around and try many different things, and then I noticed the Healthy Eats bushes, she says.

She chose not to take advantage of the opportunity.

– I didn’t happen to use them. I think maybe the food cupboards were too small to see. Maybe that’s why they’ve been underutilized, she says.

When BA meets her, she and her daughter Eira have bought stew in the hospital canteen.

– I think the food in the canteen is very good and not too expensive. For me, this was the best choice when I wanted something different from what we got in the wards, she says.