Today’s Startup of the Day is Shelf Engine.

Shelf Engine helps businesses increase sales by accurately predicting the perfect amount of perishable goods to order, thus reducing food waste. Shelf Engine uses machine learning and proprietary, predictive models to generate the most accurate orders for stores — growing sales and margins and reducing waste and labor requirements.

Shelf Engine was founded by Stefan Kalb and Bede Jordan. Stefan discovered the problem of food waste firsthand while running Molly’s, a grab & go food company he started in 2009. By 2014 Stefan had grown the company to over 400 regional retail locations, but ordering accurately proved to be challenging. Molly’s food waste was at 28% and was eating into their bottom line. Hungry for a better solution, Stefan talked to his friend Bede about the problem. They were able to build a model and app to considerably improve perishable food forecasting. The result? Cutting Molly’s food waste in half, down to 13%. Today Shelf Engine is managing orders for top grocers in thousands of stores nationwide.