Why Leanpath and Winnow stop at the kitchen door

The food waste technology market has two distinct categories, and they are often conflated in ways that lead to poor procurement decisions.

The first category is measurement tools. Winnow and Leanpath are the leading examples. Both use photo logging or computer vision to identify food waste at the point of disposal, categorise it by food type, and generate analytics on patterns, quantities, and reduction opportunities. They are well-designed products with genuine value for kitchen operations teams.

The second category is redistribution platforms. These connect the food that would have been wasted to the people and organisations that can use it. The food moves. The impact is social and environmental, not just operational.

Zipli is in the second category. But it also does the measurement. And that combination, measurement plus redistribution in a single platform, is what creates something the first category cannot: a complete chain of custody.

Why chain of custody matters for CSRD

CSRD’s ESRS E5 framework requires food waste reporting to be traceable. For large catering operators, this means demonstrating not just that food waste was reduced, but what happened to the food identified as surplus.

Food that was measured and then went to bio-waste is a waste event. Food that was measured and then donated is a surplus redistribution event. These are different entries in a CSRD report. A measurement-only tool can document the first part of this story. It cannot document the second, because the redistribution happens outside the platform. The chain of custody is broken.

Zipli closes the chain. The log entry and the donation are the same event. The data trail runs from the moment of logging to the moment of delivery at the redistribution hub, in a single auditable record.

The hardware question

Winnow requires dedicated hardware at each waste point: scales, cameras, tablet computers. Leanpath’s Tracker product also relies on hardware installation. For a catering chain with dozens or hundreds of sites, this creates significant onboarding friction, capital cost, and ongoing maintenance overhead.

Zipli is mobile-first. The kitchen manager’s phone is the device. No hardware installation. No capital expenditure. Onboarding a new site takes minutes, not days. Kitchen staff who use a tool because it genuinely fits their workflow produce consistent data.

References: Winnow · Leanpath · CSRD ESRS E5.