Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves!
Cornelia Weinzierl: I’m Cornelia, 23 years old, and the co-founder and CEO of Melon. We’re a digital platform where you can share and enjoy homemade vegan food with the people living near you. As a community platform, we address the current topics of sustainability and a well-balanced diet and provide nationwide dining options that make a more diverse society possible.
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Cornelia Weinzierl: Making it possible to change our eating habits in a practical way is dear to our hearts. We want to become a leader in a sustainable shift in how we eat, break down stereotypes and make a diverse society possible. That is exactly what we do with Melon: We bring all sorts of different people together to enjoy homemade vegan food together.
Community spirit despite corona
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Cornelia Weinzierl: Melon is the only digital concept on the German market that makes it possible to share vegan food. Sharing meals is a fundamental aspect of our existence and one of the most important ways that people come together. It was time to move this concept of sharing into our digital era.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Cornelia Weinzierl: Our biggest challenge was obviously corona (ironically, since we launched our community platform right at the beginning of the pandemic). Because: Coming together as a community during corona, is that even possible? We think so, definitely! Now is the perfect time to try out new recipes, use our “to go” option and support each other so we can find culinary and social variety right in our very own neighborhoods.
The issue of financing also put us to the test, but we quickly found an answer: Right from the first design of our platform, we had support from our investor Stefan Höglmaier and with Melon were able to aim at being a project that’s globally scalable.
The third challenge was definitely putting together the right team. But we consider ourselves fortunate, since we have a fantastic, motivated and diverse team and flat hierarchies.
“Melon unites the best of what Munich’s startup culture has to offer”
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, and where in five years?
Cornelia Weinzierl: Our goal for this year is to establish a diverse and continuous range of offers in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. Our focus is currently on Munich and the surrounding area and on expanding our reach across Germany. That’s why we’re really excited about being a part of VeggieWorld Berlin, Hamburg and Munich this year. In the next five years, we want to continue to expand into the European market with a specific focus on Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Munich Startup: What do you think about Munich as a startup location?
Cornelia Weinzierl: Munich has a strong startup culture – there’s a lot going on in the tech and B2B sectors in particular. Melon unites the best of what Munich’s startup culture has to offer: food, sustainability and technology.
Munich Startup: Cook for yourself or have someone cook for you?
Cornelia Weinzierl: That’s tough to say, both are great! But I do love booking offers on Melon. To see how the dishes are prepared with so much love and dedication makes me so incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far and gives me an amazing amount of positive energy for what’s yet to come.