In today’s volatile market, food brands face a double challenge: keeping operational costs under control while staying aligned with increasingly demanding consumers. With retail margins often hovering below 5%, even small inefficiencies in inventory, pricing, or demand forecasting can significantly erode profitability. At the same time, over 70% of consumers expect brands to anticipate their needs and deliver personalized experiences.
Retail analytics is emerging as a strategic enabler, empowering food companies to reduce stock imbalances, optimize pricing, and anticipate demand in real time. For corporations looking to drive both efficiency and relevance, embracing data-driven tools is no longer optional. It’s a competitive necessity.
From managing stock levels and shelf freshness to decoding fast-changing trends, the brands that thrive are those leveraging data to make smarter, faster decisions. And it’s not just big retailers driving this shift — the entire agri-food chain is under pressure to become more efficient, transparent, and resilient..
A new wave of startups is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, blending AI, IoT, real-time consumer insights and blockchain-based traceability to transform the way food products are managed, displayed, and trusted.
Cognitiwe
AI-powered freshness and stock monitoring
Cognitiwe uses AI-driven image and video analytics from in-store cameras to monitor food freshness and optimize stock levels in real time. Their smart retail platform helps food brands reduce spoilage, keep shelves fully stocked, and ensure the right products are available when consumers want them. This not only cuts waste-related costs but also improves shelf efficiency.
Trusty
Blockchain-based food traceability and integrity
Trusty has developed a blockchain-powered platform that captures and verifies product data from farm to shelf. By ensuring the authenticity and quality of food products, brands can identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and strengthen ESG compliance. This real-time, tamper-proof traceability builds consumer trust and differentiates brands in an increasingly transparent market.
Tastewise
Real-time consumer intelligence for food trends
Tastewise has developed a powerful AI platform that analyses millions of data points on flavours, diets, and eating habits. Food brands use these insights to adapt product offerings, launch trend-driven innovations faster, and reduce the guesswork in R&D and marketing. The result is lower development costs and higher consumer relevance.
RELEX Solutions
AI-driven retail planning and inventory optimisation
RELEX Solutions provides an integrated platform for demand forecasting, inventory management and store execution. Their AI technology helps food brands and retailers minimize spoilage, automate safety stock levels, and improve order accuracy, delivering up to a 40% reduction in food waste. This unified approach boosts profitability and sustainability.
Supy
Data-driven inventory management for foodservice
Supy offers a suite of connected modules that combine inventory tracking, demand forecasting and waste reduction. By leveraging AI and predictive analytics, Supy empowers restaurants and food operators to maintain optimal stock levels and quickly adapt to changing demand. This smarter inventory management improves cost control and supports sustainability goals.
As the retail landscape grows more complex, one thing is clear: food brands that harness real-time data, AI, and traceability tools are not just cutting waste and operational costs — they’re building the agility and consumer trust needed to thrive in a volatile market. However, the future doesn’t lie in isolated innovations. It lies in the convergence of technologies — where analytics, connectivity, and intelligence combine to unlock exponential impact. In this new paradigm, 1 + 1 is not 2 — it’s 10.
At Eatable Adventures, we go beyond identifying promising startups. We act as architects of transformational solutions, designing ecosystems where corporate capabilities and cutting-edge innovation converge to reshape the agri-food system. The companies that embrace retail analytics today won’t just stay ahead, they will define what’s next.
