In an effort to further its relationship with startups in the baking world, Europastry reveals the accelerator program Baking the Future through its R & D center Cereal. This journey began with the Baking the Future Challenge launched with Eatable Adventures in June 2019, a competition to find a food-based start-up to help identify “the most innovative and disruptive solutions” to issues faced as an international baking manufacturer.
What is Baking the Future?
Baking the Future is an accelerator for startups in the bakery sector. The goal is to challenge the future of baking by helping startups around the world develop their products, test them in the marketplace and create new business models. With this open innovation model, Cereal focuses on the search for ingredients, raw materials, or processes that reduce or eliminate trans fats, sugars, or solve intolerances and allergies; technologies focused on the reuse of waste, and new business models to improve the consumer experience.
The selected startups will participate in the Baking the Future acceleration program for six months, during which they will receive mentoring, advice and business development.
Call for Projects
Projects can be received until September 5th 2021. The projects will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee, made up of a team appointed by Europastry.
Once a maximum of 5 projects have been selected, startups will be notified of their inclusion in the Baking the Future acceleration program, which will start on 26 September 2021 at CEREAL in Barcelona.
The Demo Day will take place six months later, in March 2022, enabling the startups to present their projects to a network of private investors and highly qualified experts.
What can you expect from the accelerator?
Once the 5 startups are chosen as finalists, they will unlock a world of opportunities to help them develop their business with all necessary tools. These include tailor-made work sessions, available workspace at Cereals’s facilities in Barcelona, specialised mentoring sessions with experts in the bakery-related areas, access to Europastry’s R&D&i department and latest technologies and production on a pilot scale at the facilities.
In addition, expect Europastry’s smart capital in high-tech laboratory concept improvement, access to sensory testing, inspirational sessions and workshops, business plan design, pitch template and refinement, Demo Day preparatory sessions and a communication plan.Baking the Future is located in Barcelona, meaning you will be at the heart of one of the most dynamic foodtech centers in Europe.
You will feel the support from the very start of the program until your project is fully developed and ready to go to market.
Who is behind the program?
Europastry
Europastry is a global leading bakery company. Founded in 1987, it has established itself as one of the most expert and state-of-the-art bakery companies in the sector of frozen dough for bread, rolls, pastries and snacks. With 22 production plants and 26 sales offices around the world, Europastry is currently present in more than 70 countries. In 2020, Europastry reached 686 million euros in turnover and launched more than 400 new products to the market.
Cereal
Cereal is Europastry’s main R&D centre, founded in 2016 in Barcelona. At Cereal, bakers, confectioners, engineers, chemists and nutritionists join forces to cater to the demands and new trends that arise in the market. Europastry’s R&D team launches 400 new products a year and each year develops more than 1,100 projects.
