We recently launched a series of international webinars with the aim of providing a scope of insights from the main pioneers of the food tech industry where we cover the most pressing challenges our food system now faces amid the current covid crisis. In our latest episode we travelled (virtually!) all the way to Israel where we hosted our webinar in collaboration with the Economic and Commercial Mission in the Israeli Embassy in Spain and the Israel Export Institute.
We were joined by four of the most disruptive startups across the Israeli startup ecosystem as we dug into the various solutions young companies can offer across a range of different disciplines during this time through the application of their innovative food technology:
Evigence sensors
This innovative startup provides food freshness information through a small visual chip device which enables the user to see blind spots in the supply chain and can help reduce food waste and offer suppliers and consumers alike ease of mind regarding the safety of food amid the current pandemic. The solution can be applied across the complete supply chain from the producer, to the supplier right to the end user. It’s easy to use and facilitates freshness indication of a range of food stuffs including meat, fruit and even frozen foods. The company have worked with a number of important brands like Mcdonalds, where they designed a number of sensors specially for their frozen buns so they knew when and how to store and serve them.
COVID: In times of covid its important that the full potential of food is activated. Consumers are becoming more cautious about the quality of food they eat – how do they know it’s fresh? How do they know it was stored correctly? This solution offers an easy to use and deployable solution that applies transparency across the food supply chain including remaining shelf life. The added advantage is that it also helps promote more sustainable operations, as sustainability is more on the agenda than ever “waste is becoming even more of an issue”..”using our sensors you can reduce waste dramatically”.
Kitchen robotics
Traditional restaurants haven’t changed dramatically for the last 300 years, gathering ingredients, mixing, chopping, cooking, cleaning…but even before covid first buckled the food industry we started to see a shift in the way restaurants were running their operations. How? Many companies were turning to delivery options like Ubereats and Grubhub, which in turn borned a new trend: dark kitchens. These are off-premise, delivery only operations and Kitchen Robotics was developed in the midst of this shift, offering an automated robotic solution to create a variety of dishes.
The startup offers a four-way solution:
1.collecting 2.cooking 3.serving 4.cleaning with Its hardware capable of creating between 30 to 40 dishes an hour.
“If we solve the issue for dark kitchens the solution will be suitable for other industries as well”
COVID: “Almost every dining solution is trying to make a shift towards dark kitchens”. As restaurants close their doors many owners are looking for new business models to keep afloat amid covid, and this startups solution offers the answer to delivery-only, off-premise and take-away devoted business. Restaurant robotics offers a range of benefits including more efficient and automated operations, reduced labor necessity and increased consistency which is perfect for not only restaurants but other players in the food space like supermarkets, universities and hotels.
SRP analytics
In the business of grocery this startup is providing big data solutions to manufacturers. When you look at local neighbourhood stores you’ll notice they are lacking one thing: technology. They don’t have anything to manage consumer or manufacturer relationships. SRP analytics noticed this white space in the market and built a three-way platform that connects all the stakeholders in the supply chain. The platform collects information like recommendations on what goods the store owner needs to buy or what promotions manufacturers need to follow to sell more orders, and transforms them into insights. Utilizing this technology makes their day-to-day operations easier and helps create new revenue streams.
COVID: With more consumers in lockdown we are seeing an increasingly more digital world. Going online offers consumers a different approach to ordering food. “E-commerce is the king for consumers”. This solution offers the deployment of “different processes with minimal physical interactions.” With larger retailers suffering from extended delivery times, this app provides smaller local stores with more digital abilities and more options for consumers to avoid leaving the house.
Vertical Field
The vertical farming market is growing into a 10 million pound market with increasingly more investment interest and limited spaces for land to deal with overpopulation. This solution offers businesses the chance for a greener transition.
Vertical field has created a vertical farm in a 40 feet container which is controlled by an IT system to help optimize the plants environment. They shorten the supply chain and reduce intermediaries in order to bring the agriculture directly to the retailers and end user. Through this food supply chain short cut, they offer an easy to use platform which facilitates the complete management of the farms and allows establishments like supermarkets a long arm in price and quality, without the need to worry about weather conditions or logistics.
COVID: During the current climate the food supply chain has been frozen, with labor shortages and transportation halted, this solution offers a “grow your own” alternative. You know that the food you will consume has been produced safely and cleanly avoiding human touch and ensuring proper sterilisation. They avoid the use of pesticides and therefore provide fresher and cleaner produce which offer higher nutritional values. It also offers a more sustainable “touch”; these solutions help lower waste to roughly 5-10% for a more efficient supply chain as well as higher yields and constant supply.
Missed this webinar? Check out the video