These are the most promising food start-ups of 2020
Once a year, HAS University of Applied Sciences in Den Bosch hosts a special party for foodies. At the annual Has Food Experience, the latest generation of talent in food and innovation presents their graduation projects. It offers an inspiring glimpse into food trends and the food start-ups that, according to HAS, show the most promise today and tomorrow.
This year, the twelfth edition, produced no fewer than 126 projects. The main themes the students work within reflect what is currently thriving in the food world: healthy lifestyle (a lot of vegan concepts), no waste and, inevitably, sustainability.
Usual suspects
And then you cannot avoid the usual suspects in the ‘hey-have-I-seen-something-like-this-before?’ category. Think of ‘something’ with seaweed, such as S’Weed, a seaweed-based tofu marinade that makes salt unnecessary, or preserved seaweed such as Pickled Seaweed. Ideas to get consumers to eat more vegetables also remain consistently popular. Such as Breakfast Ring, a sweet bagel with hidden vegetables, and Winky’s vegetable pancakes—the pancake version, so to speak, of Magioni Pizza’s vegetable crusts. And there is no shortage of meat substitutes either, such as The Rib Hunter with ‘vegetarian ribs for men’ made from brewer’s grain, a by-product of beer and also the winner in the Green & Tech category.
Zout Maatje
One of the most fun categories is packaging. Who doesn’t recognize the irritation caused by poorly thought-out packaging for everyday supermarket products? This year, the students came up with, among other things, an original ‘Snack Cube’—a recyclable cardboard chip box intended to replace non-recyclable chip bags; easy-to-reseal packaging for rice cakes (handy!); and—a top idea!—a salt shaker called ‘Zout Maatje’, which dispenses 0.3 grams of salt with a single twist, designed to make you more aware of your salt consumption.
Favorites
One of my personal favorites this year was Dabba Dinner, home-delivered vegetarian meals served in dabbas, the familiar stackable stainless-steel Indian version of bento boxes. With separate compartments for rice (and/or naan bread), curry and salad. No more mess caused by jumbled-up home-delivered meals. Dabba Dinner has already been successfully tested on a small scale and operates with a subscription system and a deposit for the dabbas (€10 deposit), which are collected again with every new delivery. A well-deserved winner in the Start-ups & Entrepreneurs category.
Pankora
Another of my favorites was a simple but exceptionally strong product idea: Pakora. Delicious crispy fritters like those eaten in India, but made from misshapen vegetables. Packaged in convenient stand-up pouches, pre-fried and ready quickly in the air fryer or deep fryer. Completely zero-waste proof. And a fantastic snack to serve with drinks.
The overall winner of the 2020 edition was Redhotintercrop, a project commissioned by spice manufacturer Verstegen, in which four students investigated the feasibility of sourcing chili peppers from food forests as an alternative to purchasing them on the global market.
Here you can find the complete list of winners and runners-up.
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