On 12th Oct 2022, we hosted our third FoodTech Meetup in our Milan Hub, in partnership with Talent Garden. After our last event dedicated to Alternative Protein, we decided to deep dive into the Foodservice tech area.

We brought together a mix of FoodTech startups, Foodservice operators and investors to delve into the topic of how technology is transforming the Foodservice industry and what are the challenges and opportunities ahead. The room was packed, and we absolutely enjoyed sharing, learning, and enabling meaningful connections among like-minded people who want to create a positive impact on our food system.

The event was brought together in partnership with Appetite for Disruption and TheFoodCons.

Check out a few pictures of the event here

 

Foodservice tech sector overview

Over the past few years, and even more with the pandemic, the Foodservice industry has transformed dramatically.

According to our FoodTech Data Navigator database, there are more than 900+ companies active in ‘Foodservice technology’ space globally, representing 12% of the global AgriFoodTech ecosystem in number of companies. 

These companies have cumulately raised almost €19.5B in the capital since 2012, representing 11% of the AgriFoodTech sector’s total funding to date.

But what are we talking about exactly?

In our own definition, ‘Foodservice tech’ includes everything that is bringing the sector into the digital age and changes how businesses process, prepare, serve food and interact with consumers.

Looking at our FoodTech Data Navigator database, this is how we could divide this sector.

FOODSERVICE TECH: technologies and applications

Source: FoodTech Data Navigator

The speakers

Bryan Natavio, CEO & Co-founder at Deliverart

Pursuing innovation has been a constant in his 7 years of experience managing restaurants in Rome as a Food Consultant. During that time, he witnessed the rise of the food delivery model as we know it today, and he worked side by side with restaurants to introduce digitization into traditional businesses. This job helped him to have a privileged perspective on Food Delivery, Operations Management, Store Management, Sales, and New Store Openings. 

His engineering background helped him see a massive opportunity in this industry and motivated him to start his entrepreneurial path. Supporting local companies with his organisational skills and seeing them thrive is why Deliverart was created. Deliverart is a smart channel manager that consolidates every home delivery order a restaurant receives into a single platform. It is the answer to digital confusion and fragmentation in the Food & Beverage industry, to take digitization to the next level and get the best out of food deliveries. 

 

Francesco Medda, CEO at Tilby

Born in 1986, a background as a developer and then founder of the Scloby cloud point of sale, now part of the Zucchetti group and known in 5 countries around the world as Tilby. Tilby is an innovative cloud POS with advanced features suitable for any type of business. Created for shops, restaurants, bars and beauty salons, it can be customised for every need. With the Tilby Cloud POS, managing your business will be simpler, more practical and faster. 

 

Pietro Trevisan, CEO at Buoono 

Pietro was raised in a family of farmers and herbalists in Piacenza, the first city in the Po’ valley renowned for its traditional cuisine. Growing up in a natural environment, Pietro has rooted the understanding of how food is key in supporting good health and positive energy.

He founded Buoono Farm, the first circular farming project in Milano, with the desire of involving communities in growing healthier food and increasing awareness about the gut-mind connection. Pietro has the ambition of transforming cities into edible gardens, where growers, artists and entrepreneurs can come together and help urban communities to create stronger bonds.

 

Ivan Aimo, CEO & Co-founder at Deliveristo

Former senior associate of Innogest VC, MSc in Electronic Engineering between Polytechnic of Turin, INPG Grenoble, EPFL Lausanne, final dissertation at UC Berkeley (California), MBA at the CDI in Paris. Deliveristo has developed an online B2B delivery platform to simplify the Ho.Re.Ca, which connects restaurant owners and suppliers.

 

Domingo Iudice, Co-founder at Pescaria

Domingo studied Marketing intending to do creative advertising. Over time he increased his interest in this field, orienting into strategic advisors: from analysis, planning, and audit to implementing and effectively developing solutions relating to marketing strategies. In 2012, co-founded Brainpull, a marketing company that today has a staff of about 80 young professionals based in Puglia and Milan. In 2015, co-founded Pescaria, a fast fish food restaurant that opened its first store and today has 11 restaurants in Italy. Sustainable, good, and no frills, Pescaria presents whole new way to enjoy good fish, raw and fried.

 

Rana Edwards, Co-founder at I love Poke

A 34-year-old New Yorker, she graduated with honors in Pharmacology from Stony Brook University, a Master’s degree in Nutrition from Harvard, and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Milan. It is to Rana Edwards (who moved in 2015 from New York to Milan to pursue her Ph.D. at Bicocca while participating in a European project), who struggled to find her favorite food in Milan, and to her great passion for healthy eating, that she is credited with thinking of bringing poke, the healthy mix of grains, proteins, vegetables and fruits that has become a global trend today, to Milan. During her academic career, particularly in cancer research, she developed a strong interest in the direct impact of nutrition on disease development. Her dream was to build a healthy fast-food format that celebrated fresh, seasonal ingredients (fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, gluten-free, etc.); when she discovered poke in California in 2016, she was extremely excited about it because a concept it fully met the formula she had dreamed of: fresh, healthy, fast, and customised to everyone’s taste. Together with her husband, who already came from an entrepreneurial background in the F&B industry, they studied the business model and in October 2017 opened the first location dedicated to Hawaiian poke in Milan. Passionate not only about healthy eating but also about sustainability, Rana Edwards has worked for I LOVE POKE to be the first poke chain to be ASC and MSC certified for using salmon and tuna from sustainable farms and responsible fishing, respectively. 

I LOVE POKE is the first poke chain in Italy. Since the first store opened in October 2017 in Milan, we have been spreading the typical Hawaiian dish with the aim of promoting a healthy but versatile lifestyle characterised by seasonal ingredients. In fact, our modular menu allows anyone who tries it to meet their own tastes and dietary needs (vegan, vegetarian, protein diet, etc.).

 

Sara Lovato, Partner at United Ventures

Before joining United Ventures, Sara was Head of Operations and Acceleration at an innovation company, supporting startups from idea generation to technology transfer processes. Prior, she practiced law in New York and in Italy.

At United Ventures they look for daring entrepreneurs willing to develop innovative products and technologies, who acknowledge the challenges and risks of our times and still crave to come out on top in business. As entrepreneurs themselves, their mission is to spot winners and drive them to achieve success and worldwide recognition through our mentorship, and financial and business development support.

 

Thank you!

At the end of the event, we had the chance to mingle with all the attendees for an ‘aperitivo’ provided by startups from our network: plant-based meat maker Heura, Orapesce, which offers fresh fish from our seas directly to your home, Biova Project, a startup brewing beer from bread surplus, and Fucibo, a company offering snack made with insect protein.

A big thanks go to our partner Talent Garden for hosting us as we build and foster Milan’s FoodTech community, and to our partners in crime Appetite for disruption, TheFoodCons, AgrifoodTech-italia. Also the incredible entrepreneurial talent who came together during this occasion is testament to the vibrant FoodTech community that Italy has to offer!

Want to learn more about our work at Forward Fooding? Get in touch to learn more!