On March 3rd, 2021, we held a fascinating webinar with the strong voices of women in Food Tech. All our brilliant female guests shared their journeys as female founders of leading Food Tech companies and provided their visions for the future of our food system.

The Event

Women in Food Tech was moderated by our own Sue Nelson, entrepreneur, investor, broadcaster, speaker, and author & Executive Director at EY. She is a renowned expert in Food Tech and food and farming innovation and has hosted major global business events. Thus, we have been very honored to have her on board to moderate our panel of female entrepreneurs.

She started off by giving a brief introduction to each of our amazing speakers. Thus, we went on to discover the stories of our panelists. In the following paragraph, we share how Rachel, Emilie, Lynette and Maxine got into Food Tech and some of the words of wisdom they shared during our panel.

Rachel Hugh, Co-founder at The Vurger Co

The Vurger Co is a 100% plant-based burger restaurant that is redefining the perception of what fast food really can be! They made it to the FoodTech 500 two years in a row and ranked #18 of the 2020 FoodTech 500.

The Vurger Co idea began when Neil, Rachel’s co-founder, suffered from debilitating stomach issues and no doctor or test could pinpoint the cause. They had the opportunity to travel to California and discovered a whole new wave of plant-based living! The amazing tastes and textures were like nothing they had experienced before and certainly weren’t available in London at the time in 2016. They immediately knew that there was an incredible opportunity to create a restaurant concept that made vegetables the main event, in fun, interesting, and fresh new ways.

Vegan protein is gaining huge momentum right now and it’s becoming the norm in many markets around the world. She believes that we will see the vegan fast food industry raise to the forefront in the coming years. People want fast and affordable food, but they also want to buy it from brands that share the same values and ethical standing points, now more than ever before. So for them combining high-quality ingredients, flavorful food, all together with accessibility and affordable price has been the ‘secret sauce’ to make The Vurger Co a thriving business.

Emilie Vanpoperinghe, Co-founder & CEO at ODDBOX

ODDBOX  is a purpose-driven business that fights food waste with innovative solutions. Their first offering is UK’s first wonky and surplus veg box subscription service, where they rescue imperfect fruits and vegetables directly from farms for a fair price, deliver them weekly to homes and donate up to 5% of their produce to charities that fight food poverty. They made it to the FoodTech 500 two years in a row and ranked #94 of the 2020 FoodTech 500.

Her business idea came from food being something we consume on our daily basis and her frustration originating from seeing a load of food available all the time, packaged in plastic containers and with a perfect appearance. So, she started doing some research on what was happening in the supply chain and she found out that a third of the food we produce each year is thrown away and never consumed. Therefore, she decided to take action against food waste.

Maxine Roper, Co-founder & Managing Director at  Connecting Food

Connecting Food is leading the revolution in food transparency. The platform uses blockchain technology and allows industrial producers and distributors to ensure the traceability of their products from the field to the table, in real-time. Thanks to QR codes printed on their customers’ products, consumers can check that brands really respect their promises. They made it to the FoodTech 500 two years in a row and ranked #90 of the 2020 FoodTech 500.

Having been working for over 20 years in the food industry, Maxine has held marketing roles at some of the biggest international food brands such as Mars, Maison du Cafe, and Andros. Her profound interest in products and their composition, combined with the curiosity for the conditions and methods of production, naturally led her to move upstream in the food chain to join the agrifood group Avril in 2011 as Marketing Director. With all this experience under her belt in 2016, she co-founded Connecting Food.

Lynette Kucsma, Co-founder & CEO at Natural Machines

Natural Machines offers the first kitchen appliance that speeds up the process of cooking dishes with fresh ingredients – all through the next generation of Internet-connected food 3D printers (IoT).

Lynette started her career in FoodTech because of her personal interest in health and nutrition. When her daughter was young she suffered from food issues. It was at that moment that she started studying and reading about food and what it really does to our bodies. This is how she became passionate about the world of food through a technological context.

The premise of all 3D printers is that the user becomes the maker, the creator. Natural Machine takes it one step further and designs a 3D food printer made exclusively for working with safe materials and high-quality food. The co-founders of Natural Machines – Emilio and Lynette – are passionate about healthy eating and they both strongly believe in macro-trends focused on healthy food. People want to know what they are eating, what exactly is in their food, and where the ingredients come from.

 

Practical advice

After a brief introduction of our panelist, Sue Nelson asked for some practical advice that these women entrepreneurs have found useful in their day-to-day work.  They all have shared slightly different pieces of advice but pretty much agreed on the same tips.

Rachel affirmed that staying true to their voice brand, and their vision and mission has definitely helped and guided them along the way. This coincides with Emilie’s point of view on how important was for them is to stick to their mission, vision, and business model to succeed while staying true to their brand. Lynette added that there are so many opinions in the food sector, and there is no right answer. She also insisted on the importance of making the company’s mission happen and envisioning the impact of what you are creating from day one. Finally, Maxine stressed how important it is to know who you are.

We then wrapped up the event by opening the floor to our attendees with Q&A with our panelists.

Thanks to all our speakers for being so generous, and for taking the time to share their words of wisdom and inspire other women to enter this space. Another huge thank you to all the brilliant women who came along and helped us celebrate this amazing pack of women entrepreneurs who are bettering our food system every day with their inspiring work!

At Forward Fooding, we are incredibly proud to have hosted the Women in Food Tech webinar. We loved hearing our guests’ inspiring stories and their entrepreneurial journeys.

Last but not least, a very special thanks goes to Sue Nelson, we couldn’t have chosen a more brilliant moderator for this session!

If you’ve missed the webinar click on the video below to watch it!