Take 10 leading international food founders. Combine with a start-up fair showcasing the sector’s rising stars and top with an afterparty fueled by over 200 doers and makers from across the industry. What do you get? The perfect recipe for anyone looking to found, grow or invest in a future-focused food business. The Food Hack Summit 2019 will be taking place on Tuesday 26th November at Innovation Park in Zurich.
FoodHack: Switzerland’s fasting growing food network
Arman Anatürk and Camille Bossel touched down in Switzerland in 2016. Having previously
worked in the startup sector in the UK and Turkey, they were eager to connect into the Swiss food innovation ecosystem. But they struggled to find a network that fitted the bill. So they created one. FoodHack is a community that supports impact-driven entrepreneurs to shape a better food system.
“We started with a few local meet-ups in Lausanne and a regular newsletter, but interest quickly picked up across Switzerland. The network almost took on a life of its own. Events were helping attendees meet mentors, corporate partners and investors and drive their ideas forward. ” said Arman, Co-founder and CEO.
Now three years and fifty events later, FoodHack is represented in five cities across Switzerland, led by a committed team of ambassadors. The FoodHack Summit is an annual opportunity to bring community members together and connect them with the brightest brains in the food and food tech industry.
Unfiltered stories, from starting to scaling
This year, the Summit will be a one-day deep dive into the strategies and tactics that founders can use to scale their businesses.
Camille, FoodHack Co-founder and COO, explained, “Even the most amazing businesses
sometimes come up against a wall. The Summit is about connecting attendees to individuals who have found creative ways to keep scrambling over it. Our international speakers have bootstrapped, closed funding rounds and grown their teams. They now want to share this learning with the next generation of start-ups.”
The Summit’s keynote speakers boast a wealth of experience from across the globe and food supply chain – from production and manufacturing to retail and consumer information. They also have one key thing in common: their ability to think and act differently to disrupt established markets.
Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, Founder of Israeli company Redefine Meat, for example, is looking to shake up the alternative meat market by enabling retailers and restaurants to print their own steaks on site. While Saasha Celestial-One, Co-founder of Olio, created an app that made it easy to connect people with leftover food with others who wanted to eat it – and saved nearly 3 million portions in the process.
Celebrating home-grown talent
The Summit also provides a platform to showcase some of the most successful and inspiring businesses that were founded and grown closer to home.
Tobias Schubert and Roman Hartmann from Zurich, for example, founded Farmy, the first Swiss online farm shop in 2014. Recognizing that their experience in e-commerce meant that they were well placed to fill a gap in the market, they went head-to-head with the retail giants and have since become the third largest online food retailer in Switzerland.
Sofia de Meyer from Opaline fruit juices, Siddhi Mehta from organic snack brand Rhythm108, José Amado-Blanco from Yamo baby foods and Christoph Jenny from plant-based meat producer Planted, will also be taking the stage.
Actionable Insights
The FoodHack Summit will not only provide budding entrepreneurs with ample food for thought. It enables founders to add to their toolbox of practical techniques and strategies for growth. The start-up fair and after party will also allow plenty of time for questions and interaction.
While developing his own business, Arman learnt that this exchange is vital: “Every
entrepreneur’s path is different. There’s no single recipe for success. But by connecting with others and learning from their experiences – and mistakes – we can achieve so much more.”
The full Summit programme can be found here.
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Press resources
Speaker highlight articles and visual resources can be found here:
www.foodhack.ch/media-and-press.
Interviews on the day with team members or with speakers can be arranged in advance via the contacts below.
Press contacts
Camille Bossel, Co-founder and COO, FoodHack (FR)
+41 (0)78 764 55 46
camille@foodhack.ch
