5 Italian startups that help you choose a correct and sustainable diet
If you take Poke House as an example, you can guess that the "healthy food" sector in Italy is experiencing a moment of exponential growth. Born four years ago, the healthy bowl startup that has just attracted the interest (and capital) of Renzo Rosso, already has over 160 restaurants (in Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Austria, the Netherlands and the USA ), more than 1,000 employees and a 2022 turnover of 100 million euros. According to an elaboration by Appetite for Disruption, investments in Food Tech startups in 2022 in Italy reached 156 million euros (source: The FoodCons). But in reality, healthy food is still in its infancy.
Nutribees, home-delivered dishes with the correct nutritional requirements
Among the consolidated realities there is for example Nutribees, a startup born in 2017 acquired in 2021 by Federico Isenburg, startupper who gave life to Easy Welfare (provider for corporate welfare services in Italy, sold in 2019 to Edenred). The core business of Nutribees is the home delivery of customized ready meals according to the nutritional needs of consumers attentive to healthy eating based on fresh ingredients and gourmet preparations. The service is available for individuals but also for companies.
Foorban, the smart fridge via app
Foorban, a startup founded in 2016 by Marco Mottolese, Stefano Cavaleri and Riccardo Pozzoli, also focuses on the lunch break and offers its over 250 client companies - including Nike and Vodafone - different menus every week using over 2,000 recipes. The startup has developed the "Fridge" format for companies, a smart refrigerator in which products can be chosen and purchased at any time of the day. Through an app it is possible to check the dishes available, consulting the ingredients, nutritional properties and allergens for each of them.
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Once the payment has been made directly with the smartphone, the refrigerator door opens and the product can be removed. The logistical effort required of the company is almost nil, given that Foorban takes care of restocking the refrigerator and changing the menu, monitoring consumption through purchase data. Meal vouchers can be uploaded to the app and the company can contribute to expenses by assigning cash credits to employees.
Planeat, less waste and correct feeding
Planeat is a startup that has two objectives: to limit food waste and to spread correct nutrition. Through an online portal, users can order ready meals or go shopping quickly and easily, starting from the recipes and receiving at home all the ingredients ready for preparation, weighed and divided into compostable containers: no food is wasted and no produce packaging waste.
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Each preparation, so far distributed in eco-sustainable and compostable kits, will soon be distributed in washable and reusable containers (collected, sterilized and redistributed again by Planeat). After the launch of the kit offer for families and individuals, Planeat has expanded its offer to companies. Milan, Monza, Pavia are the first provinces in which the offer of ready and fresh dishes (about 50 references) has started - made within the previous 18 hours - for large and small companies and professional studios, with a zero waste perspective.
Thanks to the Planeat model, a 7 euro meal voucher allows you to receive a plate of venere rice with vegetables and a prawn tartare or a homemade lasagna and a portion of roast in the office. Also advancing a few coins that can be discounted both for a subsequent order and for home or office shopping the next day.
Babaco Market, "ugly but good" fruit and vegetables
New entrepreneurial realities in the healthy food sector often combine sustainability objectives with the diffusion of a concept of balanced nutrition. This is the case, for example, of Babaco Market, a startup born in 2020, an e-grocery that aims to combat food waste by also promoting the consumption of so-called ugly but good fruit and vegetables. Within the portal it is possible to buy products with small skin defects, with strange shapes and smaller than usual sizes, which are not accepted by traditional channels, such as supermarkets, and for this reason are often destined for waste.
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An ambitious mission that led to the achievement of important goals in the first two years of activity: after closing 2021 with over 35,000 boxes delivered and around 800,000 euros in turnover, Babaco Market recorded significant growth in 2022 with more than doubling of orders and turnover. At the end of 2022, it closed a 6.3 million euro Series A financing round. From 2020 to today Babaco Market has helped to save over 1,000 tons of unique products from active crops throughout Italy.
