Blendhub’s food-as-a-service platform has been selected by Sitra, a Finnish innovation fund that promotes and supports sustainable development projects, in collaboration with Deloitte, as one of 39 inspiring solutions in circular economy from around the world to be presented at the World Circular Economy Forum on 29-30 September. The projects were selected considering geographic diversity and representation of different circular economy business models and industries.
The World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF Online this year) brings together business leaders, policymakers and experts to present the world’s best circular economy solutions. The event is hosted by Sitra together with the European Commission, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme, amongst others.
Blendhub has been chosen because “it tackles the globally relevant issue of food waste by enabling smarter nutritional supply chains and local production and distribution of food”.
As a company, Blendhub has been developing food products for over two decades, focusing mostly on food powder production which extends the life of food items and facilitates industrial production and transportation of food.
The company has evolved from a food company to a food-as-a-service platform. Blendhub’s current model focuses on localizing food production through a network of production hubs, portable factories that are developed and installed according to a unique replication model designed by Blendhub, alone or in close collaboration with local or global partners, transported in a 40′ container and operational anywhere in the world within six months.
By streamlining the food supply chain, Blendhub generates positive environmental and social impacts. Producing closer to raw materials and final consumers avoids long production chains and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation of food items.
Technology is another key component in this solution: the company has developed a cloud-based software suite that enables online quality control of food production and supply chain monitoring.
Sitra has found this solution inspiring because “the use of food powders is only one of the factors to achieve a circular economy in food production and distribution. The ability to replicate systems and processes quickly and efficiently is crucial to make a long-lasting impact at a global scale”.
The company has also been positively evaluated because “it provides food powders to communities in need and makes individualized nutrition affordable”. Blendhub, being a multi stakeholder platform, has a partnership with the non- profit organisation Feed a Billion and Yuwa in India to provide Yuwa’s female soccer team with basic nutrition. More than 400 girls have benefited from basic and regular nutrition everyday in the last 2 years.
Henrik S. Kristensen, CEO and founder at Blendhub, welcomes this recognition that strengthens his commitment to change the game in the food industry: “By localising food production closer to raw materials and final consumers and offering food-as-a-service through a network of multilocalised hubs; and by providing SMEs with software-as-a service to streamline the supply chain and to ensure food quality, we produce faster, safer and cheaper and in a more environmentally sustainable way to make food and nutrition available to more people in more places”.
