BLU1877, Barilla’s Venture Group, Launches Good Food Makers Global Accelerator

The Italian food company seeks to collaborate with start-ups on addressing sustainability, technology and consumer challenges

BLU1877, Barilla’s Venture Group, announced its call for start-ups to participate in the fourth Good Food Makers global accelerator. The program, which launched in 2018 in collaboration with KitchenTown, a San Francisco based incubator, selects a small group of young companies from around the world to work directly with Barilla teams in developing and implementing innovative business solutions. For this cohort the global pasta leader has identified four specific challenges that reflect the trends, technologies, consumer behaviors and values that will shape the future of the food system:

• Circular Economy: solutions to upcycle three specific side streams — pasta regrind, wheat bran, and bread crust — in order to create a healthy, safe, and nutritious circular food system.
• Better Food Delivery: creative solutions in preparation, delivery logistics, automation, packaging, recipe development, and more to deliver high-quality meal experiences - in particular for pasta - through new restaurant and delivery channels.
• Digital Nutrition Guides: digital platforms to co-develop transparent, honest and accurate guides for nutrition, well-being, sustainability, or even just what to put in your shopping cart.
• Easy Meal Routines: better-for-you meal services, kits, or products to meet busy eaters where they are without sacrificing on nutrition or sustainability.

One start-up will be selected for each challenge area and work directly with a custom-built, dedicated team of Barilla experts for 8 weeks to create actionable solutions and implement them in real-time. The cohort will also receive a $10,000 grant to use during the program to advance its own business growth.

The call for entries begins June 2 and runs through August. Criteria include:

• A specialization in one of the four challenge areas
• Ability to demonstrate transformative ideas and approaches to supporting a better food system
• Proven business results

The eight-week program will kick off in September and take place virtually, with the possibility for in-person collaboration depending on the location of teams and current COVID-19 public health regulations.

www.goodfoodmakers.net

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