It is the first food innovation platform and has the support of 42% of the sector in Catalonia

The Foodservice Cluster of Catalonia has created a Food Innovation Hub, a reference physical and virtual space for the creation of new developments and services through the exchange of knowledge. The initiative aims to help restaurateurs become more competitive through collaborative innovation to counteract the effects of the pandemic.

Thanks to the Food Innovation Hub, manufacturers, distributors and organized commercial restaurants and communities will be able, in the company of research and development centers, universities and other knowledge entities, to promote projects and activities to promote proximity strategies in raw materials, carry out groups with different consumer targets, develop new foods with alternative ingredients of high nutritional value, prepare direct and inverse international missions, validate new developments and trends. These actions will be validated by a scientific community and will have an experimentation center with experts, chefs, nutritionists, restaurateurs and gastronomic consultants.

“The initiative was born as a request from the sector, from the market observatory commissioned by the NPD Foodservice Cluster and as a result of the sectoral reflection carried out at its Strategic Immersion last October at the Alícia Foundation, which was attended by a hundred companies” . – points out Alejandro Utrera, Manager of the Foodservice Cluster.

The Food Innovation Hub includes the following working trends and topics:

• Prediction of the demand in restoration in the short term 3D printing of meat and fish directly in stores
• Automation of the most mechanical processes in catering establishments with a reduction in the margin of error and an improvement in the user experience
• Improving delivery in last-mile logistics with eco-friendly transport
• Design of Zero Waste and Low Carbon restoration models through sustainable global solutions of circular economy and low/zero carbon footprint
• The generation of a healthy categorized offer for each type of consumer nutritional profile
• Improving the consumer user experience with technologies such as augmented and virtual reality
• The establishment of bilateral dialogues with the consumer through QR codes
• The development of new foods and developments with healthy, nutritious and profitable sustainable alternative ingredients with a powerful antioxidant effect and high protein value.
• Others to develop.

“These challenges are on the agendas of competitive companies, and we as a Cluster want to help the Foodservice sector in Catalonia to achieve them, that is why we have created the Food HUB” says Alejandro Utrera, manager of the Foodservice Cluster.

The Food Innovation Hub will develop its actions in different formats, channels and spaces with the participation of its associates and collaborators and expects to raise more than 750,000€ in innovation projects in the sector.