FOOD2050 is a Zurich-based start-up that aims to reduce global warming through sustainable eating habits. Food production accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. FOOD2050 wants to change this by actively supporting foodservice operators and consumers in achieving the global climate goal. Based on scientifically assessed CO2 equivalents, the FOOD2050 climate impact model translates consumption values into global warming potential.
Real, visible impact
FOOD2050 was able to win over the cooperative ZFV-Unternehmungen (ZFV) for a pilot phase. A pre-pilot project was launched in January 2022 at the UZH canteen in Irchel. Climate-friendly menus, salads and sandwiches are offered every day, and the climate savings are visualised in an animation at the POS. An MVP was developed for the start of the winter semester 2022/23. The pilot project at the ZFV has been significantly expanded with the MVP. The total consumption of all meals produced by ZFV is tracked and communicated.
This makes the impact on the climate visible to consumers and the company. FOOD2050 has developed a platform for foodservice operators that provides all the necessary information centrally, including data on business performance.
Visualising for everyone
FOOD2050 is a platform that collects and consolidates a large amount of data and makes it visible to foodservice operators and consumers. It supports catering businesses in their operations. This includes the presentation of current sales figures and CO2 values in a dashboard, as well as reporting on current sales. All meal information is stored, prepared for customer communication, calculated and archived.
Information of interest to customers is automatically generated. This includes QR codes, detailed product information such as nutritional values and allergens, and CO2 equivalent calculations. PDF files are also generated for analogue information at the POS. The restaurant can decide at any time what information is published, for example with or without a menu photo.
At the heart of the system is the calculation. Based on scientifically assessed CO2 equivalents of food, the FOOD2050 model converts the ecological footprint of menus into degrees Celsius. This provides a clear and meaningful indicator that can be used as a guide by all players in the food system at a global level.
In order to limit global warming to a maximum of +1.5°C by 2050, FOOD2050 aims to raise awareness of sustainable processes and eating habits among all players in the food value chain. The complex calculation of the ecological footprint of food takes place in the background. Data from the catering company’s ERP system is automatically transferred to FOOD2050 via interfaces. This minimises the workload for the caterer and increases the benefits: The ecological footprint of food can be communicated in an understandable way and a need of many consumers can be met.
FOOD2050 eschews hard-to-understand metrics. Instead, it transforms the large amount of data into a meaningful metric that can be used as a guide by all actors in the food system: The Ecological Footprint is expressed in degrees Celsius. The data collected can only be viewed in the dashboard of the respective catering company. The ticker on the FOOD2050 website aggregates the data so that no conclusions can be drawn about individual caterers. The same applies to consumer data collected, for example, during the checkout process. Consumers can access further information via QR codes.
”It feels like Panter is our outsourced CTO, who has managed to stay agile in a very complex development process, enabling us to build a valuable MVP toolbox without neglecting scalability. It's always great to be able to discuss strategic issues with the relevant experts on the technical side.
Christian KramerCEO & Co-Founder FOOD2050
