Food tech
Montreal Startup Uses Tech to Build a Sharing Economy for Gardeners
June 18, 2014 | AJ Hughes
Nicolas Cadilhac of PlantCatching works at a recent plant exchange at Montreal Botanical Garden. (photo by Ann Boisvert)
Most, if not all, gardeners have experienced frustration over the amount of waste involved with gardening. Examples include unused soil, dead plants and compulsive purchases that don’t take root.
Wanting to address this problem, hobby gardener and computer science engineer Nicolas Cadilhac of Montreal, Quebec decided to mix his information technology acumen and love for gardening by creating a web site that would match gardeners to a surplus of unwanted plants and other garden materials. Thus in 2012, Cadilhac launched PlantCatching. Read More
North Carolina Online Food Hub Grows, Matches Sustainability and Profitability
May 6, 2014 | AJ Hughes
Richard Holcomb and Jamie DeMent, co-owners of Bella Bean Organics, are shown with products from Bella Bean Organics and Coon Rock Farm. Photo courtesy of Cheryl DeMent
Durham, North Carolina-based Bella Bean Organics specializes in fresh, locally-grown, sustainable and organic food via an online farmers’ market and food hub. The company recently expanded its operations, and is now extending deliveries to customers throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Owned by entrepreneurial farmers Richard Holcomb and Jamie DeMent, Bella Bean Organics supplies its customers with produce, meats, eggs and artisan specialty foods. The duo also owns Coon Rock Farm http://coonrockfarm.com in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The 55-acre farm supplies produce, meat and eggs to Bella Bean, in addition to more than 500 CSA customers, 5 farmers’ markets and Piedmont www.piedmontrestaurant.com, Holcomb and DeMent’s farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Durham. Read More
North Carolina Firm Expands Efforts to Replace the Can With Healthier, Greener Carton Packaging
April 15, 2014 | Abbie StutzerIn early March, 2014, Raleigh-based food processing technology company Aseptia secured $28 million in Series C-Preferred Stock financing to support the growth of Wright Foods Inc., the manufacturing subsidiary of Aseptia. Lookout Capital, SJF Ventures, Prudential, and F.B. Heron Foundation provided the financing.
As a leading aseptic food manufacturer, Aseptia has developed an aseptic, sustainable, shelf-stable carton that can maintain a higher-quality food product, according to Michael Drozd, president and CEO of Wright Foods. The packaging can be found in most every grocery store. Read More
Chicago Startup Offers Healthy, Organic Foods in Vending Machines
April 4, 2014 | Noelle SwanAs a traveling salesman, Luke Saunders knew first hand just how hard it can be to find fresh food on the go.
“I was the person who would pick up prepared food for the road because I knew that when I got there, there wouldn’t be good options,” he says. “If I ever got to a place and I had forgotten to plan ahead, the options were limited for healthy food.”
His solution? Farmer’s Fridge: vending machines stocked with fresh, healthy salads and snacks. Read More
California Startup Leverages RFID Technology to Keep Food Fresh
March 7, 2014 | Trish PopovitchIn a world filled with contaminated food outbreaks, low-quality fresh produce at the grocery stores and an emerging class of sustainable producers, the time to improve fresh food logistics is now upon us.
That’s why innovative and award-winning minds at Infratab Inc., incorporated in 2002 and headquartered in Oxnard, California, have spent years researching how to keep food fresh from field to consumer. The company offers small farmers, produce truck fleet owners and farmers’ markets Freshtime, a perishable food monitoring system at an affordable price. Read More