German Food Startups Meetup Explores Convenience Food 2.0

While most media attention focuses on food startups coming out of Silicon Valley and New York, there are exciting food startups and innovation communities cropping up all around the globe. One such country is Germany. While you may have heard of Germany’s most famous food tech startups HelloFresh (valued at $2.9 billion) and Delivery Hero (valued at $3.1 billion), Germany is also seeing the growth of a new generation of food startups working to transform how food in produced, distributed, sold and consumed. These startups are pioneering everything from urban hydroponic and aquaponic farming to insect-based foods, meal kits and delivery.

Last month, I had the great pleasure to meet some of Berlin’s emerging food startup community at the German Food Startup Meetup’s Convenience Food 2.0 event, hosted in partnership with the Techstars METRO Accelerator, the first food and hospitality focused accelerator. Founded by E-Food Blog, a blog focused on German food e-commerce and distribution, the German Food Startup Meetup is at the center of the German food innovation community, regularly hosting events in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich.

“The goal of the Meetups is to build a strong network and movement with the national food startup scene,” says Fabio Ziemssen, founder of E-Food Blog and co-organizer of the German Food Startups Meetup. “We want to connect innovative people, food techies and visionaries with good ideas to bring food to the next level. In Germany we have a colorful startup-scene from curated commerce to indoor farming solutions, and they are all facing similar challenges in this new market. Therefore we want establish a platform where we can share mentors, experiences and information to accelerate Food businesses.”

As we’ve seen with our own Food+Tech Meetup, it takes all kinds of partners to build an innovation community, which is why it’s exciting to see the Techstars METRO Accelerator getting involved to support the German Food Startups Meetup. “As we are the first and only food and hospitality tech accelerator, we see one of our main responsibilities in supporting the community building in this sector,” explains Sylvia Dudek, program manager of the Techstars METRO Accerator.

Gathering over eighty people, the Convenience Food 2.0 showcased three startups that are developing the next generation of convenience food. These startups are focused on meals that are healthier, tastier and more sustainable than traditional convenience food. Learn more about the companies that presented below.

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Eating With The Chefs makes it easy to enjoy haute cuisine from Berlin’s top restaurants within the comfort of your home. Backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, the delivery service partners with top chefs to deliver meals that are vacuum sealed and reheated using the sous vide, or water bath, method of cooking. The company also sells beer and wine. Prices typically range between 6 and 19 euros per course.

KUKIMI delivers delicious and healthy dishes designed to help people lose weight. Together with nutritionists, it’s subscription packages offers meals to variety of dietary preferences, like vegan, low calorie and low carb. People can subscribe for a period of 1, 2, 4 or 8 weeks.

Pack2cook delivers sliced and portioned cooking ingredients for meals that are easy to prepare in just 20 minutes. Designed for busy people who want to stay fit and eat fresh, healthy foods, the startup offers same-day delivery.