If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant kitchen, you’ve seen first-hand the amount of food thrown out each day. This was the case for Naomi MacKenzie, who wanted to do something to fix this consistent problem among hospitality kitchens. She and her partner created KITRO, the first fully automated food waste management solution for the Food & Beverage industry. With its use, hospitality businesses can measure and monitor their food waste, lost food cost, and make concrete plans on how to reduce it in the future. Not only does it address the ethical impact of food waste, but it can help mitigate the revenue lost.
We spoke to Naomi to get some more information on the beginning of KITRO, the motivation behind it, and what they’ve achieved so far. Here’s what she said.
WHAT TRIGGERED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS?
Anastasia and I worked a lot in kitchens and in service; every day we saw the enormous amount of perfectly edible food that is thrown away. This inspired us to create KITRO.
WHAT DOES YOUR STARTUP DO?
KITRO provides restaurants and canteens with a fully automated hardware and software solution, allowing users to automatically measure and monitor their food waste. Having an overview of what is being thrown away empowers users to address key areas of food waste in order to reduce their food cost and negative environmental impact.
WHAT’S THE IMPACT OF YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE ON THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY?
We are growing the awareness towards the issue of food waste and empowering the industry to take action to reduce food waste.
WHAT RECENT MILESTONE(S) ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Our traction: We have completed 4 pilots. We are currently running 3,
and have more planned before August, plus a waiting list for interested parties.
We were just selected by Bilan as one of the top 50 startups in Switzerland to invest in. We got selected to participate in Booking Booster :)
KITRO could reshape the habits in the hospitality industry creating massive impact. We can't wait to see what they come away with. Find out more on their website or check back on the blog for updates on their progress.