Tag Archives: Lidl

Lidl and StartLife Introduce 10 Future Goods by Sustainable Startups

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Lidl Future Goods Week Founders Collage

For the third time, Lidl and StartLife have collaborated on the Lidl Future Goods. From June 30th, ten sustainable food products from mission-driven startups can be found in Lidl stores across the Netherlands. Lidl provides startups with their first retail experience while striving to make their product selection more sustainable, affordable, and available to all.

Lidl helps small companies to kick-off successfully by sharing valuable knowledge and experiences. Simultaneously, Lidl learns from the startups’ motivation and courage in developing their products dedicated to a more sustainable food system. StartLife has scouted and screened food startups that are in line with this mission and the motivations behind the Future Goods.

Affordable Exposure to Large Audience

Entering a large-scale production phase can be very challenging, in particular for startups – especially when it comes to maintaining consistent quality and meeting food (safety) regulations. From StartLife’s perspective, we are convinced that Lidl’s Future Goods initiative offers innovative food startups a great chance to build up ‘retail experience’ alongside valuable lessons. At the same time, it helps Lidl to investigate the (Dutch) consumer’s appetite for new food products with a sustainability impact.

Lidl Future Goods 2022 Selection

Products Lidl Future Good Week 22

After a yearlong of preparations, StartLife and Lidl have collaboratively selected 10 different Future Goods to enter the shelves at Lidl:

  • Little Hoppers, meatballs made from crickets,
  • GRO Krupi Chips & Oyster mushroom Burgers, made from Dutch mushrooms,
  • Cupplement Coffee, fully biodegradable coffee capsules,
  • Cultcha Kombucha, green tea-based drink in two flavors,
  • Pacha de Cacao Juice, made from coffee pulp side-stream,
  • Willicroft Greek White & Young Dutch, plant-based cheese alternative made in the Netherlands.

Now…rush off and make your way to your nearest Lidl store in the Netherlands to get your own taste of the future of food!

 

p.s. Stay up to date with the latest news about and for agrifoodtech startups, scale-ups and more via StartLife’s Linkedin or Twitter account and/or via the StartLife newsletter (8x a year).

What Lidl And Food Startups Learned From Second Future Goods Week

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Last July Lidl and StartLife jointly organized the second Future Goods Week. Six sustainable food products from promising startups were made available in all Lidl stores in the Netherlands. What are the lessons learned? Are consumers truly interested in sustainable food? And will there be a third edition next year? Let’s find out.

 “Due to the Coronavirus we could not organize a glamorous launch party as with the first edition of the Lidl Future Goods Week, which was very unfortunate”, says Caroline Bijkerk, who was in the lead for organizing the week together with Lidl. Still, within days after the promotion started the first products were already sold out in numerous Lidl stores. “Dutch consumers are indeed showing a growing preference for more sustainable and healthy food,” Caroline remarks. “At StartLife we also see a growing number of sustainable food startups knocking on our doors. So with both a rising demand and supply it seems crystal clear we are heading in the right direction.”

Lessons learned

The Future Goods Weeks is a unique opportunity for food startups to experience what it takes to get their products in the shelves of a large retailer. As expected and intended, the participating startups learned a great deal in this real live retail-readiness exercise. And the startups learned far more than they expected beforehand, as the following comments by three involved entrepreneurs show.

For Moritz Huber, founder of Sauercrowd, it was truly elevating to reach such a large audience and test their market at such scale. “It was also very insightful to learn about the working process of a large retailer and all the administration that is involved at this level. I had no idea.”

Brad Vanstone, co-founder of Willicroft, also shares his lessons: “Make sure to give yourself a buffer with deadlines as things will inevitably go wrong. And do not shy away from seeking professional advice when it comes to food labeling regulations and requirements.”

Madeleine Gielens, co-founder of MaGie Creations (BrewBar), describes the whole experience as a bootcamp for both professionalizing a food startup and growing as an entrepreneur. “Aside from the business aspects, you really get to develop yourself as an entrepreneur and elevate your problem solving skills to a whole new level. I sincerely recommend other food startups to pursue the same experience.”

Lidl: We want more!

“Superb sales promotion last week. I would love to see this more often at Lidl!” and “The burgers are truly delicious!” “These are just two online comments by Lidl customers, but they sum up the success and lessons of this year’s edition nicely,” observes Erik van den Hoogen, senior manager purchasing at Lidl Netherlands.

“We see an increasing number of customers with a preference for food products that are sustainably produced and are tasty at the same time. At Lidl we also find it important to pay more continuous attention to our themes ‘food waste’ and ‘vegan products’. So from now on Lidl will provide shelf space to sustainable startups all year round”. Food startups that are interested can contact StartLife.

p.s. You can also follow StartLife on Linkedin, Twitter or stay up to date with the latest news about and for agrifood startups, scaleups and more via the StartLife newsletter.

Lidl Provides Shelf Space To StartLife Startups During Future Goods Week

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Little-Hoppers-krekelsaucijzenbrood

For the second year in a row Lidl and StartLife co-organize the Lidl Future Goods Week. From July 9th you will find six sustainable food products from promising startups in all Lidl stores in the Netherlands. With this initiative Lidl provides food startups the opportunity to get their first retail experience, whilst Lidl works on its mission to make sustainable products available to and affordable for a large audience at the same time.

Sharing knowledge

Lidl feels it is important to use their knowledge and experience to help small companies kick-off successfully. At the same time Lidl learns from the startups, who show courage and vigor by developing their own product. As one of Europe’s leading agrifood accelerators StartLife is involved in the Lidl Future Goods Week by scouting and screening food startups that develop products contributing to the sustainability of our food chain. Erik van den Hoogen, senior purchasing manager at Lidl, explains: “StartLife knows which concepts are disruptive and solid and how Lidl can help attain an even more efficient and sustainable food production”.

From 100 to 1000s consumers

Producing and selling a large number of products at consistent quality that meets all food (safety) regulations is a daunting challenge, in particular for startups. At StartLife we feel that the Future Goods Week offers startups an excellent chance to build up ‘retail experience’ and learn valuable lessons. Caroline Bijkerk, global partnership manager at StartLife, elaborates: “With support from StartLife and Lidl experts the startups get the change to scale their production from hundreds to thousands consumers with products that meet all requirements. This is an unique opportunity for the startups to hit the shelves and start making a true impact”.

Lidl’s Future Goods Selection

From eleven startups that were given the opportunity to pitch their products at Lidl’s Headquarters in the Netherlands the following six Future Goods products made it to the shelves at Lidl.

  • Farmer&Foodie burger, a plant-based burger made from side stream materials like tomato and mushrooms,
  • BrewBar, a bar made from brewers’ spent grains,
  • Little Hoppers, mini sausage rolls filled with crickets,
  • SauerCrowd, fermented vegetables with gut-friendly lactic acid bacteria,
  • This is Not Parmesan, plant-based cheese made in the Netherlands,
  • JOAN, tea grown in the Netherlands.

 

 

p.s. You can also follow StartLife on Linkedin, Twitter or stay up to date with the latest news about and for agrifood startups, scaleups and more via the StartLife newsletter.

Insects, seaweed wraps and socks made from old fishing nets on the shelves at Lidl

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Supermarket chain presents futuristic sustainable products from June 27, during the ‘Future Goods’ week

Insects, granola with mealworm powder, seaweed wraps, socks made from recycled fishing nets and ‘rescue food’. Supermarket chain Lidl organizes the ‘FutureGoods’ week from June 27, in collaboration with incubator StartLife. During this week special, sustainable and innovative products made by young, local startups and suppliers are available at all, over 400, Lidl branches in the Netherlands.

Looking for innovative, healthy or sustainable ideas, the supermarket chain made an appeal last summer to pitch ‘FutureGoods’. People responded in a massive way. An organization-wide jury chose 12 suppliers who will get shelf space at Lidl. Furthermore, the chosen startups and suppliers have received guidance and support from Lidl and StartLife, to grow further towards large-scale production.

“The consumer chooses more and more vegetable-based or sustainable products. With the FutureGoods week, Lidl makes these innovative products accessible for a large audience. Additionally, we offer local suppliers the opportunity to present their unique concept on the shelves of all Lidl branches”, says Erik van den Hoogen, senior purchasing manager at Lidl Nederland.

The participating entrepreneurs and products are:

  • Star Sock – Socks made from organic cotton and recycled fishing nets
  • Zzinga – A sustainable drink with low alcohol content. A new version of honey wine that helps protect the bee population
  • Gigi Gelato – Gigi’s ice cream is 100% vegan, made with fruits and vegetables
  • Krusli – Cruesli made of residual food, also known as ‘rescue food’, for a sustainable breakfast
  • Seamore – Made it their mission to introduce the world to eating seaweed through seaweed wraps
  • Little Hero – Founded in 2019 with the ambitious mission to make everyone acquainted with superfoods and has introduced edible insects as a healthy and sustainable source of nutrients
  • Farmer&Foodie – Strives to have the foodprint as low as possible for her carrot and tomato burgers
  • Bijt – The grow kits of Bijt make it easy to grow your own biological sprouts at home
  • Arenshof – His recipe for potato bread made it to the finals of the TV show ‘De Nieuwe Lekkerbek’
  • Gro – Makes croquettes and ‘bitterballen’, among other things, from the tasty, versatile and oyster mushroom, which they cultivate circularly
  • Food2smile – The founder is nutrition consultant and has worked for many years against obesity. As an alternative for candy and chips, she developed sugar free snacks such as Popped Soja Chips and Sugar-Free Candies
  • Banabar – The first biological fruit-and-nut bar based on dried bananas on the Dutch market

About Lidl

Lidl is one of the largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands with more than 400 branches. Under the slogan ‘the highest quality for the lowest price’, Lidl offers a wide assortment of food and non-food commodities.

About StartLife

StartLife, founded by Wageningen University & Research and OostNL, supports food and agri startups to develop into leading companies. The world food problem asks for radical changes in the food and agriculture sectors. StartLife believes that startups, because of their innovative abilities, are the driving force behind a more sustainable world and has been working with startups for more than 10 years. 

StartLife’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship in the food and agri sector and to support entrepreneurs and their teams in transforming innovative ideas into businesses with a worldwide impact.

Collaboration with Lidl: sell your product at Lidl supermarkets

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Lidl is organizing a so-called theme week with innovative consumer products. They are looking for suppliers and startups that can deliver those new, healthy, and/or very sustainable food and non-food products. StartLife works together with Lidl to select startups for this week and we agreed that a minimum of 15 products will be products from StartLife startups. 

For years now, Lidl has been organizing theme weeks to promote Italian, French, or Spanish products, to name just a few. In the spring of 2019, the chain will introduce a new theme. “We want to keep surprising our clients, this time with products that are very sustainable or highly innovative. To help us, we’re looking for producers and startups that we can help and guide towards production,” says Braun. “The idea is to sell the products during the theme week, which is unique. Should a theme week product be very popular, we will of course consider adding it to our core product range,” Braun continues.

LIDL

For this project, Lidl is collaborating with StartLife, which helps the supermarket chain to select the startups. StartLife is the leading European Food & Agtech incubator. Marloes Groenewegen, Director of Operations at StartLife: “With this project Lidl can really help startups, precisely because a regular purchasing order is issued long before goods have to be delivered. This pushes startups to speed up and can help them launch their products

The total number of products to be sold during the theme week is also as yet unknown. “A good theme week ordinarily has between 30 and 50 products, but it’s still early days to put an exact number on it,” Braun emphasizes. However, a minimum of 15 of these products will be products from StartLife startups. These startups will be selected through a separate selection session.

REGISTER HERE BEFORE 9 SEPTEMBER TO JOIN THE PROGRAM

Collaboration with Lidl: organises innovative pitching event

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Supermarket chain Lidl is looking for suppliers and startups that create innovative products for Lidl to sell in 2019. During the new theme week, Lidl will present a number of products that are new, healthy and/or very sustainable.

Suppliers and startups can register until 16 September, after which they will be invited for a selection day. “Those who are invited to the selection day are asked to pitch their product and, for example, tell the jury how they came up with the idea,” says Christine Braun from Lidl Netherlands.

For years now, Lidl has been organising theme weeks to promote Italian, French, or Spanish products, to name just a few. In the spring of 2019, the chain will introduce a new theme. “We want to keep surprising our clients, this time with products that are very sustainable or highly innovative. To help us, we’re looking for producers and startups that we can help and guide towards production,” says Braun. “The idea is to sell the products during the theme week, which is unique. Should a theme week product be very popular, we will of course consider adding it to our core product range,” Braun continues.

LIDL

For this project, Lidl is collaborating with StartLife, which helps the supermarket chain to select the startups. StartLife is the leading European Food & Agtech incubator. Marloes Groenewegen, Director of Operations at StartLife: “With this project Lidl can really help startups, precisely because a regular purchasing order is issued long before goods have to be delivered. This pushes startups to speed up and can help them launch their products

Depending on the number of applications, Lidl will decide how many startups are to be invited to the selection day. The number of products to be sold during the theme week is also as yet unknown. “A good theme week ordinarily has between 30 and 50 products, but it’s still early days to put an exact number on it,” Braun emphasises.