Meet founders Sue Marshall of NETZRO, SBC, and Anna Hammond of Matriark Foods, from the Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste 2021 Innovation Fund Cohort.
Episode 27 Summary
In spring of 2021, The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation collaborated with Village Capital to help source, understand and unlock capital to support innovative solutions that prevent, recover and recycle food waste with the following mission.
“We seek to reshape the food system by supporting innovators who are elevating food to its highest use and disrupting the linear supply chain. This could include solutions such as imperfect produce lines, upcycled foods & meal kits, upcycled commercial ingredients and more.”
With nearly 150 companies applying, 10 were selected for the 2021 Innovation Fund cohort.
In this special series final episode we meet the founders from two more of the companies in the 2021 Innovation Fund Cohort, Sue Marshall, Founder & CEO of NETZRO, (starts at 03:33), and Anna Hammond, Founder & CEO of Matriark Foods (starts at 20:22).
NETZRO interview starts at 03:33
Matriark Foods interview starts at 20:22
Learn more about The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation https://zerohungerzerowastefoundation.org/about.html
Learn more about Village Capital: https://vilcap.com/
MEET OUR GUESTS
Sue Marshall
Founder & CEO of NETZRO, SBC
Working with large and small-scale businesses across the country, NETZRO uses patent pending proprietary technology to reduce, recover and reharvest food and beverage byproducts at scale into safe, nutritious, and versatile upcycled ingredients that are good for the planet and consumers. Since 2015, NETZRO has built an ecosystem of farmers, producers, distributors, retailers, restaurants, consumers and regulators, all working together to pioneer a circular upcycled food economy.
Sue proudly lives and works in Minneapolis, MN—partnering with Mother Nature to correct the mistakes of her generation and generations past. She spends her days collaborating with others that share her passion for economic & environmental sustainability while creating socially responsible initiatives.
The vision of NETZRO is to eliminate food waste and expand the food economy without growing more food.
NETZRO Is currently crowdfunding through Wefunder. Click the button to learn more.
Learn more about NETZRO
Follow NETZRO on Linkedin
Connect with Sue Marshall on Linkedin
Follow NETZRO on Instagram
Follow NETZRO on Twitter
Follow NETZRO on Facebook
Anna Hammond
Founder & CEO, Matriark Foods
Matriark Foods is a social impact business— inspired by the thousands of children Anna has worked with including her 3 sons and 3 grandsons— to scale access to healthy food for the benefit of people and the environment. Matriark upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy products for foodservice – from university cafeterias to foodbanks, diverting wasted food from landfills while providing greater access to healthy food. Prior to Matriark Foods, Anna spent 25 years as a nonprofit leader successfully scaling programs and teams into dynamic, stable, and endowed organizations. Most recently, she was Executive Director for The Sylvia Center, a trail blazing food-education program that, under her leadership, collaborated with farmers, institutions, funders, and foundations committed to solving food insecurity through education and reimagined food systems. Together they expanded healthy eating and cooking programs in public housing community centers in all 5 NYC boroughs and all 6 school districts in Columbia County.
Learn more about Matriark Foods
Follow Matriark Foods on Linkedin
Connect with Anna Hammond on Linkedin
Follow Matriark Foods on Instagram
Follow Matriark Foods on Facebook
Meet all the companies in the 2021 Innovation Fund Cohort:
Watch for upcoming podcast special episodes featuring stories from each of these companies.
Hanford, CA
Agua Bonita makes ready-to-drink aguas frescas from upcycled produce, served in culturally inspired and recyclable cans. Learn More
San Antonio, TX
Grain4Grain uses patent pending technology to upcycle brewers spent grain into a low carb, high protein, high fiber flour. Learn More
West Palm Beach, FL
Husky Beverages features the healthy superfruit of coffee with a sparkling tea made from the “husk” of organic, upcycled coffee fruit. Learn More
Austin, TX
Journey Foods is a portfolio intelligence company that solves food science and supply chain inefficiencies with software to help companies direct more surplus food to those who need it.
Nyack, NY
Matriark Foods upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy affordable products for institutional foodservice, diverting wasted food from landfill while feeding communities healthy food. Learn More
Minneapolis, MN
NETZRO is a food tech platform for recovering industrial byproducts at scale that would otherwise be wasted into new upcycled ingredients. Learn More
Denver, CO
reBLEND is a line of frozen smoothie pops packed with fruits + veggies + superfoods and a bold mission to tackle food waste by re-harvesting produce that would typically be discarded.
Oakland, CA
Renewal Mill upcycles byproducts from food manufacturing into superfood ingredients and premium, plant-based pantry staples. Learn More
Portland, OR
Take Two is a plant-based food company that creates second chances by using Rejuvenated Barley™, upcycled spent grain from beer production, to craft our products, including a line of nutritious barley milks. Learn More
New York, NY
The Spare Food Co. is an upcycled food tech platform that creates foods and drinks using overlooked and unused ingredients sourced from growers and food processors.
Special thanks to our Sponsors and Production Team:
NETZRO, SBC - www.netzro.us
Upcycled Food Association - www.upcycledfood.org
Produced by Hi-Fly'n Productions www.hiflyn.com
Executive Producer | Host: Kevin May
Associate Producer: Ashley Brown
Creative Development: Sue Marshall