Korean based RE:Harvest is considering of exporting its upcycling technology as it is one of the pioneers globally to scale-up food upcycling at a commercial level, according to Alex Min, Founder and CEO of RE:Harvest.
There is a growing interest towards sustainable food products and ‘upcycling’ is one of the options available for food makers to support the planet.
According to Min, “Should the interest for upcycling increase in this region, we are ready to export our equipment and earn additional revenue from maintenance and operation along with the loyalty.”
RE:Harvest currently has 3 business models:
(1) B2B – We collect mass amount of by-products at a scale and produce alternative flour or fiber/protein supplements at our factory. Produced products are then sold to food makers such as CJ. These powder products are called “RE:nergy Flour” and have single source by-products or sometimes we mix couple by-products to create more custom-tailored products for customers. For example, RE:nergy Ginseng Flour, RE:nergy Ginseng and Beer By-Products.
(2) B2C – By using RE:nergy flour, and make convenient meal replacement products such as granola bars, cereals and snacks to consumers.
(3) Bakery Cafe – cafe and vegan bakery using RE:nergy flour as a means to create greater consumer awareness and a test bed for upcycled food products.
As Asia food upcycling is at a very early stage, it is important to showcase potentials of the food upcycling industry as a business. Min said, “At RE:Harvest we do our very best to create a very good working example by creating value chain across the food upcycling industry and develop each relevant technologies. For instance, starting from collection, we have developed logistics that can guarantee the quality of the by-products during the transportation. In terms of mass-production, we have specialized drying and micro-organism control equipment that are both highly effective (Quality) and efficient (Cost).”
RE:Harvest believes in continuous investment into developing next generation technologies to further increase the efficiency of upcycling. As it is still at an early stage, value engineering must be done along with the continuous development of new technologies to expand the horizons of the food upcycling industry and enhance the bottom-line of the company.
RE:Harvest boasts of having the best technology for upcycling and while Korea does not have a large agriculture sector, which only contributes less than 2% to its GDP, exporting this technology overseas will further support the goal of saving the planet and reduce food waste, while offering sustainable food sources. Already, RE:Harvest has formed strong partnership with Indonesia’s major brewer, PT Multi
Bintang, the producer of Bintang beer, on upcycling projects and create market outreach by conducting various pop-ups and seminars as well as providing networks to reach relevant markets via B2B and B2C channels.
Min is confident that ‘food upcycling’ will be the norm of the future. He mentioned, “Just like electric vehicles are no longer viewed as ‘noble and new’ concept, I think food upcycling will become the new normal of the future. Food upcycling has an innovative role in overcoming the issue of food waste and saving the planet.”
For food manufacturers, ‘food upcycling’ is still new but based on internal consumer research, millennials are ready to accept the concept and buy the ‘story’ instead of the product itself.
Despite the challenges in building consumer awareness of upcycling, Min is optimistic of the future. He concluded, “If carbon trading accelerates, upcycled products will grow bigger since these products reduce carbon greatly. For instance, 1kg of our RE:nergy flour saves 11kg of carbon as well as 3.7 tons of water.” He further added, “In terms of high nutritional values, upcycled products can also compete with the existing food products which have fiber and protein claims. For example, RE:nergy flour on average has 30% less calories, 2x more protein and 21 times more fiber than regular white flour.”
RE:Harvest was one of the winners of the 2021 Future Food Asia Thai Wah’s Circular Bio- Economy Prize. Future Food Asia 2024 (FFA) will make its annual comeback from 15-16 May in Singapore. For more information on FFA event, click to https://futurefoodasia.com/ffa-2024/
