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The winning team behind Foodwise uses data-driven insights to tackle the massive problem of restaurant food waste.听

Byron Patten (惭驳尘迟鈥�24), Hashirr Lukmahn (颁辞尘辫厂肠颈鈥�25), Emma Bonerb (Mgmt鈥�24) and Jennifer Bundrant (Mgmt鈥�23) (pictured above from left to right) made headlines when they won the New Venture Challenge鈥檚 first prize of $100,000 for Foodwise, an innovative software platform to help restaurants reduce food waste and operate more sustainably and profitably. Business at Leeds asked them to tell us more about Foodwise and what they鈥檙e cooking up next as听they prep plans to launch their AI-based app at .

(A condensed version of this article appeared in the fall 2024 issue of Business at Leeds.)听

What is Foodwise and the problem it aims to solve?

Jennifer: Foodwise takes the guesswork out of food planning and preparation with a unique restaurant management system powered by machine learning. Since restaurants prepare fresh, perishable food, much of it gets thrown away if it isn鈥檛 used. Our research shows that 45% of food waste* is due to inefficient food prep practices. Therefore, we developed an innovative solution that enhances both environmental sustainability and restaurant profitability. With Foodwise, restaurants can eliminate up to 1,000 pounds of waste per month and save over $2,300 in monthly food waste and labor costs.听

Restaurants can easily access our software through a downloadable mobile application. The app connects with the restaurant鈥檚 POS system, and our machine learning algorithm analyzes and predicts daily sales demand by tracking trends and patterns around the restaurant鈥檚 location, such as weather, local events and holidays. This provides efficient and accurate prep plans. By tracking and analyzing trends over time, we help restaurants make more accurate decisions and improve operational efficiency. This allows restaurants to focus more on cooking and service, and most importantly, create less waste.听

(*From the , based on a study analyzing commercial kitchens across the UK.)

How did you evolve your business plan to win the New Venture Challenge (NVC)?

Emma: We did not participate in the New Venture Class, we actually competed independently. Byron, Jennifer and I came up with our concept at the weeklong 2023 Sustainability Hackathon,听hosted by听our professor and mentor, Matt Brady. After winning first place there, we were highly encouraged to compete in the 2024 NVC. We laid down the initial foundation for our company during the hackathon, and this initial push really helped us catch the attention of mentors and other people who wanted to help us succeed in the NVC.

Byron: Even though we did not participate in the New Venture Launch class, professors and students from the course reached out to us to offer us support, and they even gave us the space to present our pitch leading up to the event for feedback and to shake off some of the nerves of presenting to such a large audience. We appreciated this support so much going into the event.听

What are your plans for the winnings?

Hashirr: The current plan for the team is to use the funds to accelerate the development of the software by hiring data scientists and purchasing application programming interface product subscriptions, such as AWS, for hosting and database operations.听Working with four pilot customers, once we have built a predictive model with viable accuracy, we鈥檒l target other full-service restaurants in the Boulder and Denver areas.

How will you differentiate Foodwise from competitors?

Jennifer: An automated food preparation software has been quite novel in the restaurant industry. Typically, restaurants rely on minimal technology for creating food preparation lists, often depending on knowledge, experience and a whiteboard to outline the day鈥檚 prep. At best, some may use an Excel spreadsheet to forecast prep, which falls short of accounting for external sales demand and it lacks automation. As of now, the only food preparation software on the market is ClearCOGS. We plan to differentiate ourselves through strategic partnerships, cost-effective pricing and our application-based software that provides real-time reports.

What are some of the toughest decisions you鈥檝e had to make so far?

Emma: The whole process has been a learning experience thus far, full of decisions with ambiguous outcomes. I would say some of the toughest decisions we made had to do with our final pitch at the Boulder Theater. In the few days leading up to the event, we received a lot of feedback from our mentors and other experienced individuals. Although all of the feedback was useful, a lot of it conflicted with other advice we were receiving. This got to be really overwhelming for us, and we were questioning everything about our planned pitch. As a team, we had to decide what we wanted to glean from each piece of feedback; we really had to trust our own intuition and follow what we believed was right for us. This was especially difficult for us because we were so new to the venture and startup world. But it ultimately paid off in the end.

Jennifer: I鈥檓 thrilled about Foodwise鈥檚 future. We are now becoming the real deal by establishing our company name and launching development. Soon, we will be able to test Foodwise with our pilot customers, gathering real, actionable data. This will provide the credibility needed to expand our customer network and achieve our goal of enhancing sustainability and profitability for restaurants.听

Byron: I would also add that for the most part, our team never anticipated being business owners. We weren鈥檛 entrepreneur students or familiar with the startup world. On my end, I expected to jump straight into the marketing industry, which is what I studied. I never imagined myself being able to be an entrepreneur, like some of my fellow peers at CU Boulder. I just thought certain people were born with that ability.

This process has challenged us significantly to trust in our capabilities and knowledge to move forward versus looking to others to direct us. Overcoming that hurdle was huge, but it provided us with so much confidence to continue forward and navigate this entirely new world.