A global leading company for the production and commercialization of ingredients for the bakery and pastry sectors, with more than 10.000 b2b customers worldwide values corporate social responsibility and is dedicated to improving the sustainability of its products. Their product range includes chocolate and chocolate alternatives which have significant environmental impact. The company has the ambition to continuously improve its environmental footprint and with this challenge is looking for alternatives to (compound) chocolate that do not contain cacao nor palm oil.
Compound chocolate, also known as confectionery coating or chocolatey coating, is commonly used in the bakery industry. It is made of cocoa powder, vegetable fats, and sweeteners, while traditional chocolate is made of cocoa butter and cacao powder from the cocoa plant. Traditional chocolate requires cocoa butter, whereas compound chocolate can use different vegetable fats, with palm oil being the most common one. However, the production of both cocoa and palm oil has severe environmental consequences, such as deforestation, soil degradation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The company is looking for a chocolate alternative that can mimic the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of compound chocolate. Additionally, this substitute must be easy to use, without the need for tempering (a process where the chocolate is heated, cooled, and then reheated to achieve a smooth and glossy texture). It should be able to melt upon heating and then solidify upon cooling, producing a firm texture with a satisfying "snap." This product must be suitable for use in covering and molding applications.
If you have the recipe/solution to replace chocolate? We would like to get in touch to investigate whether and how we can collaborate!
What we are looking for
- Chocolate substitute to replace dark cocoa chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate, with comparable taste, mouthfeel and texture
- This chocolate substitute should be suitable to be used in bakery products (enrobing, molding, dipping of donuts, cookies, cakes, croissants, etc.)
- This substitute should be free of palm oil and cacao free
- All ingredients should be as environmentally friendly as possible (low in Carbon dioxide-equivalents (CO₂eq), land used, low in liters of freshwater withdrawals, low in phosphate equivalents (PO₄eq) per kilogram of food)
What we are not looking for
We are not interested in startups that are still in the ideation phase, as we require a minimum of a first prototype to consider a collaboration.
What we offer
- An open and flexible partner
- A development partner assessing the technical AND economic viability of your ingredient/concept within the Bakery industry
- A channel to market your ingredient/concept
- Potential financing of the company for further development
How does it work?
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your solution
- As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch
- Your pitch is only visible to BNF and the company
- After the deadline, all pitches will be assessed individually and the companies with the most interesting solutions will be invited for a 1:1 conversation to get to know each other and look for opportunities to collaborate
Pitch format
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck of your solution (max 4 pages / 12 slides) with description of the following two parts:
- A description of your product or solution
Give a short description of your product or solution, as detailed and visual as possible. In which phase is the solution? - A description of your company & team
How and when was your company founded? In which phase are you? How many people? In which market are you active? Also a short description of the (managing) team
- A description of your product or solution
- The pitch deck may be submitted in free form (presentation, slide deck, letter form), but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4 - max 30MB). Videos, example websites, etc. can be included as a link.
Timeline
- Juni 20 at 17.00 CET: Deadline challenge
- Juni 20 – Juli 4: Selection period
- Juli 5: Announcements selection & invites for 1:1 conversations
- Q3 2023: 1:1 conversations
- Q3/Q4 2023 onwards: discuss and start collaboration
Terms & conditions
- Participation is open for startups, scale-ups, SMEs, grown-ups, innovators and scientists with an innovative product and/or technology
- You will remain the owner of your intellectual rights, concept or solution in your pitch, until you agree otherwise
- Be aware of the fact that your pitch (and concepts and ideas in it) will be viewed and be shared with (internal) stakeholders. Keep IP sensitive unique (technical) details out of your pitch, keep it a secret that you can share later
- We strongly advise you to document everything you share with others and mention that information provided is confidential and intellectual property rights remain with you/ your company until agreed otherwise