Food & Beverage News | July 2023

Smoking cocktails at new Berlin bar and restaurant

A UK-based cocktail bar and restaurant chain that promises an unforgettable “multisensory“ experience has opened its first international location in Berlin. Situated on Potsdamer Platz, „The Alchemist“ claims to be the „home of the masters of the dark arts of molecular mixology.“ The British chain, which already has 21 sites operating in the United Kingdom, serves up smoking cocktails that change color, with other chemical and technical highlights served up beneath innovative light installations.

Czech delivery service Dodo expands to Germany

The start-up will act as an external service provider for the Bringmeister and Frugee delivery services. The company raised USD 60 million from investors - including Rockaway Capital which owns Bringmeister - last year, with much of the cash raised being set aside for its German market entry plans.

Start-up launches low-sugar syrup drink

Spanish-registered start-up Funq' has launched a range of low-sugar syrup drinks made at home by simply adding tap water. The company's three founders believe that the environmentally friendly Tetrapak packaged syrup will create a new beverage category while realigning the traditional syrup segment. Funq' claims that its syrups contain less than 2.5 grams of sugar - and no sweeteners - when diluted with water.

Berlin food lab developing foods of the future

Scientists at a food laboratory in Berlin are working to develop sustainable food solutions for sale in supermarkets. Workers at ADM Wild Europe - a subsidiary of Chicago-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) - take natural crop produce and raw materials to turn them into new food, beverage and nutritional supplement products. Flaxseed, soy, corn, pea and oats are processed by the ADM Wild scientists and chefs to create new food solutions to the challenges of food security caused by climate change. By responding to changing consumer demands, the company is preparing tomorrow's TikTok and Instagram favorites. Plant-based alternatives to meat and fish and vegan ice cream produced from oats are just some of the innovations being made at the Berlin Spandau site. The company employs a total of more than 1,000 people at its main plant in Eppelheim and its laboratory in Berlin.

Out to Lanch - start-up brings gastronomy and digital creators together

German start-up Lanch is seeking to combine regional gastronomy and the digital creator world according to Business Insider. The food creator tech start-up has launched with a total of 70 delivery restaurants across Germany. Lanch offers well-known content creators and social media influencers the opportunity to open their own delivery restaurant with or without gastronomy experience. Menus are developed together with the creators and then finalized by professional chefs. Partner restaurants cook the menus according to Lanch's specifications and are supplied with ingredients. German Youtubers Knossi and Trymacs are the first to launch their own "Happy Slice" pizza brand. Orders are placed via well-known food delivery services such as Lieferando, Wolt or Uber Eats. Lanch sees its concept as a win-win situation for restaurants and content creators, with restaurants benefiting from increased profiles in metropolitan areas and influencers able to leverage their online brand.

Bluu Seafood applies for US approval for in-vitro fish sticks

Bluu Seafood, a German start-up that last year became the first European food tech company to showcase fish meat made from cell cultures, has closed its EUR 16 million series A funding - raising EUE 23 million in total to date. The company, which produces fish sticks from trout cells and plant proteins grown in bioreactors, has now applied for approval for its in-vitro fish in the United States as well as Singapore. Bluu Seafood expects approval in Singapore in 2024 and plans to open a pilot plant in Hamburg in the fall of this year according to Handelsblatt.