Startups have popped up in almost every industry as creative individuals seek out solutions to enhance our quality of life. Food is no different. Whether it’s making it easier and more cost effective to eat healthier, or creating a technology to better track the health of a farmer’s cattle herd, the startups in town have found unique pockets to fill with their platforms.
Food Startups in Austin to Know
- Restaurant365
- QuickBIte
- Favor
- BeeHex
- Whole Foods
- Sysco LABS
Here are Austin-grown companies making improvements in our world of food, and in one case, your dog’s too.
What they do: Described as your personal delivery assistant, Favor promises delivery of anything in under an hour.
How it's changing food delivery: Favor makes delivery possible at any time with its large crew of runners from almost anywhere, including convenient stores and malls.
Founded: 2012
What they do: Sysco LABS is Sysco’s innovation office focused on creating an e-commerce experience for restaurants to order their ingredients through the Sysco Shop app. Through Shop, restaurants can order and track products in real-time, gaining more visibility over their business.
How it’s changing foodservice: With the Sysco portal, companies gain a bird’s-eye view of their information, enabling businesses to view account details, billing, orders, and deliveries all in one centralized platform. With customers in 90 countries, Sysco LABS develops global e-commerce products by working in small teams, utilizing in-house design teams, user experience, and research.
Founded: 2017
What they do: From accounting and inventory, to scheduling and predictive forecasting, Restaurant365's management platform consolidates everything in one place to make it easier for restaurants to operate.
How it's changing food: More than 7,000 restaurants throughout the country partner with Restaurant365 to help with their day-to-day tasks. Their cloud-based platform is accessible from any device and runs seamlessly with over a thousand partner integrations that support the restaurant industry.
Founded: 2011
What they do: Whole Foods delivers fresh produce, foods, household products, and other essential items to consumers. Customers can browse the company’s website to explore local selections, receive recipe tips, and organize a delivery and pickup option for extra convenience.
How it’s changing food: To create a healthier world, Whole Foods maintains strict quality standards and develops programs that provide resources to communities in need. Not only can customers rely on products free of dangerous substances, but they also know their purchases at Whole Foods go toward higher wages, student scholarships, and other beneficial causes.
Founded: 1980
What they do: Aspire Food Group manufactures a myriad of foods made from crickets.
How it's changing food: Aspire believes that crickets are the protein of the future. The company takes the traditions of many other cultures (that already eat crickets for nutrition and protein) and infuses IoT-based precision farming techniques to develop edible insect foods.
Founded: 2013
What they do: One of Beehex’s founders developed NASA’s first food printer. The team has since recruited the culinary assistance from one of NYC’s top pizza makers to replicate his famous pizza recipe. The printers should be available for purchase by the start of the year for about $25,000.
How it's changing pizza: Their 3D printers cut the total time to make a personal pizza almost in half. Less time means more pizzas, making it a hot commodity for large venues with spikes in traffic, like sporting arenas.
Founded: 2015
What they do: With the pooches in mind, Bones and Co. launched a local-ingredient made, raw, whole, small batched dog food.
How it's changing dog food: Bones and Co. challenges the mindset that dogs should eat grains, by-products, fillers and preservatives by instead promoting raw, naturally made meals.
Founded: 2013
What they do: Personal chef service, Dinner Elf, launched in 2014 providing busy families with an in-kitchen by-appointment "elf" and over 60 menu items to choose from.
How it's changing the food-gift industry: Since launch, the company has seen a pattern in people using Dinner Elf as a gift for new parents or for loved ones who have returned from the hospital. Groups can buy out schedules at a time, ensuring the recipient receives regularly scheduled home-cooked meals.
Founded: 2014
What they do: Fieldcraft connects food and beverage suppliers with over 8,000 plant-based ingredients.
How it's changing food: The Fieldcraft search engine enables major food brand buyers to access thousands of plant varieties to healthier, more sustainable ingredients. The platform’s big data configures hundreds of data points that make it easier for buyers to find everything from clean-label solutions to artificial and plant-based alternatives.
Founded: 2017
What they do: QuickBite is an order-ahead platform for food trucks and restaurants.
How it's changing food: Want to order food from a food truck, but hate standing in line? QuickBite’s app allows for users to search, order and pay for food from food trucks and restaurants all over the city. The app will then notify the user when their delicious order is ready to be picked up.
Founded: 2018
What they do: Snap Kitchen cooks up portioned, high-nutrition, locally-sourced take-away meals, snacks and cold-pressed juices at their brick and mortar locations in Austin, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and Dallas. Their online site features every menu item with a total calorie count, ingredients and nutrition.
How it's changing food: Conscious eaters don't have to work hard to get quality food prepped for them with a variety of selections that are not diet-specific.
Founded: 2010
