Notes from Brown Bag Lunch Dec. 4th, 2012

Thanks everyone that came out to our final Brown Bag Lunch of the semester.

Interested in being part of The Food Lab next semester? Fill out the quick feedback form to let us know what you would like to see happen next semester, Spring 2013.

New Food Entrepreneur:

Anthony Pavich, MBA student at McCombs, is seeking to startup a new food venture related to organic farming and sustainable investing. He is currently studying food industry “buzzwords” and how product prices fluctuate with venture capital investment.

Some of the resources discussed:

Incubation Station – Starting up a 2013 line of food companies for incubation.

Slow Money Austin – Non-profit investment group focused on sustainable investment (mostly food ventures)

Lyfe Kitchen  

Interesting upcoming events:

Meat // hack’a’thon in New York City #hackmeat

Food, the City, and Innovation Conference – Help us spread the word on Facebook, or on Twitter with the official hash tag: #FCICON

Special thanks to Primizie™ for donating a package of their new line of Crispbreads for The Food Lab to try out. They went well with Monica Malfer’s grilled cheese sandwiches.

Some things for Monica’s startup Afternoon Delight to research:

The Melt.com 

Food Truck Alliance Austin

http://austinfoodcarts.com/

Our first meeting in 2013 will be on Tuesday, noon, January 22nd, Sutton Hall 3.112

Notes from Brown Bag Lunch November 27, 2012

News Stories Discussed:

Interesting story in the Wall Street Journal defining two food branches within the “food movement”.

Bundle states that the city of Austin spends 12k per person every year on food. How much do you spend?

New Food Entrepreneurs:

Matt Miller pitched his idea for Dine with Friends, a social site/app for friends to plan and host a meal. He took the idea to 3DS; they were impressed and suggested that Matt call his idea a “wedding registry” for meals. He pointed out several similar concepts:

http://newgusto.com/

https://www.grubwithus.com/austin

Monica Malfer is starting up a Grill Cheese Cart

She is currently mapping out the Austin scene for other similar carts. If you know of one, post it in the comments below.

UT SNAC – is interested in starting up a mobile food cart.

Eric Eichmm

Eric is interested in starting up a company on his family’s 352-acre ranch. Currently, his family grows hay grass.  They are looking for something new and unique to farm/ranch. Both the UT Microgarden and the UT Food Community are resources for Eric.

Johnsons Backyard and The New Farm Institute are both working on a farm incubator.

Farmist – Is a new startup that includes a social networking site for farmers. Looking for something for farms,  find it HERE.

Trey Farmer wants to create an space for residents of the East Austin to work growing and cooking food.

Some resources for Trey include:

Kitchen incubator, in Houston

Home Skillet – holistic catering

La Cocina – kitchen incubator

Rosewood Community Market

in.gredients – small bar and community store

Homework:

1. We need your help spreading the word about our new conference page. LIKE the our new Facebook page for the conference.

2. Help find people interested in mapping the Austin food scene. We are starting with UT! Official hashtag #utfoodmap  Contact Robyn.Metcalfe@austin.utexas.edu for details.

Last Brown Bag Lunch of the semester

December 4th, 2012 from 12 to 1pm, 3.112, Sutton Hall

If you have any resources and/or ideas, be sure to share them in the comments below. See you all next week.

Notes from Brown Bag Lunch 30 Oct 2012

NEWS

Food Lab Official Taste Testing

November 13th, 2012     12pm to 12:45pm

Sutton 3:112, http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/sut.html

Three Local Food Startups need your help! You are invited to come try samples of their new product line. Please come taste test their food and fill out a quick feedback questionnaire to help them with their new business ventures.

Free and open to the public, registration required

https://foodlab.ticketbud.com/tastetest

 

 

Nick Kreyling

Joined TFL to get to talk strategy for corporate sponsorship for a cooking show he is helping to put on with TSTV. The show feature an eating challenge with some of UT’s professional athletes.

TFL talked about what is needed to approach some of these local foo businesses such as Austin’s Pizza, Rounders, Stubbs, and Firemans.

 

Austin Energy Bars

We tried out some of Peter’s future energy bars line. We were all surprised about the great flavor coconut added to one of his bars. We were also proud of this protein bar. They were comparable to some other local bars such as Thunderbird Energetica, Long Horn Bar (UT alumni created), and Bearded Brothers.

We discussed about him preparing a competitive analysis.

 

 

Taste Testing

Registration required by 5pm, on Friday, November 9th, 2012.

https://foodlab.ticketbud.com/tastetest

Notes from Brown Bag Lunch: Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, 2012

Another great Brown Bag Lunch as 8 local food entrepreneurs, both students and business professionals, came together to pitch their ideas, share resources, and give insightful feedback. Cool way to kick-off Food Day (Oct 24th) at UT.  Patrick Zimmerman came out to record us. See his work at http://kitesinthetree.tumblr.com/

 

NEWS

Food, the City, and Innovation Conference Registration is now open!

Learn more at

http://foodandthecity2013.eventbrite.com/

 

PITCHES AND UPDATES

Peter Miles Grant
owns a home renovation company that is trying to incorporate urban agriculture systems into their designs.

http://txconstruct.com/

He talked about working with Love Puppies Brownies at their kitchen space to make his own gluten-free bar

http://www.lovepuppiesbrownies.com/

The Food Lab attendees discussed the importance of customization in energy food products. Similar to how

Infinitnutrition has done with their custom-blended nutrition solutions.

http://www.infinitnutrition.us/

 

Krishna Vamsee Ravella
talked about the importance of his Indian Snack Market to offer a product line that is no to spicy for the American palate and how his line of products can allow others to experience new cultures and understandings of food through the power of taste.

Reminds me of this TED Talk by Mitchell Davis, “Tasting Our way to a Better Food System”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmvyWQfMVLI

 

Tom Stevenson

gave us a quick update about high end olive oil market. We discussed the importance of quality assurance for his product. Any one have a link to the different definitions of oils?

The Food Lab talked about the importance of precision in his product line. That this market wants to be able to log their food and track it, similar to Map My Fitness.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/

Henry Hedges and his company Suga’ Puff Confections
gave us an update about his pricing structure for his gluten-free .

https://www.facebook.com/sugapuffconfections

 

Robert Love, a yogi and organic farmer, loves his green smoothes.
He blends up 7 different types of vegetables daily to energize him for the day since he, “[doesn’t] spend a lot of time chewing.”

He wants to make a dairy free shake. The Food Lab talked a little bit about natural thickeners. If you have any recommendations, please share in the comments below.

Some companies to get into contact with are:

http://lovelifemethod.com/

http://www.newearthcenter.com/

 

Student Max Bridges

Pitched a new a new idea for a subscription based candy of the month club. Glua-Glua (that is Candy in Malay) will offer a new candy from different parts of the world for subscribers. The aim is to expand people’s cultural understanding and palate.

Check out http://foodzie.com/  and http://www.newyorkmouth.com/

We also talked a bit about food meet up/ reservations models:

http://letseatatx.com/

http://www.opentable.com/

 

Have a food system related product or service? A food app? Design for urban agriculture? Ready to start you own food venture and connect with other food entrepreneurs? Join us next week at the Brown Bag Lunch! Details HERE: https://foodincubator.wordpress.com/category/updates/

Ready to Go Thai Food and Moroccan Olive Oil

Brown Bag Notes from Oct. 16, 2012

NEWS AND LINKS

Food Studies Project, UT student-led group trying to bring a interdisciplinary academic program about food to UT. They are looking for more food entrepreneurs to help lead the organization. http://studyfood.wordpress.com/

AIA Design Voice Committee is very excited to co-host a Design Charrette and Competition with HOPE Farmer’s Market on October 21st from 1-6 pm, see flyer for details. Please sign up here by October 15th, space is limited so please sign up early. There will be a $5 entry fee collected at the event. Email questions and comments to aiadesignvoice@gmail.com.

We look forward to your participation in this collaboration to create a mobile transportation/storage cart designed as a vehicle to increase access of local produce throughout East Austin!

https://www.aiaaustin.org/content/sign-hope-popup-mobile-farmstand-design-charrette

http://www.hopefarmersmarket.org/

Food, the City, and Innovation Conference plans to host a Startup Crawl for local food businesses. Learn more how your business can be part of the conference HERE.

 

STUDENT STARTUP IDEAS

Ready to Eat Thai Food

Kanokwan Kullawan, a Thai petroleum engineering on exchange from Norway, is working with her sister, who studies food technology in Thailand, to create packaged, ready to eat, Thai dishes. Similar to Instant Noodles, where the consumer can pour hot water over the ingredients and the meal is ready to eat after a few minutes.

First the Lab discussed about if all the ingredients of popular Thai dishes could be dehydrated, such as bean sprouts and sauces. Then we located some different labs such as Food Protein R&D Center at Texas A&M for further Kanokwan’s research. http://foodprotein.tamu.edu/aboutus.php

Indian Snack Market

Krishna Vamsee Ravella is well on his way with his startup. We discussed the cost of inputs for the Indian snacks we selected last week. The costs of the ingredients should be low (just rice flour and sugar) but we feel the costs for well branded packaging will cost. Daniel “Asiago” Heron brought an interesting example of packaging, Cerealize, the winners of the StartupBus Competition at SXSW.

http://cerealize.com/

Krishna’s next step looking into test kitchens. The Food Lab is in current talks with several kitchens around Austin. I suggested The Kitchen Space for it proximity to UT. http://www.thekitchenspace.com/

LOCAL FOOD ENTREPRENEUR IDEA

Moroccan Olive Oil Company

Tom  Stevenson, of Encendre Company, is working to bring authentics high-grade extra virgin Olive Oil from Morocco to Austin. The idea came from a study at UC Davis that a lot of bottled olive oils do not actually meet the quality standards to be labeled “Extra Virgin” in the United States. Currently his partner company, Olea Capital,  sells in bulk and Tom hopes to bring the delicious Olive Oil directly to the consumer with help from local companies such as Con’ Olio.

http://www.conolios.com/

http://www.oleacapital.ma/

Can’t wait to try it!

Gourmet Marshmallows, Flex-pay restaurant, and sourcing fresh food at convenience stores.

Greetings Food Entrepreneurs!

Another wonderful Brown Bag Lunch meet up Tuesday. Several eager students dropped in to get connected, share their business ideas and giving each other good feedback.

News and Cool Stuff

Conversation over paper vs plastic bags. What do you all think?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444165804578006832478712400.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124473522987806581.html

PacoJet Ice Cream Maker- Rather than slowly churning some plastic paddles, it spins a set of high-strength silver or titanium-nitrate blades at 2,000 RPMs. The blades power through the frozen block in seconds, turning it into the familiar ice cream.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/06/pacojet-high-end-technology-smart-luxury-icecream-maker.html

Student Startup Ideas

There was seven of us present but this week, but we got to hear ideas and updates from four entrepreneurs.

Margaret, a student of the social entrepreneur Bridging Disciplines Program is interested in opening up a restaurant with a flexible pay scale. She is also looking for collaborators on the UT Micro Farm (See last week’s notes). Check out the Survey for the new Food Studies BDP program.

 

Jessi, a graduate student in Urban and Regional Planning is in the process of getting more fresh produce into convenience stores. She is looking for local farm partnerships and wants to utilize already existing infrastructure. She gots some connections to talk with at in.gredients about small convenience grocery stores and local farm partnerships. And was encourage to meet some people working on the Food for Black Thought projects.

 

Krishna, a student starting up a Indian snack company, is aiming to provide a variety of sweet and savory products. The group got to try out some diverse treats from South Asia. Jalebi, the Indian Funnel Cake as we started to call it, was crunchy with a creamy jelly on the inside. Some more snacks we tried were Spicy Boondh, Mixed Mithai, and others. We talked about the importance of packaging for specialized product like this. The group shared ideas about we could design a unique packet and we made some decisions on what steps to take next.

Henry, a senior in history is in works to create a Gourmet Marshmallow Company. In addition to Marshmallows, he and his family are going to produce jellies and sorbet. We talked the importance of incorporating his family history of making these foods into his products. Business is personal and that be reflected in his marketing/branding. We came up with potential collaborations with a local hot chocolate company? Check out Dr. Metcalfe’s review of a new sipping chocolate company.

Few more links mentioned:

social cause http://smoresgrant.blogspot.com/
idea for unique gourmet marshmallows http://www.plushpuffs.com/
provide local marshmallows to coffee shops  http://www.halcyonaustin.com/slide/tableside-smores/
get ideas from spaghetti companies – https://www.jelly.com/product/1028/artichoke-heart-and-asiago-cheese-pasta-sauce

 

If you have any ideas or resources, we invite your share them in the comments below and come have lunch with us next week!

UT Food Show, Indian Snack, Food Cart?

Bonjour Food Entrepreneurs!

We had a wonderful first Brown Bag Lunch today. Here are some connections we discussed for you all to research and get involved now.

Join this group, learn what is going on around the ut food community, how are you going to contribute?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/195807830494437/

Startup a food tv show on campus or a segment with these guys?
http://www.texasstudenttv.com/show/good-morning-texas

Conduct an informational interview with a local indian food company?
http://www.kalaskuisine.com/

Collaborate with SNAC food cart ut austin food starting up this semester.
https://www.facebook.com/SNAC.UT

Learn more about UT food education? write for the blog?
http://studyfood.wordpress.com/

Raise money the first Food and the city conference at UT Austin
https://foodincubator.wordpress.com/conference/

 

Remember to bring your lunch next time!  😉

 

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