There are about 100 companies on campus. We introduce them to you in Resource. This time: Foodcase in Plus Ultra.
Foodcase, based in Plus Ultra, develops food concepts for airlines. ‘It’s about meals that are fresh but have a longer shelf life, so airlines can reduce their food waste by 30 to 40 per cent,’ says the founder, Wilbert de Louw. He launched Foodcase in 2012, and now supplies 45 airlines around the world. Foodcase has a staff of 10 on the campus, plus two people in India who package the food. The production is outsourced to eight factories around the world. ‘We are a small company with a big impact,’ says De Louw.
‘Luckily we also supply army units; that just carried on’
Just for a change, Foodcase is not a spinoff. De Louw went to the Hotel School, developed a recruitment agency and sold it, and then started Foodcase together with a chef. The two founders combined their culinary knowledge with knowledge about sterilizing food at Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (WFBR) at WUR. They collaborate closely with WFBR’s research lab in Axis and want to expand the collaboration. They also regularly host ACT (Academic Consultancy and Training) groups and WUR interns.
De Louw declines to say what Foodcase’s turnover is. He does say that it has dropped by 90 per cent due to the pandemic, because there are very few flights. ‘Luckily, we also supply army units, and that just carried on.’ He is now working on a new catering concept, ‘genius in a box’, that would enable companies and WUR departments to order lunches online. ‘The lunches are fresh, sustainable, free of plastic packaging, and locally produced,’ says De Louw. AS
