Wageningen food technology graduate Martijn Bosmans is head of Plant-Based Food development at the German company Bösch Boden Spies (BBS). While his German colleagues mainly work on concept development and sales of dried fruit and nuts, the focus in Wageningen is on ingredients for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes. His day-to-day work is to run a small three-person start-up in Plus Ultra, which currently focuses largely on forging links with partners, customers and consultancy clients.
Bosmans used to work for the Wageningen-based firm Contined, which was acquired by BBS in 2016 and closed down last year. Now he gets to set up an innovation hub on the Wageningen campus. ‘We want to develop plant-based products together with partners, but also to carry out consultancy assignments and do the logistics and sales for other food companies.’
We want to develop plant-based products together with partners
In the process, Bosmans is also tasked with bridging the gap between the Wageningen experts and the German family business (140 employees). ‘We are currently running a project on plant-based cheese for a German client. We notice a lot of plant-based food companies springing up around Europe, with varying levels of nutritional knowledge at their disposal. We want to help these companies with product development and sales.’ Bosmans is not yet collaborating with WUR but he is working on setting up an Open Kitchen on the campus. ‘Just like other start-ups, we want to develop and test plant-based products in a kitchen that is accessible to others as well. I am looking for partners in this venture.
There are about 100 companies on campus. We introduce you to them in Resource. This time, BBS in Plus Ultra.
