Alleviating World Hunger One Protein Bar at a Time
Two 色情视频 students created a startup company through the Zahn Innovation Platform Launchpad with the goal of feeding impoverished areas.
Working as servers at a local restaurant, 色情视频 Kristian Krugman and Reyanne Mustafa grew tired of watching mass amounts of untouched food being discarded every night.鈥淪oulFULL and the two of us would not be where we are now without ZIP Launchpad. We have also learned so much from ZIP through their mentorship.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e not talking about food scraps off of customer plates,鈥� said Mustafa. 鈥淗igh-volume restaurants are over supplying and throwing away nutrient-dense and high-quality food every night.鈥�
One night, at closing time, they saw the chef preparing to throw away an entire pot of brown rice and quinoa mix. Mustafa stopped him, yet was unsure of what to do with it. All she knew was she couldn鈥檛 stand by and watch somebody waste completely viable food when there were homeless people right around the corner begging for a meal.
The next day, the two took the leftovers to downtown San Diego, one of the most densely populated homeless areas of the city. As they distributed the grains, they listened to everyone鈥檚 personal story.
鈥淔rom that moment on we made it our goal to bridge the gap between food waste and food insecurity,鈥� Mustafa said.
The duo soon realized that popular protein products sold in stores contain similar ingredients they saw being thrown away every night in restaurants. It was then they decided to start a company, and SoulFULL was born.
They started formulating powder, crackers, cookies and bars made with food waste and created a superfood protein product line dedicated to providing nutrient-rich products that are not only healthy but also good for the environment by reducing food waste and minimizing our carbon footprint.
Now, Mustafa and Krugman are semifinalists in the 鈥淗ow Green is Your Idea鈥� challenge held by the , a tri-nation organization working to protect the environment in North America. The challenge is for students and entrepreneurs under the age of 26 to develop feasible and scalable technology, science and business ideas that can enhance economic growth and are also environmentally sustainable.
They were selected as one of three semifinalists from the United States to present their ideas to Canadian Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, Mexico鈥檚 Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Rafael Pacchiano Alam谩n and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. The three finalists from the competition will be announced on June 7.
鈥淪ince SoulFULL was fostered in the Zahn Innovation Platform (ZIP) Launchpad, we knew exactly how to portray our impact and causes in a direct way,鈥� said the new entrepreneurs who utilized 色情视频鈥檚 resources, including five months of guided and intense entrepreneurial experiments as part of the .
鈥淚 like to describe it as a crash course for business and make a joke that I am getting an MBA in five months鈥� said Krugman.
Since SoulFULL has a low cost of production, for every one product sold, their goal is to donate one to a relief organization to alleviate hunger across the globe. Their plan is to provide 40,000 meals annually, reduce 127,000 pounds of food waste, and prevent 1.3 million pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere from food waste and landfills.
Krugman and Mustafa have already partnered with two large-volume restaurants and two juice bars. With the variety of food waste from each facility, they are able to incorporate grains and greens into their products. By the end of the summer, their goal is to finalize the formula for their baked good items, and they are calling for help from the 色情视频 community to participate in their sampling tests.
鈥淪oulFULL and the two of us would not be where we are now without ZIP Launchpad,鈥� the duo said. 鈥淎s we mentioned earlier if it wasn鈥檛 for the deadlines and constant progress reports we would still be at step one. We have also learned so much from ZIP through their mentorship.鈥�
