BranchOut Food (Tii: BOF), is an international food tech company that is new to the market after its recent IPO. The hip snack food company is looking to capitalize on a market hungry for new snack foods, and a sensitivity to sustainability. 

Not familiar with the term food tech? Simply stated, foodtech or food technology is the work of utilizing cutting edge technology to create, manufacture and distribute food products.  One of the foodtech trends that BranchOut is utilizing is food waste management. The company’s creation  was inspired by the UN statistic that over 55% of the fruit and vegetables grown in Latin America ends up as food waste. As a creator of healthy options their mission is to utilize previously wasted “ugly” produce to make their line of healthy snacks and nutritive powders align. These dehydrated snack options are positively impacting more than just our health, but are also impacting the local growers in South America. BranchOut gives their suppliers more income than what they would have earned in prior growing seasons, utilizing a portion of their harvest that would have previously been garbage. 

Foodtech companies like BranchOut are using data, and new systems that incorporate AI to increase efficiency and better manage global food resources. One of the ways that BOF is focused on resource management is through its processes. The company can brag that its dehydrators run on 100% carbon free energy and additionally its carbon footprint is made smaller through the dehydration process,  because the weight of the finished product has been reduced by 70 - 80%. 

North America leads the world in the dehydrated foods market, with dairy being the largest segment of five (dried processed food, dried fruit and vegetable, dried dairy, dried meat and seafood, and other). According to market research, for the next five years, the dehydrated food market is projected to grow 5%, led by growth in the Asian Pacific market.

BranchOut seeks to reach customers looking for healthy options, people that like to try new things, and innovative companies. As the vegan diet and plant based options have expanded into more groceries and restaurants, consumers are looking for food created for their lifestyle that tastes good. This year the company has created the first avocado chip available in three savory flavors: Sriracha, Chili-Lime and Sea Salt. 

Gaining traction with a new product is notoriously challenging. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen says that every year more than 30,000 new consumer products are launched and 95% of them fail. BranchOut’s growth has been ongoing and positive with leadership announcing recently that its next key business strategy will be for private label consumption. Private label production is when a retailer, like your regional grocery store chain, packages and sells an item produced by a third-party but sells it under its own brand name. As supermarket prices continue to rise, the demand for affordable, nutritious choices has encouraged growth of private label goods. Private label industry valuation is currently more than $200 billion with an annual growth rate over 11%.

BranchOut has started the year strong with a new partnership with the US Army and its research and development organization, Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM). DEVCOM hopes that fruitful results will come from the partnership, with the primary goal being to enhance the quality of MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat). BranchOut Food’s proprietary GentleDry dehydration process was noticed by DEVCOM researchers and led to an unique opportunity.  BranchOut is currently in production mode to develop a range of snack items specifically designed to be incorporated in future MREs. Select Army bases have been supplied with a variety of protype snack items. 

Innovative and market savvy, companies like BranchOut Foods are capitalizing on what many see as an aspect of our future food landscape. Healthy snacks, forward-thinking leadership, and sustainability never tasted better.