Supermarket chain presents futuristic sustainable products from June 27, during the ‘Future Goods’ week

 

Insects, granola with mealworm powder, seaweed wraps, socks made from recycled fishing nets and ‘rescue food’. Supermarket chain Lidl organizes the ‘FutureGoods’ week from June 27, in collaboration with incubator StartLife. During this week special, sustainable and innovative products made by young, local startups and suppliers are available at all, over 400, Lidl branches in the Netherlands.

Looking for innovative, healthy or sustainable ideas, the supermarket chain made an appeal last summer to pitch ‘FutureGoods’. People responded in a massive way. An organization-wide jury chose 12 suppliers who will get shelf space at Lidl. Furthermore, the chosen startups and suppliers have received guidance and support from Lidl and StartLife, to grow further towards large-scale production.

“The consumer chooses more and more vegetable-based or sustainable products. With the FutureGoods week, Lidl makes these innovative products accessible for a large audience. Additionally, we offer local suppliers the opportunity to present their unique concept on the shelves of all Lidl branches”, says Erik van den Hoogen, senior purchasing manager at Lidl Nederland.

The participating entrepreneurs and products are:

  • Star Sock – Socks made from organic cotton and recycled fishing nets
  • Zzinga – A sustainable drink with low alcohol content. A new version of honey wine that helps protect the bee population
  • Gigi Gelato – Gigi’s ice cream is 100% vegan, made with fruits and vegetables
  • Krusli – Cruesli made of residual food, also known as ‘rescue food’, for a sustainable breakfast
  • Seamore – Made it their mission to introduce the world to eating seaweed through seaweed wraps
  • Little Hero – Founded in 2019 with the ambitious mission to make everyone acquainted with superfoods and has introduced edible insects as a healthy and sustainable source of nutrients
  • Farmer&Foodie – Strives to have the foodprint as low as possible for her carrot and tomato burgers
  • Bijt – The grow kits of Bijt make it easy to grow your own biological sprouts at home
  • Arenshof – His recipe for potato bread made it to the finals of the TV show ‘De Nieuwe Lekkerbek’
  • Gro – Makes croquettes and ‘bitterballen’, among other things, from the tasty, versatile and oyster mushroom, which they cultivate circularly
  • Food2smile – The founder is nutrition consultant and has worked for many years against obesity. As an alternative for candy and chips, she developed sugar free snacks such as Popped Soja Chips and Sugar-Free Candies
  • Banabar – The first biological fruit-and-nut bar based on dried bananas on the Dutch market

About Lidl

Lidl is one of the largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands with more than 400 branches. Under the slogan ‘the highest quality for the lowest price’, Lidl offers a wide assortment of food and non-food commodities.

About StartLife

StartLife, founded by Wageningen University & Research and OostNL, supports food and agri startups to develop into leading companies. The world food problem asks for radical changes in the food and agriculture sectors. StartLife believes that startups, because of their innovative abilities, are the driving force behind a more sustainable world and has been working with startups for more than 10 years. 

StartLife’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship in the food and agri sector and to support entrepreneurs and their teams in transforming innovative ideas into businesses with a worldwide impact.