Challenge Lab FoodHack: How to reduce food waste?

Food waste is one of the biggest environmental and economic problems of our time. One third of global food production goes to waste, which, in addition to the significant environmental impacts, represents an economic loss of nearly a trillion dollars annually. Challenge Lab Czechia 2025 is looking for startup solutions that address this problem in key sectors and deliver commercial potential.

What is the challenge?

Approximately one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted somewhere between the producers (farms) and the consumers (us humans). This huge inefficiency has economic, social and environmental consequences. This is because these foods are grown on farmland the size of China, consume around a quarter of all the water used in agriculture and are responsible for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they cause economic losses of approximately USD 940 billion a year. We have therefore chosen to target these key areas in our challenges:

1. Gastro businesses (hotels, restaurants, catering companies)

Restaurants, canteens and bistros struggle with miscalculated portions and poor planning of ingredients, leading to surpluses on plates and in warehouses.

Goal: Implement efficient processes, engage staff and guests, reduce costs and waste, find new ways to use leftovers.

Challenge sponsor:

Zátiší Group is one of the most important catering companies in the Czech Republic. It operates award-winning restaurants (such as V Zátiší, Mlýnec and Bellevue) and offers top catering services. It employs hundreds of employees and has a turnover of around half a billion Czech crowns a year.

2. Consumers

According to many studies, up to half of food waste takes place in households. Families often buy more food than they actually need and use, store it incorrectly or do not know how to process it without waste. Interestingly, however, young people from Generation Z waste the most food - even though sustainability is one of their key themes.

Aim: The Challenge Lab is looking for a commercial solution to help young people reduce Food Waste, supporting their efforts to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Challenge sponsor:

The Faculty of Business and Economics at Mendel University in Brno specialises in economics, management and other business-related fields. It links education with current environmental challenges and tries to involve Generation Z in solving sustainability-related problems.

3. Retail (supermarkets, discounters and other shops)

Retail chains often throw away unsold food due to approaching expiry dates, poor demand estimation or unaesthetic appearance of goods. This results in high economic losses and wastes valuable resources needed for food production.

Goal: We are looking for smart solutions to help reduce the volume of unsold food, plan inventory more effectively, and engage staff and customers in preventing waste.

Challenge Sponsor:

Ahold Czech Republic, a.s. is one of the largest retail players in the Czech Republic with sales in the tens of billions of CZK. It operates an extensive network of supermarkets and hypermarkets, selling a huge amount of food on a daily basis. Linking a profitable model with a sustainable approach is therefore one of Ahold's key priorities and a motivation for finding innovative solutions that reduce food waste and promote circular principles.

This event is in Czech.

It will take place in two locations: at JIC premises, Purkyňova 127, Brno, Czech Republic and KUMST premises, Údolní 19, Brno, Czech Republic

You can apply through this link: https://www.jic.cz/cz/challenge-lab-2025#prihlaska

A detailed agenda is available in the Schedule tab above, or you can use this LINK