Alberts: Blending and vending on demand – meeting the challenge of healthy, sustainable food
Alberts harnesses the power of robotics and AI to provide personalisation and a fresh natural product. The result is an innovative system that allows healthy food to be available anywhere, anytime, at the touch of a button.
The challenge of healthy, accessible food
We know the importance of eating healthy and nutritious food, the challenge is making it accessible and possible to fit into everyday life. A key part of our work at EIT Food aims to increase the uptake of balanced, sustainable and healthy diets. We invest in projects and ideas that couples this with reduced food loss and waste, low energy consumption and circular economy of packaging and labelling.
Alberts was founded in 2015 to solve this problem. After experiences of ordering, overpaying and being disappointed with smoothies, co-founders Glenn, Philippe and Stefan found the inspiration for Alberts to create freshly blended smoothies anytime of the day. The solution: a vending machine that doesn’t just ‘vend’ but freshly produces snack foods and drinks from fresh ingredients and plant-based drinks, with zero food waste and biodegradable containers.
From AI-powered personalisation to circular economy
Having achieved proof of concept and validated the market demand, Alberts became part of the EIT Food RisingFoodStars programme in 2020 for aspiring food start-ups looking to successfully scale up their commercial capabilities. This helped Alberts gain access to mentorship, corporate leaders and investment.
Alberts maintains high sustainability credentials in their production as well as a commitment to highly nutritious natural food. Combining robotics and AI, the Alberts Blending Station creates personalised, completely natural smoothies and soups using only frozen fruits, vegetables, and water, no additives or preservatives. These products are vegan, gluten-free, and lactose-free, making them suitable for diverse dietary needs. Consumers can also personalise recipes via an app, tailoring ingredients to their preferences.
The products are made using Individually Quick-Frozen (IQF) ingredients exclusively. This means verified suppliers flash freeze fruit and vegetables immediately after harvest, therefore retaining most of their vitamins and nutrients. The ingredients remain frozen inside the blending station until selected for use.
To avoid excessive consumption of single-use plastics, Alberts have built circular economy solutions into their production by using waste from other parts of the food industry. A bagasse cup is used as the container, produced from a biodegradable byproduct of the sugarcane industry. Edible straws are made from apple pulp, repurposed from the juice industry.
Alberts’ collaboration with Alpro/Danone has already resulted in launching plant-based coconut and oat pellets, which have become part of their standard flavour offerings.
"EIT Food is striving for healthier lives through food as well as better packaging solutions, two main focus points of the Alberts robotics platform. Our greatest success is to see kids grab our blends instead of a soda! And I am very proud of our collaboration with Alpro/Danone, it takes years to set up a collaboration with such a globally known brand. It feels like our collaboration with Alpro/Danone, partly supported by EIT Food, is a culmination of years of hard work from the team."
What’s next for Alberts?
Current work at Alberts aims to reduce costs by 45%, making their products even more accessible. They are also expanding their offering with functional ingredients, such as protein, probiotics, and prebiotics, therefore expanding the ability to provide accessible nutritious snack food and drinks.
By harnessing the potential of robotics and AI, Alberts created a sustainable, on-demand solution for healthy eating, offering food that is personalised to the consumer. They have established a roadmap for sustainability in food entrepreneurship, shown in their use of IQF ingredients, biodegradable packaging, and adopting circular economy principles. Alberts champions sustainability and the ability to of AI and robotics to provide healthy, accessible food solutions, anyplace, anytime.
Hear about our latest opportunities, research and innovations shaping the food industry.
