Food, technology, and innovation: a conversation with Dr. Rana Edwards
Dr. Rana Edwards is a scientist-entrepreneur based in Milan. She is the co-founder of I Love Poke, an F&B start-up with 13 direct and franchise stores across Italy. She earned her Bachelor's in Pharmacology at Stony Brook University, her Masters from St. John's University, and her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Milan. Cusp Impact sat down with Dr. Edwards to learn more about her journey and to discuss the role of innovation and technology in the food sector.
Can you tell us more about I Love Poke?
We started in 2017 and expanded to 13 direct and franchise stores in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Pavia, Parma, Bergamo, Rome and anticipate 5 new openings in the next 3 months. The stores are supplied by our main center of production in Milan.
What led you to start I Love Poke?
Throughout my academic career specifically in cancer research, I developed a strong interest in the wholesome approach to Health and in the direct impact of nutrition on disease development. Processed food and chemical additives/preservatives have become a staple in twentieth century food manufacturing, and with time those newly introduced carcinogens became “the standard”. The dream was to build a fast-food format that celebrates fresh ingredients (lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, gluten-free, etc) and offers clients clean fuel (food = fuel of the body). Poke as a business model ticked all the boxes of the formula - fresh, healthy, fast and custom to taste.
As the cofounder of I Love Poke, what does your day look like?
The work of co-founders in any start-up encompasses a wide range of roles to build the infrastructure of the business encompassing operations, finance, marketing, research/analysis, and business development.
How are you leveraging technology and data in your work?
There are so many angles to the integration of technology and data in a modern foodtech. In our case, technology has been the foundation of our payment processing and food ordering systems, production/inventory/supply chain management, product traceability, smart equipment in food production, etc. All these tools generate data that drive business decisions especially in the areas of operations, optimization, and development.
In your view, how is technology impacting the future of food?
I think there has been quite a positive movement in people’s relationship with food. Consumers are looking for transparency and quality. Meanwhile, technology has been revolutionizing the processing and packaging of food, thus increasing quality and shelf-life without relying on chemical additives. Some applications of technological techniques used in food preservation would be flash-freezing which inactivates bacteria in meat while maintaining its quality and modified atmosphere packaging (longer shelf-life of product due to elimination of air). So overall, I think technology will continue to improve management and sustainability of food.
How are ecosystem players stepping up to address challenges in our food system?
There is a notable upsurge in the funding of startups that offer innovative solutions to critical food system challenges such as waste management, greenhouse gas emission, and smart food production. On the other hand, I feel that consumers with the help of regulations implemented by governments are becoming more conscious and proactive towards global challenges such as waste management.
As an entrepreneur who cares about sustainability and social impact, how do you balance possible tensions between impact and profit?
The business was developed with sustainability in mind. For example, the fast-food format was built on the basis of recycled-packaging and zero-waste policy. All food productions come from fresh resources and there is major work that goes into the operations of benchmarking and reducing waste at our centers of production as well as in stores. These factors do not go against profit, on the contrary, they go hand in hand with the optimization of production-cost.
In terms of impact, the company was founded on a clear message of health and nutrition that we constantly invest in through health education via direct marketing and nutrition projects with special focus on women and children. Additionally, we function as part of a strong network of foodtechs in Milan that has a great community impact. This was most recently evident in the collaborative efforts displayed throughout COVID19 to supply healthcare workers and affected families with meals.
COVID-19 has disrupted many industries . How has COVID-19 impacted the food industry? If we are having this conversation in 5 or 10 years, what might be different?
In the foodtech field, COVID-19 highlighted new opportunities and created a strong shift into the e-food services that was anticipated to happen in the next 3-5 years. So I actually feel that the few months of the pandemic mandatorily fast-forwarded business into the future with near 100% dependency on technology-based services especially throughout the period of the quarantine. This required businesses to display a great deal of flexibility and innovation to survive the economic distress and social changes that occurred overnight.
