There is still a lot of waste in the food sector. The share of agriculture in this is quickly overlooked. Startup Holiroots locally produces various crackers from leftover vegetables.
Idea of crackers growing since 2020
“Three women, one goal” is what the Holiroots website says about the startup founders Paola Varela, Jenna Beck and Duyen Do. The three met while studying bioeconomy at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and that’s where the idea came from your current company.
For a competition (eit food) of the European Union in 2020, they produced crackers from vegetable scraps for the first time and achieved second place. After that, they continued to develop their vision. At the Greentech.Live conference in October 2022, the founders discussed exactly what this looks like and what the crackers are made of.
approach to agriculture
„[Lebensmittelverschwendung] is a problem on several levels. Mainly with the end consumers, because many throw away, in the restaurants, in the supermarkets. But that’s pretty well resolved. […] What we’re doing is at farmer level, that is, one level down. Then we attack and say: Okay, what’s getting stuck there?” says Beck.
What sticks is different vegetables. Carrots and parsnips that don’t sell because of their appearance, beets that are too big or too small, and leeks that are spotty. These vegetables, the three learned from farmers, were the most left over. Actually, the whole thing would end up in the garbage, but Holiroots picks it up and produces four different crackers from it.
The tastes are of course dependent on the types of vegetables, but also show the international influence of the three women’s countries of birth, Germany, Mexico and Vietnam. This is also reflected in the recipes on their website. Each of them brings a little something from their homeland to the crackers.
Launch in Belgium and Holiroots’ plans for the future
It is also important to them that everything is healthy. The crackers are therefore vegan and have a high fiber content. Local production is also used.
Here they have initially focused on Belgium. You can already buy the crackers there. The reason for the country choice is one of their sponsors – coincidentally Belgian – who helped them to find production facilities and establish contacts.
Germany is also on the agenda, but since one wants to avoid cumbersome transport routes, the German market will only be tackled in the future.
So for the time being only crackers in Belgium, or at some point sales in the online shop. In addition, the three women want to expand their range.
“Crackers are also our first version or product,” says Beck. “The idea of saving food or vegetables can of course be incorporated into many different products, and that’s what we want to do.”