Small Business Spotlight: Innovative Food Upcycler, Netzro

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

A Discussion with Founder and President, Sue Marshall

Sue MarshallYou’ve heard of furniture and clothing upcycling. Did you know that food can also be upcycled?

We have a trailblazer in food upcycling in our midst, Netzro, 817 5th Avenue S, founded by Sue Marshall. Netzro was recently selected by Tyson Ventures (the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods) as one of four national entrepreneurs to receive mentorship and partnership opportunities. We talked to Sue about the importance of food upcycling and what the recognition by Tyson will mean for the company.

Q:  Let's start with a very basic question: What is food upcycling?

A:  NETZRO’s definition of food upcycling is the process of safely capturing and converting food byproducts into new upcycled ingredients at scale. It expands the food economy without growing more food.

Q:  Your LinkedIn profile tells us that you're "partnering with Mother Nature to correct the mistakes of my generation and generations past." Please tell us more about that notion. 

A:  In the U.S. we have taken for granted the resources it takes to grow food, putting pressure on the environment unnecessarily. This might begin at the farm level, but exists all the way through the food supply chain. The biggest opportunity is to create a more equitable, resilient closed loop food system.

Q:  How does Netzro facilitate food upcycling? Do you have a means of measuring the impact of Netzro?

A: Having the opportunity to be a founding and executive board member of Upcycled Food Association has given NETZRO a role of advisor in the food tech space within the industry. We receive calls from food and beverage manufacturers all around the world that have all types of food byproducts that need to be processed, supplying an endless number of leads. Being considered a leading expert has given me the chance for speaking engagements in various food and agriculture ecosystems. Being a supplier of food technology to assist powering food forward at scale is where the impact exists. Using some food byproduct to create a new snack is cute, but taking a problem of tons of food per day that is wasted and upcycling it to higher value is truly solving the problem of food waste while creating new opportunities. In terms of impact, in 2022 the Upcycled Food Association companies recovered a projected 991,681,940 pounds of food from waste - the carbon equivalent of taking 242,000 cars off the road.

Q:  And congratulations for also being a founding member of the Upcycled Food Association, which includes over 260 companies in 20 countries.  

A:  Thank you. It has been heavy lifting, but all worth it. The folks who I have had the opportunity to do this work with are incredibly passionate about making a difference. It has been a very humbling experience to say the least.

Q:  The major recent news is that Netzro was recently chosen as one of four startups at the Tyson Foods Demo Day pitch event. What does this recognition mean for you and the company?

A:  Being selected by Tyson gives NETZRO the chance to work on a level of scale that we are ready for. Their people are some of the brightest scientists and engineers in the world, so to be connected to them is an opportunity of a lifetime. Not to mention the access to resources that very few companies have gives us the chance to accelerate our work even faster.

Q:  What's next for Netzro and you? May individuals invest in Netzro?

A:  The NETZRO team will be expanding, which gives me a chance to focus my skills and passion in the areas that matter most to feed more people, while reducing the effects of climate change. NETZRO was selected for the MN Angel Tax credit program and using it to raise a seed round. For more information, contact cody@netzro.us. Please follow our social channels - Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.