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Food disruptors aim for big bite of startup pie

Liz Kaelin was tired of eating sad sandwiches at corporate events. A trained dietician, Kaelin knew it was a waste of her day's calories, especially in a city flooded with food options.

So in 2013 she and co-founder Phil Doran set up YouChews, an online platform that links corporates wanting catering with a curated list of cafes and caterers.

The business, which graduated from Telstra's muru-D incubator earlier this year, and now has Telstra as a 6 per cent shareholder, underpins the catering for about 250 companies in Sydney, using a handpicked list of 35 food vendors such as Mojo Picon and Gardeners' Lodge Cafe.

It has handled $400,000 of sales since start up and is now looking for additional investment that will allow it to expand in Sydney and open in Melbourne.

Unlike DeliveryHero and Menulog, which focus on small scale takeaway ordering, Kaelin has concentrated on the corporate market, personally tramping up and down the streets of Sydney's CBDs armed with boxes of brownies with which to woo receptionists often tasked with finding food for office events.

Food related start-ups are booming at the moment - and the launch last week of SBS' 24 hour Food Network on TV — which, in a Snapchat-on-steroids move, will also allow foodies their 15 seconds of fame for their best food photos— is likely to fan the flames

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According to Morgan Ranieri, co founder of YourGrocer, an online platform linking households with local providores, Australia's supermarket duopoly has previously slowed local food tech innovation, but as barriers to disruptive start-ups continue to fall that is changing rapidly.

He says that a "sweet spot" is emerging for food  disrupters as consumers look for opportunities to buy from local suppliers.

YourGrocer is currently only available in Melbourne though there are plans to launch in Sydney, and allows consumers to buy from local shops while taking care of delivery and payment.

Unlike online services such as HelloFresh, which lets people order pre-configured recipes and boxes of food online to be delivered to their home, YourGrocer — like rival site thegourmet.com.au — leaves the choice of produce with the consumer.

According to Kaelin it's that consumer choice, and easy access to quality that is driving the food tech frenzy.

She has founded a FoodTech group which now has almost 500 members, and also pioneered this month's Simplot sponsored #Hackfood event. The winning idea was dubbed Chewsr, described as a cross between Tinder and Uber that would let people choose what to eat based on photos of food.

It's not the only food app in the wings; Set my Scene is an app that will provide recommendations about where to go on a date - put in the location, time of day, reason for the date and amount of money you want to spend and the app will provide suggestions.

Just about every area of the food sector is being disrupted - from businesses such as FindMyRice, which is an online platform for the hospitality sector providing access to more than 1.3 million different products and services, to specialist online advertising companies such as Gourmet Ads.

Founded eight years ago by ex-chef now president, Benjamin Christie, the company serves up 380 million advertisements globally on 1500 recipe and food sites.

Christie believes that a generation that has grown up with food shows on television has a different approach to food, and is more receptive to fresh food ideas.

According to Kaelin, the biggest challenge is that "investors are so inexperienced when it comes to food tech. We have heard over and over again that investors want to invest in what they know about."

She predicts a sea change in the coming 12 months, but "presumably [from] people who have eaten a lot of sad sandwiches".

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