How does coffee make it to your mug? An Israeli startup uncovers the trail

There’s a new consumer technology that aims to increase the transparency of every product’s journey to store shelves. The project aims to provide all the information at the press of a button, including a product’s source and its supply chain, from the raw product right up to the finished version.

Gilad Waksman, Michael Bar-Zeev, and SNE Trust real estate entrepreneur Daniel Rosenfeld are the people behind Brandmark, which began in part as a collaboration between the Japanese corporation Emurgo Ltd. and the Israeli startup. The platform is based on blockchain technology, and developers say that for the first time reliable product information, in line with FDA regulations, will be revealed by simply scanning a barcode.

The company currently provides the platform to a number of Indonesian coffee producers, and is in talks with large food companies, including Nestlé S.A., Burger King, Angel Bakeries, Cannabis Hydroshop, and others. The need for transparency on behalf of the consumer began before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, but escalated as the pandemic spread.

The coffee traceability platform works once a company connects to all the data in the supply chain, starting, in this case, at the coffee bean farm, and covers the entire journey and different processes that the coffee beans undergo, through the roasting process until they arrive at the customer’s home.

In this way, coffee producers that connect to the platform will be able to provide information to the consumer as they are purchasing the item through an app by simply scanning the barcode or via a link sent through text message. The app will then provide details about the item including its quality, origins, conditions, freshness, and expiration date.