SavorEat partners with Sodexo to commercialize its robot chef at U.S universities

Israeli foodtech company SavorEat has signed a collaboration with Sodexo, a food services and facilities company, to conduct a pilot seeing SavorEat’s robot chef deployed at higher education institutions across America. The robot will be serving SavorEat’s plant-based protein burger, which can be 3D-printed in only a couple of minutes.

Per agreements set out in the partnership, there will be a planning process and the establishment of joint teams from both parties who will ultimately embark on the pilot in the months of 2022 at universities. The agreement is a crucial step for SavorEat as it enters the commercialization stage of its products.

"Sodexo's choice, as a market leader, to partner with us - is a vote of confidence in SavorEat’s solution and in its unique value proposition,” said Racheli Vizman, SavorEat co-founder and CEO. “I am convinced that Sodexo's expertise in the international catering market and particularly North America will significantly contribute to the development and acceleration of the penetration rate of our products in the international market, with an emphasis on the U.S. market."

One of the specific advantages of such a partnership for SavorEat is that by deploying at universities, it easily reaches its target audience of 20-30-year-olds. In the U.S., 47% of young people identify as ‘flexitarians’, people actively seeking to cut down their meat intake by adopting more vegetarian diets.

“Sodexo's partnership with SavorEat will further extend our ability to deliver the plant-based foods our clients' customers are demanding in increasingly growing numbers,” added Husein Kitabwalla, CEO of Services Operations and Food Transformation, Sodexo North America. “In 2020, U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods grew 11.4% to a record $5 billion and Sodexo has long been a champion of plant-based alternatives - both from an environment and revenue perspective. This partnership between Sodexo and SavorEat will only further our ability to offer consumers choice.”

Sodexo is the 19th largest employer in the world and serves clients in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government, and other environments across 64 countries every day.

SavorEat was founded in 2018 by Vizman, Prof. Oded Shoseyov (CSO), and Prof. Ido Braslavsky. It has designed technology that can manufacture meat alternatives that combine plant-based ingredients and robotics. Its robot can help personalize each burger to the needs and desires of each consumer, offering a variety of textures, ingredients, or portions. The company completed its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) last November from which it raised NIS 42.6 million.