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Solving Food Service's $1 Trillion Waste Problem with AI Kitchen Intelligence episode artwork

Jun 10, 2025 30 min

Solving Food Service's $1 Trillion Waste Problem with AI Kitchen Intelligence

from Born In Silicon Valley Hosted by Match Relevant

In this episode, I sit down with Page Schult, co-founder and CEO of Topanga, who's tackling one of the food industry's biggest problems: massive waste and inefficiency. What started as a sustainable packaging company has evolved into an AI-powered kitchen intelligence platform that's helping colleges, hotels, and healthcare systems save millions by automating food waste tracking. Page walks me through her fascinating pivot from launching movies at Fox Film Studios to building technology that uses smart scales and image recognition to solve food service's data nightmare. She opens up about the unique dynamics of co-founding a company with her husband, the challenges of scaling from 15 to 30 employees, and why she believes decisiveness is everything in startup success. What really struck me was how they're not replacing kitchen workers - they're freeing them from spending 20+ hours a week in spreadsheets so they can actually cook. With food service representing 8% of US GDP, the opportunity here is massive, and Paige's team is just getting started. Host: Jake Aaron Villarreal, leads the top AI Recruitment Firm in Silicon Valley www.matchrelevant.com, uncovering stories of funded startups and goes behinds to scenes to tell their founders journey. If you are growing AI Startup or have a great storytelling, email us at: [email protected]

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Solving Food Service's $1 Trillion Waste Problem with AI Kitchen Intelligence

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This episode was published on June 10, 2025.

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