The Edible Upcycle Opportunity: From Trash To Delicious Food

Daniel Kurzrock is the Co-founder and CEO of ReGrained, a company that upcycles nutritious grain by leveraging technology to turn beer waste into food. Daniel's company uses these rescued grains to make award-winning nutrition bars and puffed snacks. ReGrained has been listed in Forbes' "30 Under 30: Food and Beverage," won Slow Money Northern California's Food Funded Pitch Competition, and was a finalist at FoodBytes! among many other achievements.  Daniel is an entrepreneurial systems thinker and loves tackling problems through creative entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through ReGrained, he has become a thought leader about food waste business models, edible upcycling, and the circular economy for food. In addition to his accomplishments at ReGrained, Daniel also serves as a board member for Naturally Bay Area and the Upcycled Food Association. In this episode… If you're in the food and beverage industry, there's one term you need to know: upcycling. This growing movement has organizations worldwide teaming up to create a more sustainable future. So, what exactly is food upcycling, and how is it helping the food industry, environment, and food economy?  According to the Upcycled Food Association, "upcycled foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment." Daniel Kurzrock is no stranger to the upcycled food industry; he started out brewing his own beer in college and realized how much grain was being wasted in the process. Back then, there wasn't a solution for wasting the extra grain — so Daniel created one. He now uses his patent-pending technology to introduce a second harvest to the grains used for beer. These grains are then upcycled into nutrient-dense flour and used for other nutritious snacks!   In this episode of the Firebelly Social Show, Duncan Alney is joined by Daniel Kurzrock, Co-founder and CEO of ReGrained. Together, they talk about the benefits of upcycled food. Daniel explains ReGrained's approach to upcycling, the environmental and health benefits of upcycled products, his thoughts on equity crowdfunding, and his tips for creating something meaningful as an entrepreneur. Stay tuned.