gate-Startup Delicious Data wins Federal Award 2020
gate-Startup Delicious Data and five student unions have received the Federal Award 2020 „Too good for the bin“ in the field of digitization for their project „Together agianst overproduction in canteens by means of aritificial intelligence”
In a shared project, five student unions together with the startup Delicious Data have developed a forecasting tool for planning meals in canteens. By means of a deep learning algorithm overproduction and the application of ressources like staff, electricity, water, etc. can be reduced significantly.
„We are proud of the common distinction for the project and we appreciate the continuous support of our pilot partners for the successful performance of the project very much”, says Valentin Belser , co-founder and managing director of Delicious Data.
A total of 131 ideas were handed in this year. The prize was awarded in the categories commerce, gastronomy, production & agriculture, scoiety & education and in the field of digitization. Among these, the jury chaired by Bärbel Dieckmann, former president of Welthungerhilfe e.V., has selected 14 projects as finalists.
“The idea was developed during lunch time at the university canteen. I arrived later than usual and was surprised by the large choice five minutes before closing. Thus, I became aware of the challenges arising when planning meals”, says Belser. Cause in many canteens and cafeterias too much food is produced every day, one major reason is poor projectability. The chefs can hardly estimate the potential need of meals, as the number of guests and their behavior fluctuate.” In order to solve this problem, the gate-startup Delicious Data has developed a forecast system based on a deep learning algorithm. The system analyzes the sales history and sales pricing of each canteen/cafeteria and combines them with further external factors like the weather or semester breaks. Thus, the number of portions needed can be planned more exactly and overproduction can be reduced.
“We live for the idea to facilitate processes in gastronomy by means of machine learning and to almost automatically raise sustainability”, says Jakob Breuninger, managing director, too, of Delicious Data and developer of the forecast algorithm.
In common, they worked on the development of the system in order to finally test it in several canteens. A test stage of the software lasting several months showed that production planning could be improved significantly. Meanwhile, nine student unions have applied the software for planning meals in 50 canteens and cafeterias.
„Imagine: Exam week, thursday is a national holiday and the weather forecast for wednesday says bad stormy weather! How high are your expected meal figures for wedensday? Which factors influence the decision what to eat, if you provide 14 menu lines in your canteen? We are happy that the system helps our chef with the every-day-planning of 10,000 meals and thus reducing food waste. A great project – we are proud to be part of it and to have received the Federal Award 2020 in common, “ says Prof. Dr. Jörg Magull, managing director of the students union Göttingen and chairman of the “Ausschuss Hochschulgastronomie des Dachverbandes der Deutschen Studentenwerke, DSW”.
With their solution, the startup does not only address coporate catering. “Our artificial intelligence is meant to help to reduce the amount of overproduction and food waste in gastronomy as a whole”, says Breuninger.
More information:
https://www.delicious-data.com/
About the Federal Award:
https://www.zugutfuerdietonne.de/der-bundespreis/2020/delicious-data-gmbh/
pictures: ©bmel.bund.de
Contact for this press release
Studentenwerk Frankfurt am Main
Sylvia Kobus
Leiterin PR & IT
Telefon: 069 798-34917
E-Mail: sylvia.kobus@studentenwerkfrankfurt.de