The Foodini Story
Foodini was born in response to one of today’s most resilient and fastest growing consumer challenges – food allergies and dietary needs. We all know someone with a food allergy, intolerance or preference. The vegan co-worker, the coeliac cousin, the friend on a KETO diet or the child with a nut allergy.
Over the last 3 decades, dietary needs, consisting of allergies, intolerances, health related diets, lifestyle diets or religious & culture based diets, have risen in prevalence and complexity around the world and will continue to do so based on the even higher numbers in children.
As a matter of fact around 33% or 2.7B people have a dietary need!
This creates challenges not only for the people looking to adhere to their dietary needs but equally to the food service industry that is looking to respond to this challenge and supply the right food.
The Foodini Founders know this challenge first hand and decided to come up with a comprehensive solution. After all, with today’s technology it shouldn’t be necessary to rely on incorrect menu data, outdated user reviews or have cumbersome conversations to find the right food.
Foodini’s DietaryAI and accurate tagged ingredient-level data supervised by our registered dieticians, help restaurant and food service providers to provide digital menus that auto-customize to a diners personal dietary profile; making it easy not only to find the right restaurant but also to understand exactly what dishes are suitable in seconds.
Note From Our Founders
The 3 of us all have a personal connection to dietary needs and the challenges that arise from it. Dylan was diagnosed as a Coeliac when he was 10 years old after many years of being unwell pre diagnosis. Growing up in rural Ireland, it was almost impossible at the time to find suitable food alternatives or accurate information about the condition.
When I moved from Ireland to Australia - an unfamiliar environment - I was starkly reminded that it was almost as hard to find a safe place to eat as it was back then. That had to change! (Dylan McDonnell)
Timo has two children with different food intolerances (shellfish & gluten) as well as a wonderful wife on a vegetarian diet.
Going out for a family dinner can easily end in disappointment or lengthy detective work. I didn’t want to see my kids grow up with constant struggles and I know many parents who share this challenge. Time to do something about it! (Timo Kugler)
Erica also has friends and family members with severe food allergies and she has spent her entire career in hospitality & food technology across the US, which gave her frontline insights into the struggles dietary needs create for the food industry.
From the friendly family restaurant on the corner to the biggest food tech platforms, dietary needs present big challenges. New legislation imparts more responsibility on venues and food service businesses. The call for a better solution is loud and clear across the industry and I knew I wanted to be part of creating it! (Erica Anderman)
Join us on our mission of MAKING DIETARY NEEDS EASY FOR EVERYONE and become part of the Foodini Family.
And please never stop sharing your ideas on what we can improve, so you can eat with confidence.
Love,
Dylan, Erica, Timo