The FoodTech Startup Competition, now in its fourth year, brings together the most relevant and prominent startups that are helping to tackle contemporary challenges in the food and hospitality sectors, all with the support of Maistra Hospitality Group, Infobip, Pepermint Agency, and Kaufland.

Many previous winners of the competition highlight how this event gave them the opportunity to present their ideas to a wider audience. At this year’s Weekend Food Festival, we had the chance to hear the inspiring stories of last year’s winners.

Antonio Matušan, last year’s winner and founder of the startup Crumbs, shared his experience with us: “The Crumbs story has been closely linked to the Weekend Food and Media Festival from the very beginning. Last year, I came to WFF with flyers, business cards, and – honestly – a lot of questions for the festival participants about food waste and opportunities for collaboration. At that time, Crumbs didn’t even exist as an app, we were still developing the idea.

That’s when I first heard about the FoodTech Startup Competition, we applied – and won. That was a huge turning point for us. Besides the many awards, the most valuable for us was the collaboration with Maistra Hospitality Group, which enabled us to connect the Sheraton Zagreb hotel to the app. In the first 30 days of the partnership, over 60 kilograms of food were saved – nearly 90% of the posted packages! We are currently working on connecting other hotels within Maistra Hospitality Group, and we’re proud that we showed through the pilot at Sheraton that hotels can also actively participate in solving the issue of food waste. Thanks again to Maistra for recognizing us and supporting us!”

For all future participants, Antonio has this advice: “Be curious, persistent, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Crumbs is a perfect example – from an idea and flyers to winning the competition, participating in panels, and opening the festival – anything is possible!”

The winners of the special category “The Best of The Best in Retail”, startup Nutty, also shared their advice with us for all future contestants: “Our advice to entrepreneurs is to definitely apply for projects and competitions – you never know where your next big opportunity will come from. Participating in the FoodTech competition was just that for us – another huge step forward in our entrepreneurial journey. It opened doors for us to collaborate with Kaufland, where our healthy Nutty Bars are now on the shelves, supported by strong marketing. This has also brought us additional visibility, which means a lot for any small brand, and experiences like this can truly make a difference.”

How to participate?

For all details about applications and participation requirements, visit the official competition website. Applications are open until July 31st, and the best startups will have the chance to win not only awards but also significant support for further developing their projects. Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of this innovative community and showcase your idea at this year’s Weekend Media Festival!