NETZRO, SBC is Powering the Earth’s Food Forward
Specific Benefit Corporation (SBC), NETZRO, takes food that would otherwise be wasted and upcycles it to feed more people better, while also reducing the effects of climate change.
“What we’re doing in NETZRO is taking food that would otherwise be wasted and we’re making sure it’s powered forward to feed more people better.”
Sue Marshall, founder of NETZRO, gravitated to forming her business as a women-owned Specific Benefit Corporation (SBC) primarily because she wants the mission to always remain true and tied to impact. “What we’re doing in NETZRO,” she says, “is taking food that would otherwise be wasted and we’re making sure it’s powered forward to feed more people better. It’s about making money, but it’s just as important to feed people and eliminate food waste.”
NETZRO is a modern food upcycling platform that helps power the safe capture and conversion of industrial food and beverage byproducts into new sustainable food ingredients at scale. They are the bridge in the upcycling food community and live at the intersection of industry, farming and consumers. Additionally, they are also a key component in the churning wheels of a circular food economy.
Since 2015, NETZRO has been building an ecosystem of farmers, producers, distributors, retailers, restaurants, consumers and regulators. Now in the fall of 2021, they’ve just moved into their new space in the Wycliff Building in the St. Paul Midway and are prepped for growth. “Our impact begins by
working with businesses that have consumer-facing products and solving byproduct problems one by one,” notes Sue. “Because of our holistic view of all partners and their role in a process, we’re uniquely poised to help with scaling and efficiencies, ultimately bringing better value to all involved.”
NETZRO is data driven and measuring impact in their current projects: upcycling eggshells and upcycling grain. As an SBC, they also embrace their role in education and telling the stories of the impact. This is especially true when the output isn’t tied to a consumer-facing product, like the significant work around spent grain harvesting by the Minneapolis grain community.
“Spent grain is a byproduct of the brewing and distilling process where all the nutrients remain, minus the sugar,” says Sue. “Often spent grain goes right to the landfill. We interrupt that process and redirect spent grain to the production flour for use in consumer products like pancake mix.” As much as they can, they tell the upcycle story through consumer-facing brands with the use of the NETZRO logo on packaging and clever captions like We Are Nuts’ tagline: You can have your beer and eat it too. There are a lot of possibilities to explore. One more recent venture is around upcycling botanicals.
“It’s exciting to find the right industries and partners willing to look at upcycling with us,” Sue commented. With her history of founding other companies, NETZRO seems well suited to play that innovative and collaborative role. She also celebrates entrepreneurship and sees the business impact as far reaching. Sue reflects, “In forming as an SBC, I wanted to make sure the younger generations have a chance. I asked ‘What could I do to reduce the effects of climate change?’ and getting into solving for food waste was the obvious answer for me.”
NETZRO has made it easy for anyone in the community to shop their values through their WeFunder campaign: Powering Earth’s Food Forward. “We see more consumers investing in social good businesses because they align with their values,” Sue notes. “Our advocates have come to understand NETRO as a hub for an entire food ecosystem and the power of unlocking the potential for food to do good. That’s exciting and connects with my vision of younger generations taking what we’ve developed at NETZRO and accelerating it for the future.”
WRITTEN BY Jennifer Gilhoi, Owner Sparktrack Consulting, for #WhySocial Campaign during Social Impact Week MN. Join the movement for businesses as a tool for social change!
