Tender Food

Join us live as Elysabeth Alfano and our CEO Mike Messersmith chat about turning scientific breakthroughs into your next favorite meal. Tune in now! #VegTechInvest

Excited to have Andoni Eck on our team as our Process Engineering Lead!   With over 8 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Andoni played a key role in helping companies design and commission equipment, optimize production processes, and scale new products from benchtop to full production. At Tender, Andoni is focused on enhancing the scalability and consistency of the production process while ensuring top-notch product quality. Outside of work, he enjoys attending concerts, hiking, and playing games with friends.

We're thrilled to have Logan J. on our Tender team! Logan is a former management consultant focused on growth strategy and due diligence for industrial, robotics, and food/agriculture technology firms. In his previous role at Arthur D. Little, Logan worked on projects spanning plant-based protein production and precision fermentation — topics which resonated with him as an avid foodie and gardener. Logan joins Tender as a Strategy & Corporate Development Senior Associate and is eager to leverage his experience to advance our innovative food production technology.

Welcome to Tender, Marina Ikuse! Marina joins Tender as a Biomaterials Research Associate. Before joining the team, she spent a year in Germany through a young professionals program and gained experience researching plant proteins at a food research institute. Marina earned her master’s degree in food science from Washington State University, where she conducted research on extrusion processing, protein texturization, and cultured meat. At Tender, she’s excited to contribute to projects that advance a more resource-efficient food industry. Outside of work, Marina enjoys spending time with friends and family, knitting, and running.

Thank you Elias Chavez and Boston Business Journal for covering the scope of our U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant! https://lnkd.in/eb9c6rwg

We're excited to have Kenneth Belanger on our team as our Foodservice Sales Manager! A New England native with over 15 years of experience in sales and business development within the food and hospitality industry, Kenny brings a wealth of knowledge to his role. From owning a corporate catering business to helping food and beverage companies expand their market presence, he has always been passionate about building strong relationships between brands and their customers. At Tender, Kenny is excited to work closely with the team to grow their plant-based protein offerings across food service establishments, all while promoting sustainability within the industry. Outside of work, you can find him spending time with his family, riding his motorcycle, hiking, and enjoying nature whenever possible.

No better way to discuss winning over eaters for sustainability on the menu than by Clover catering our golden-fried, plant-based chicken for lunch. Thank you Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) and Sean Cash for hosting our CEO Mike Messersmith in conversation with our partner Julia Wrin Piper of Clover at Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day. It's so important to create tangible ways people can be more Tender to the planet, and we're proud to make it happen with restaurant partners like Clover in this innovative city. It's easier to do when those tangible ways are delicious, crispy, and served with smoky mustard. Photography Credit: Paul Rutherford for Tufts University

We're thrilled to announce that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Tender to receive $5.4MM in funding to accelerate the development of innovative technologies, ensuring the resilience and competitiveness of U.S. industrial supply chains in rapidly changing global markets. This grant recognizes the revolutionary potential of our technology to unlock the future of food innovation and drive massive efficiencies beyond conventional production technologies. This project will be funded through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | U.S. Department of Energy. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/g3mUCCwF

We’re excited to welcome Mike Messersmith as the new CEO of Tender Food! Mike brings extensive experience from his time as President of Oatly, as well as growth-focused roles at The Nature's Bounty Co., Chobani, and Frito-Lay. Under his leadership and expertise, we’re looking forward to expanding our patented technology platform, which powers the production of unique plant-based products. In Mike's words: "The food industry is in desperate need of innovative and pioneering approaches across the value chain, and the next phase of breakthrough products are not going to be created on machines invented in the 1800s. The technology developed at Tender Food has the opportunity to create exciting new products to delight consumers and spark breakthrough products. We are at a critical inflection point of building off a successful manufacturing scale-up and launching into a new phase of market impact and development. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to join the founders and team to steward this next chapter of the company’s growth.” Jon Chesto at Boston Globe Media highlighted Mike’s vision and this exciting leadership update. Check out the feature to learn more!

We care deeply about building a new generation of even more delicious meat alternatives for the well-being of our planet, and we're rapidly scaling our technologies to enable more people to enjoy it! Thank you vegconomist - the vegan business magazine for speaking with our CEO and co-founder Christophe Chantre. https://lnkd.in/eUhM2hZy