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“My Goal is to Reduce Food Waste Significantly”

After two decades of working in marketing and communication for major brands and companies in the German and French food industry, Nicolas Barthelmé decided to change perspective. In founding his own bottom-up community movement, his focus shifted toward bringing transparency to the food market, supporting fair shares for farmers, and empowering consumers. The CSCP is his next step to enhance and upscale these efforts. His goal: to significantly reduce food waste through AI.

How did you cross paths with the CSCP?

The CSCP sparked my interest when I started to look for opportunities to actively engage on large-scale transformation projects, foster sustainable lifestyles, and drive behaviour change toward more sustainability. Previously, I led projects to increase market shares and achieve profit goals for brands and companies. Sustainability was part of these projects but not always a priority. At the CSCP I have the chance to work not only with companies and brands but also with all other relevant stakeholders and genuinely focus on impact and transformation. This gives me a very good feeling!

What is the most exciting project you are working on at the moment?

My principal focus is on the project Resource Efficient, Economic and Intelligent Foodchain (REIF), that allows a meaningful implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions in the processes of food production and distribution in order to reduce food waste. As a result, we will develop a new digital platform to enable all parties in the food value chain – from farmers to retailers – to get access to AI services and thus reduce overproduction and waste. I find it very motivating to be involved in a project that directly tackles one of the major challenges of our time. In Germany, vast quantities of food, amounting for up to 11 million tons, get lost during the production process alone. A drastic reduction of food waste is a must also in view of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, in particular goals 2 and 12, Zero Hunger and Responsible Consumption and Production respectively as well as the EU Green Deal. Through REIF and my work at the CSCP I have the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders to achieve these goals.

How do you think your past experience can support your current work at the CSCP?

For over twenty-two years I built a professional profile in marketing and sales, gaining deep knowledge in strategy development, communication campaigns, and innovation processes for well-known French and German food brands and companies. Three years ago, I decided to change perspective and become a social entrepreneur by founding a new consumer community and bottom-up movement “Du bist hier der Chef – Die Verbrauchermarke” to bring transparency to the food market, allow real participation for consumers and achieve fair prices for farmers. Consumers have the right to know where their food comes from, how the products they consume have been processed and which kind of system they support with each act of purchase. This is the story behind the movement I started. In this sense, the CSCP is the next logical step to put my competence and passion into good use and enhance my efforts to reduce food waste.

For further questions, please contact Nicolas Barthelmé directly.

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