Stravito unlocks generative AI’s power, supercharging F&B “efficiency and productivity”

28 Sep 2023 --- Stravito has unveiled its latest generative AI feature that delivers fast and distilled market research and insights to F&B brands looking to stay on top of trends. The update reduces the time spent researching and analyzing vital information, allowing additional time to be spent on leveraging and implementing it effectively across the organization.

The company says that the technology ushers in a new era of user-friendly knowledge management to supercharge the search experience and provide users with quicker insights in a more engaging and inspiring way.

Thor Olof Philogéne, co-founder and CEO of Stravito, tells Food Ingredients First: “The inability to access data and insights results in uninformed decision-making, poor product innovation, lost opportunities and decreased revenue and profitability.”

“Generative AI offers two main streams of value creation within the F&B industry, efficiency and productivity. Food and beverage companies come to Stravito because their market data and insights are hard to find and remain largely inaccessible across the organization.”

“Our platform helps these companies democratize access to market research and insights and put knowledge about their consumers, markets and competitors into the hands of all their employees making everyday business decisions,” he highlights.

Providing actionable insights
According to Philogéne, generative AI is changing the industry for the better by raising the accessibility of any organization’s owned data – evolving market research from a one-way search into a two-way conversation.

“The Stravito platform is leveraging new AI capabilities to enhance the user experience and provide better, faster and more actionable insights that have the potential to transform businesses,” he notes.

Thor Olof Philogéne, co-founder and CEO of Stravito (Image credit: Stravito).For the food businesses, market and consumer insights are essential so that they do not risk projecting the company’s own worldviews and biases and getting them wrong. “This is something that almost every company within the food industry knows, and that’s why they sit on an infinite amount of market research and insights.”

“The data is stuck on Google Drives and Sharepoints or on legacy knowledge management systems, rather than easily accessible for the people making the decisions.”

Interestingly, food businesses are warming up to the use of AI in predicting future food trends. Earlier this month, Food Ingredients First spoke to Ofi about the company’s latest research in which innovation experts used AI to create distinct cocoa pairings based on its prediction of global cocoa trends in confectionery, bakery, beverages and snacks.

Relevancy for F&B companies and applications
The recent EU AI act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law, is a testament to the technology’s potential impact across industries, including F&B.

There are other AI applications in the market, too, that companies can use to gain market insights.

The Swedish cloud-based enterprise insights platform highlights how it is different: “The exclusive use of respected and vetted data sources removes the possibility of random information noise clogging up the research process or from delivering false insights.”

Moreover, the answers provided by the platform are trustworthy and can be relied upon, given that the platform’s AI draws exclusively from each client’s internally-owned data – unlike open AI apps that pull from the public domain, the company says.

Security is an important aspect too. “Some public releases of AI software have had unexpected consequences, highlighting the need for corporations to have access to private services and functions that protect their IP and market research. We’ve put in the time and work required to deliver an enhanced user experience while assuring the safety and privacy of all data and activity in the platform,” notes Philogéne.

According to him, companies like Heineken, Danone, McDonald’s, Pernod Ricard, Bel Group and FrieslandCampina have utilized Stravito’s technology.

But can AI and human work co-exist?
From novel crop solutions to coffee vending machines, AI has grabbed the attention of F&B formulators worldwide.

Philogéne says that generative AI is still in its early stages of development, which is why thoughtful research and education are essential. “It’s essential for food and beverage companies to identify real-life pain points that can be effectively addressed by generative AI tools.”

Moreover, he says that AI is largely a fantastic productivity boost, but it cannot replace human expertise. “It rather amplifies it. In a nutshell, the way we see it at Stravito is that people and machines – in this case, AI – need to team up to do great things, with each focusing on what they do best,” he concludes.

By Insha Naureen