Anat Natan, CEO and founder of Anina
I spoke with Anat Natan, the founder and CEO of Anina. Anina is an Israeli startup that takes whole foods and turns them into ready meals in pods. Food waste has significant economic and environmental impacts, and it is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from food contribute to 7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. We talked about the technology that powers Anina, who works in markets outside of Israel, and what she believes makes Israeli founders different.
J: Talk to me about technology based on Anina.
A: We make laminates, these vegetable sheets, and we try to incorporate as much food waste as possible. Laminate is strong but flexible. We try to take bad produce, and we try to incorporate all this food waste into our production process because we care about every aspect of the product except how it looks. A third of the produce in the US is wasted for aesthetic reasons. I think there is a catch-22. As consumers, we want to be more sustainable, use more sustainable products, and support sustainable production. But on the other hand, we become, as consumers, more concerned with that perfect.
After creating the laminates, we shape them, fill them, and seal them. Our technology is protected by IP, and this IP covers the process from the new product to the pod, including the laminate. We register in the US, EU, Israel, and Singapore.
J: You chose those markets because those will be your first entry points?
A: Our go-to-market is divided into two categories. With the US, our brand will have partners to reach the market effectively and reach customers in an efficient and creative way. Globally, we will use a B2B approach, which is a joint venture. We bring to the table what we know how to do, which is the manufacturing process and R&D. And everyone does what they know how to do best. Our partners know the market, the consumers, and the supply chain. We are starting with building pilots, and we will run pilots in Israel, Spain, Andorra, and Singapore to understand the right way to go to market. And after that, we will build long-term cooperation with them.
J: What kind of consumer research have you done so far?
A: A lot. We did external research in Israel, Spain, Italy (with Barilla) and very in-depth design thinking research. In the US, we conducted a market analysis that included quality, quantity, demographics, and surveys. Every time we ask a question, do you understand what it is? Do you know how to use it? We give the product to people to try at home and answer surveys. Anina was founded in June 2020, and I have been doing research since August 2020 because I believe that innovation needs to be accompanied by understanding how to talk to the consumer. Apparently, they can’t imagine what they don’t have in front of them. But you have to check what they think to make sure you don’t bring a stranger to them in the end.
J: You talked about many different markets in the US, Europe, Israel, and Singapore. Have you noticed a difference in customers at each location? Maybe customers have different preferences, or should they be served in a certain way?
A: Yes and no at the same time. Our consumers are millennials and Gen-Z and they care about what they eat and they care about investing in them. And then, if you look, the first difference between the countries is the cooking aspect. We have five different recipes. One of them has beetroot, spinach, and quinoa, and in Singapore, they told us no one eats beetroot. Then we talked to a Russian lady. He said, ‘that’s my favorite.’ You can talk about pasta. Italians don’t want pasta in their food because they know they do it better, but the whole world craves pasta.
Understanding the cooking aspect is very local: What kind of ingredients? What kind of product can you use? What is interesting? What is strange? What is known? So first, the Culinary aspect. Well, I will tell you that the difference we expected was greater, but it seems that there are more similarities than we expected. When we showed them our recipes, there were only adjustments, mainly in the seasoning, not in the whole concept of the recipe. And I was actually curious about it, and I think there’s more in common with that generation than Gen X because of social media. They are more exposed to the same cooking element. However, there is a difference.
The second is about cooking instructions. For example, do you give a cooking time range? Do you prefer words or icons? It’s a lot about how you communicate and experience. But the most surprising thing is that it doesn’t matter that the US is a simple country. If it’s Singapore, I think it’s the gateway to technology innovation in the Far East. Or if it’s Spain or Israel or Italy, which are very traditional countries when it comes to cooking. The reception of the product is unheard of, and everyone appreciates an easy home-cooked mouthfeel.
J: So it’s not just about the product but about the experience and how the user sees, what kind of instructions and images are used?
A: The most important thing is the mouth feel and the experience of taste and flavor. We know how to control when and how the pod will break during cooking because not all ingredients get the same cooking time. The pod from the outside is cooked the whole time, while the filling inside is only cooked part of the time.
What is the result? Multi-texture because when you cook different things at different times, not everything is soft. And people don’t understand that. But they said ‘Wow, it tastes like home cooking, it tastes like each ingredient got a different recipe.’ And this is not in the food industry.
J: Is this a model, or is it what you are selling?
A: This is what we are selling now in Israel. We have already planned to do a collaboration with Strauss which is the second largest food company in Israel.
J: Where can people buy this?
A: Mostly online.
J: I want to ask about the measurement. You have a very different technology with food like laminate, and I think this installation is traditional. How do you approach the challenge of scaling up?
A: We are supported by developers. We have an advisory board that is coming to support us to scale up effectively. We already have the capacity to produce several thousand units per month, and there is a complete system for mass production. We must do it as quickly as possible to reach the most effective goals.
J: What does the timeline look like when you enter other countries?
A: This year, we are already doing pilots in the countries I told you about.
J: How did this idea start?
A: I met my two co-founders, Meydan Levy and Esti Brantz. They are industrial designers from the Bezaleli Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. They invented the product. They wanted to overcome the challenge of food waste and bad products, and they saw it as something that grew over time. With their knowledge, skill, and their creative way of looking outside the box, they brought many techniques from other industries to produce all of this starting with laminate and finally building a pod.
They arrived at Kitchen Hub, which is where I met them. Kitchen Hub creates new teams of founders, provides technology, products, innovation, and ideas, and brings in the right CEO who creates the business.
J: I saw Anina last year in New York at the NY-Israel Foodtech Bridge conference. From your point of view, what did you experience in that conference?
A: I met a lot of interesting people and we are still thinking about how we can work together in the US market. I think the exposure to the US market was very interesting.
J: How would you say Israeli startup founders are different?
ANSWER: There is a thing in Israel about coming to the mind: it looks like disrespect. And many Israelis, if you live here, it sounds disrespectful, but we cut to the chase. You can be aggressive in your walk and friendly when you finish the meeting, and that is something out of the world. I think there are many benefits to that.
Joy Chen is a contributor to Spoon and has been writing about robots and other proteins for the past year and a half. Although he is originally from the United States, he is currently studying at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel.
