The planned work is about innovative companies whose business objective, besides financial goals, is to avoid food waste and/or to further utilize it in a meaningful way in terms of circular economy and bioeconomy. Special attention will be paid to their business models and logistics concepts especially within the DACH area.
Part of the work is the examination and clustering of existing business models and their related logistics concepts in the field of food rescue and a market overview of companies that have taken up the recycling of food. This is a fast growing and still little explored industry. It is planned to analyse the companies in terms of their characteristics, success and failure factors, and to investigate the material potential of food waste and related material groups in the DACH region in terms of upcycling and bioeconomy, and the associated value and supply chains. Furthermore, a review of the applicability of existing, conventional business model theories, which rely on fossil raw materials and energy sources as a basis, to the new reality of the biomass-based, i.e. renewable raw materials and circular economy-based economy is planned. For example, six months of research, reading and survey results arise the question whether the applicability of economies of scale is still valid in an environment of uncertain and irregular material supply. The paper is rounded off with recommendations for action by the industry.
