This is one of a series of profiles of CFIN members that have successfully applied for and received funding through CFIN’s Innovation Booster program.
Guelph, ON-based Escarpment Laboratories supports the beer and fermentation industry through excellent yeast cultures, knowledge and education resources. The company enables brewers and fermentation businesses to unlock efficiencies and launch new products using our microbial strains and know-how. Escarpment Labs focuses on sustainability and circularity and use these as guiding principles for future decision-making. The company received $63,262 to produce Canada’s first commercial tempeh and koji cultures.
CFIN sat down with Escarpment Labs co-founder Richard Preiss to talk about the company.
Q: What is your company’s mission?
A: Our purpose is to make fermentation easy for everyone. We do this by focusing on knowledge, trust, and community. The future of the planet depends on efficient fermentation processes for foods and fuels. While our focus right now is on the beer industry, we think a lot of what we’ve learned will be translatable to bigger problems in the future.
Q: Why did you apply for this funding and how will you use it?
A: We have had a lot of success with our craft beer yeast business, but see an opportunity to offer value to other fermentation industries, especially food fermentation. We applied for this funding so that we can accelerate the development of high-quality tempeh and koji starter cultures to support the growing plant-based protein and industry in North America.
Q: What excites you most about working in this area of the food industry?
A: I am excited about the idea of being able to walk into a grocery store and see the real-world impact of our company on the shelves, like we already can do in beer/alcohol stores. I am also excited about food fermentation especially alternative proteins which will play a role in reducing global carbon emissions.
Q: Please comment on the importance of public funding to help companies clear innovation hurdles and access leveraged funds.
A: Put simply, we would not have been able to invest in this project at this scale without public funding. As a result, it would be several years longer until Canadian food companies got access to high-quality specialized fungal starter cultures.
Q: Looking ahead, what’s on the horizon for your company?
A: We are primarily focused on supporting Canadian craft brewers, especially through the ongoing COVID-19 recovery. This year has been the hardest one yet for craft brewers, so it's critical for us to offer solutions that help improve the profitability and sustainability of craft breweries. Moving forward, we are excited to extend our skill sets to new ventures such as food fermentation starter cultures. We are also testing the idea of becoming a scale-up partner for food tech startups that need fermentor and processing capacity to test their ideas.
Q: What are your passions or hobbies outside of work?
A: My hobbies are pretty consistent with my work – I love cooking for friends and family, homebrewing, gardening, and music.
Q: If you had to pick one person to make you a meal, who would you choose?
- A) Guy Fieri
- B) Martha Stewart
- C) Gordon Ramsey
- D) Dana McCauley
- E) Your Mom
- F) Other (if it’s other, tell us who it is!)
A: Apologies to my mom but I think I've got to go with the mayor of Flavortown, Guy Fieri.
Ready to access funding for your innovative initiative? Click here to find out more about CFIN’s funding programs.
#fermentation
#yeast
#Foodtech
#Innovation
#innovationbooster
#Ontario
#plantbasedprotein