NETZRO, SBC

About NETZRO, SBC

NETZRO is a Minnesota-based food upcycling equipment and technology company focused on turning industrial food and beverage byproducts into new, safe, sustainable ingredients. It describes itself as an innovative food upcycling platform committed to smart technology, sustainable processes, and healthy upcycled ingredients at scale.

The company’s mission is to eliminate food waste and expand the food economy without growing more food. NETZRO positions itself as a bridge between food byproduct providers and upcycled food producers, helping recover value from materials that would otherwise be wasted and reintroduce them into the food supply chain.

NETZRO also emphasizes collaboration across the food system, supporting customers that license its platform with consulting on facilities, logistics, throughput, market identification, and sales. Its market focus includes food manufacturers and other stakeholders looking to convert byproducts into commercially viable upcycled ingredients and products.

Core Values

• Sustainability: NETZRO centers its work on reducing food waste, lowering landfill disposal, and supporting a circular food economy. Its messaging consistently links upcycling to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and better resource use.
• Circularity: The company aims to keep food materials at their highest value by recovering byproducts and reharvesting them into new ingredients. It frames upcycling as a way to replace the linear take-make-dispose model.
• Health and nutrition: NETZRO highlights ingredients that are high in fiber, high in protein, low in sugar, and nutrient-rich. It presents upcycled ingredients as a way to recover nutrients and return them to the food supply chain.
• Collaboration: The company stresses partnerships across farmers, producers, distributors, retailers, restaurants, consumers, regulators, and other ecosystem players. It sees connection and shared action as essential to solving food waste at scale.
• Innovation: NETZRO positions itself as a technology-driven company using proprietary processes, cloud-based operational data, and adaptable equipment to scale a new food category.

Unique Aspects

• Founding member of the Upcycled Food Association: NETZRO says it is proud to be a founding member of the UFA, tying it to the early development of the upcycled food category.
• Proprietary technology and equipment platform: The company’s platform is built to safely convert industrial byproducts into shelf-stable upcycled ingredients, with customization for different food manufacturers and byproduct streams.
• Eggshell and spent-grain upcycling examples: NETZRO highlights concrete projects such as converting eggshells into calcium carbonate and collagen protein, and brewer’s/distillery spent grain into high-protein, high-fiber grain ingredients.
• Wycliff Facility in St. Paul, Minnesota: The company notes that it tests and experiments with byproducts at its Wycliff facility, where it works on new ingredients and nutrients to bring back into the food system.
• Network-based model: NETZRO emphasizes its network of partners and licensees, describing a collaborative ecosystem that connects byproduct providers with upcycled food producers and supports local upcycling communities that can be replicated elsewhere.