ZERO IMPACK

Zero Impack is an innovative B Corp startup specializing in the development of innovative solutions for the food service industry, with a particular focus on reducing environmental impact, ensuring food safety, and enabling end-to-end traceability.

The company designs and implements a technology platform that digitizes large-scale meal distribution, making it more efficient, traceable, and sustainable. This model is designed to help institutional catering, large-scale retail, major events, and trade shows achieve their goals of sustainability, efficiency, and transparency.

The problem: inefficiencies, hidden costs, and rising waste

Large-scale meal distribution—a market worth 4.5 billion euros annually in Italy, with 780 million meals served and average operating margins of 4–5%—is still dominated by analog and poorly digitized processes.
Zero Impack addresses several structural challenges in meal distribution and institutional catering, specifically:

• Poorly digitized and fragmented processes that are difficult to manage at scale
• Lack of traceability in operational workflows
• Difficulty in measuring the environmental impact of operations
• Logistical inefficiencies and waste in meal distribution management

Using technology, the startup creates a digital infrastructure that makes meal distribution more efficient, transparent, and sustainable, facilitating the transition to circular economy models.

Data-driven innovation

Zero Impack’s innovation extends beyond the service itself to the use of data to improve decision-making and the efficiency of food systems.
The platform uses data collection and analysis tools to monitor operational flows and provide useful reports to organizations that manage large volumes of meals.

This data-driven approach makes it possible to:

• optimize operations management
• forecast flows and improve planning
• generate clear and verifiable reports on the service’s environmental impact.

Measurable environmental impact

Sustainability is built directly into the architecture of the digital system. By collecting data throughout the supply chain, Zero Impack is able to measure and quantify the environmental impact of operations, for example by estimating reductions in single-use waste and CO₂ emissions.

This enables companies and organizations to turn sustainability into a measurable and manageable metric, rather than just a theoretical goal.

The Three Pillars of Value

1) Tangible environmental impact

The model eliminates single-use items and enables the measurement of: waste avoided; CO₂ saved; reuse cycles per container; and traceability performance.

Integrated ESG dashboards provide quantitative data aligned with national and European targets, facilitating reporting, ratings, and sustainability reports.

2) Technological innovation and advanced traceability

Thanks to the complete digitization of the supply chain, the digital record of processes simplifies audits, health inspections, regulatory compliance, and inventory management, and ensures:

• Accurate and secure meal tracking;
• Systems to support food defense;
• Solutions to ensure accurate meal delivery and distribution;
• Digital controls to prevent tampering;
• Greater transparency for families, schools, and institutions

3) Measurable operational efficiency

The platform reduces costs and inefficiencies, and digital standardization enables a more precise, transparent, and controllable operational workflow.

Market and Adoption

The solution is part of a sector—contract catering—characterized by: low profit margins, increasing regulatory pressure on single-use items, a need for greater digitalization, and increasingly important ESG goals.

Zero Impack has a solid pipeline of contracts under negotiation and has embarked on a growth strategy based on:

• strengthening sales and operations;
• marketing and rebranding tailored to various stakeholders;
• product development in new verticals;
• a patenting process for proprietary components.

Team and Advisory Board

The project is led by a team with specialized expertise in product, logistics, ESG, marketing, and operations:

• Irene Simone – CEO & Co-Founder, strategy and growth;
• Giulio Simone – CPO & Co-Founder, product and technology;
• Elisa Geraci – Impact & Legal, compliance and impact governance;
• Manuela Zanin – Strategic Marketing;
• Cremonesi – Finance, financial planning;
• Lucia Ghielmi – Graphic Design, brand, and UX;
• Nicola Lamberti – Strategy, strategic development.

A group of advisors also supports the scalability and industrialization of the model.