Today, more than ever, advanced technology plays a key role in the food and beverage industry. This is mainly evident in the impact on cutting production costs, while creating consumer value.
Up until this decade, food companies worked primarily to increase their volume of activity in response to constant population growth and the resulting increase in food consumption. In recent years, we have seen growing awareness of health and well-being; stricter regulation in the developed world; diminishing natural resources and raw materials; and awareness of sustainability. In addition, there is growing demand for products that possess considerable value and adapt to current trends in quality of life. 

In light of these trends, a viable solution over time can only be found with the use of innovative and groundbreaking technologies in all technological dimensions of the value chain. This need is a fertile ground for technological innovation in the food industry. Solutions enable us to increase the value for consumers through the development /identification of smart ingredients, increasing product freshness and bringing the customers products that are as close to their natural form as possible, while improving their nutritional value. FOODTECH pertains to those technologies that have food-related applications through the entire value chain – from growing agricultural raw materials through various processing stages to packaging. Companies that employ such new and advanced technologies will be able to manufacture improved-value products for their consumers.

At Strauss Group we realized that in order  to compete successfully in the global and domestic markets we must stand at the forefront of food technology. To this end, we started the Alpha venture in recent years, which aims to promote and create a complete ecosystem in relevant technologies to the food industry. The venture was established with the understanding that a large industrial entity was needed in order to link the numerous research institutes, researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs to the market; help them understand consumer trends and challenges of the industry; and enable them to use its assets (laboratories, technologists, production lines, etc.) as a test site for new technologies before they are turned into products. The venture also engages in the connection between the “technology manufacturers” and venture capital funds, market service providers, government representatives, our strategic partners and more. This reflects the understanding that the creation of a FOODTECH community in Israel can only occur if all players in the ecosystem take part in it. We have recently added another tool to the ecosystem: "The Kitchen" FOODTECH  incubator, led and supported by Strauss Group, including the Alpha Strauss venture. Our work will create the suitable ecosystem for developing food technologies and groundbreaking food production technologies that have relevance for the entire world. Our vision is to create here in Israel the “Silicon Valley of food technologies”.