Craig McIntosh

That moment when I was 12 years old defined me. Would I roll with the life I was handed, or was I going to create the life I wanted? I think you know what I did. Barely out of elementary school in Montreal, I took life head-on by myself, eventually taking a job in a restaurant which kickstarted my way to international chef, consultant, serial entrepreneur, and now CEO of Trendi creating robotic food rescue solutions. At twenty-six years old I started my first venture. I dove head-first (or mouth first?) into starting one of the world’s first gluten & dairy-free fine dining restaurants and catering companies. Back then I didn’t think of myself as a social entrepreneur (it wasn’t a common term), but what I understood, and what carried over from my childhood, was that people are the core, and when we take care of them, business works out. That success led me into consulting for dozens of restaurants and hotels around the world to launch, optimize and develop concept projects. We inevitably came back to the basics every time. How are we uniquely taking care of our customers? How are we taking care of our team? And how are we using food and resources as efficiently as we can? Admittedly I’m a bit unorthodox in my approach to life and business. I’m a strong-hearted, data-wielding nerd when it comes to processes, research, and strategy, but it’s all for nothing if we don’t have a deep connection to people and purpose. But regardless of how many restaurants we transitioned to using local, sustainable, and misfit or excess food, Canadians still waste nearly 60% of the food we produce, meanwhile millions go hungry every day. That’s why we started Trendi in 2019. If you care about solving this problem too, we need all the minds and approaches we can get and I would love to chat about how to collaborate.