Think Tank Food 2025

Food Cluster Hamburg has now been active for just over a year. Our goal is to help shape the future of food as the central platform for the food industry in the Hamburg metropolitan region. At the THINK TANK FOOD 2025 event, held at Hotel Hafen Hamburg, our members and guests came together to exchange experiences.  We spent an evening that was both entertaining and informative, learning, among other things,  how a traditional company keeps finding new paths forward, and how pizza can spark entirely new momentum in the market.

The Food Industry - An Innovation Driver Since Its Earliest Days

The food industry has always been shaped by groundbreaking innovation, and it will continue to be so in the future. A small exhibition at THINK TANK FOOD 2025 served as a reminder of this. In the past, Carl von Linde's invention of the refrigeration machine made the mass distribution of frozen products - now indispensable to modern life - possible in the first place. Similarly revolutionary were the introduction of pasteurization as a method of food preservation and the invention of the tin can. Today, everyone is talking about precision fermentation, alternative proteins, or AI in food production, and how technological developments are shaping our eating habits.

And what does the future hold? Could vertical farming in cities replace conventional agriculture, or at least ease the burden on it? Will supermarkets and small businesses one day have 3D printers for food? Could mushroom mycelium-based meat alternatives or lab-grown meat from cell cultures become mainstream? These are questions that, not least, our members are helping to answer - the very companies driving these innovations forward. Around 160 companies from the city and the wider metropolitan region are united within Food Cluster Hamburg, ranging from centuries-old traditional brands to brand-new startups. Through the cluster, they exchange ideas and enrich one another with deep experience and unconventional thinking.

THINK TANK FOOD Inspired Confidence

Our network is active throughout the year, with workshops, online courses, and networking events like THINK TANK FOOD 2025. In a relaxed atmosphere, with excellent food and drink and a stunning view over the harbor, the Dom, and much of Hamburg, guests found it easy to make valuable new connections. The evening also featured a varied and highly inspiring program. In her welcome address, Hamburg's Senator for Economic Affairs, Dr. Melanie Leonhard, highlighted the outstanding importance of the food industry to Hamburg as a business location. "The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself," she told guests.

Following further remarks from Sascha Taube, CEO of the cluster, and Karl-Heinz Krämer, Chairman of the Board of the supporting association foodactive and of Block Foods AG, the evening continued with a keynote from Jakob Lipp. A motivator, mentalist, and source of encouragement, Lipp has spoken at numerous major companies and leading universities. He encouraged the audience to try things they had never done before - pointing out that while mistakes may happen along the way, nothing new can emerge without taking that risk. Trust, he said, is essential - both to have and to build - since "trust is the shortcut through our complex world." "Turn employees into co-creators" was one of his key recommendations, and speaking directly to what he called the "greatest industry there is," he added a memorable line: "You are the sweet filling in the donut, not the hole!"

Traditional Brand Kühne - Staying Fresh with Scandalo Red Cabbage Pizza and Kater Hero

Known primarily for savory food products, Kühne KG traces its origins back to 1722. The brand is correspondingly well established, with products ranging from mustard, sauerkraut, and cabbage to sauces, dressings, and pickles. According to market data, at least one Kühne product can be found in every second household. However, the typical customer for a product like Kühne's well-known red cabbage tends to skew older - younger generations rarely have this classic on their shopping list, which doesn't bode well for the future sales of such traditional products. A company like Kühne would not have survived in the market for so long without continually finding new paths forward. So a team from the company, together with a few professional chefs, spent two days at Hamburg's foodlab exploring what else could be done with red cabbage beyond its familiar role as a side dish - for Christmas dinners, for example.

Dr. Oliver Sperber, Global Director R&D, presented the result: the "Scandalo Red Cabbage Pizza," whose marketing campaign caused quite a stir. Red cabbage, reimagined - this time on one of the younger target group's favorite dishes. The campaign included posters placed outside Italian restaurants, TikTok videos, an original song, and even an appearance on Big Brother. The results were striking: sales of red cabbage among younger consumers rose by up to 40% during the campaign period, and awareness and popularity of the product grew significantly within that age group. It proved that red cabbage can be cool and contemporary - especially in non-traditional applications like pizza, but also in bowls or burgers.

Whether the brine from pickle jars actually helps cure a hangover has yet to be scientifically proven - which is why Kühne would never make that claim outright. Still, many swear by it, which led to the idea of bottling the brine, naming it "Kater Hero," and handing it out at a music festival. The campaign was another marketing coup, casting a traditional product in an entirely new light and delighting festivalgoers.

Gustavo Gusto - The Pizza That Does Everything Differently, and Right

Frozen pizza has, by now, a certain tradition of its own. The market already seemed fairly saturated when Gustavo Gusto entered it as a new player back in 2014. The brand has its roots in a restaurant in Passau, and from the very beginning, its ambition was to offer restaurant-quality pizza in frozen form. Michael Götz, CMO and creative driving force behind Gustavo Gusto, offered a piece of advice that food startups in particular should take to heart: "If your product isn't right, you might as well give up as a startup, because you don't have the budget of the big players." The strategy: do everything differently - packaging, recipes, marketing - while still working with familiar, recognizable elements. It sounds like squaring the circle, but Gustavo Gusto pulled it off brilliantly. No new brand launch in food retail over the past 15 years has been more successful.

Behind that success lies a relentless string of initiatives, which Michael Götz presented in a talk originally scheduled for half an hour but that ran twice as long - and could easily have gone on longer still. Pizza is a product almost everyone loves, yet different target groups need to be reached in different ways. One campaign featured beloved film icons Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, popular with an older generation. Another was a collaboration tied to the release of the latest Ghostbusters film - a campaign, he noted, that turned out more entertaining than the movie itself. A partnership with a hugely popular influencer among teenagers even triggered a rush of customers outside a REWE supermarket. Each campaign came paired with a new pizza variety, as the product range is constantly expanded, refreshed, and enriched with limited editions. Michael Götz had plenty more stories to tell - and a follow-up talk would certainly be welcome.

Together for a Strong Food Industry - Innovation Starts with New Perspectives

One takeaway from the evening: innovation means having the courage to embrace new perspectives, rather than always reinventing the wheel. Those who know their target audience and truly listen create real value. Food Cluster Hamburg provides the platform for exchange, inspiration, and networking. Together with our members, we are shaping the future of the food industry in the Hamburg metropolitan region - through many more events and a strong, connected network.

Photos: Julia Grudda