Over the course of 2021, we’ve introduced you to the inspirational talent who make up the first cohort of 50 Next, the ground-breaking group of under-35s recognised for championing innovation, transformation and entrepreneurship across the hospitality industry. While you wait to discover when the 50 Next Class of 2022 will be announced, meet the last category of future-shapers from 2021: the Trailblazing Activists
Jamie Crummie and Lucie Basch
The international power pair putting planet and people first
What do a British cook-turned-lawyer and a French food processing worker have in common? Both are exposed to the reality of food waste – and when they come together to find a solution, ground-breaking innovation happens. That is the story of Jamie and Lucie, who in 2016 founded Too Good To Go.
Via its free mobile app, Too Good To Go connects consumers with restaurants, cafés, hotels and supermarkets, allowing them to buy a ‘magic bag’ full of surplus food at a reduced price. Now active in 17 countries, the company has empowered 47 million users, prevented 101 million meals from going to landfill and saved 90,000 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent to 17,000 flights around the world. Jamie and Lucie, of course, are just getting started.
Learn more about Jamie and Lucie
Check out their disruptive app, Too Good To Go
Friederike Gaedke
The forward-thinking gastronomic scientist uniting Germany's culinary community
It is often said that information is the most-valuable currency of the 21st century – and this is true in the world of gastronomy as well, where thought leadership and knowledge sharing are essential to the continued development of the sector. Friederike knew this when she co-created Die Gemeinschaft in Berlin, meaning ‘the community’ in German.
Die Gemeinschaft is all about uniting culinary players from across the country, celebrating real food and honouring craftspeople. Through its annual symposium, Die Gemeinschaft brings together producers, restaurateurs, food artisans, chefs, students and beyond to join the conversation and examine critical issues in the food system, with the ultimate aim of creating a better, more sustainable and desirable hospitality world for the new generations.
Learn more about Friederike
Check out her innovative project, Die Gemeinschaft
Bibi La Luz Gonzalez
The human rights advocate fighting for food security and women's health
As a young girl in Guatemala, Bibi La Luz struggled with health issues relating to her diet. Today, she has made it her mission to promote health and dignity for all children through a revolutionary programme she runs via her non-profit, Eat Better Wa’ik.
Awarded as one of the nation’s Heroes of Pandemic, Eat Better Wa’ik as had an impact on the lives of hundreds of children by educating and involving low-income families in the production, purchase, preparation and consumption of healthier meals. Through conferences, workshops, consulting and even the creation of food baskets, Bibi La Luz’s mission of transforming the food system creatively and inclusively is coming true – one meal at a time.
Learn more about Bibi La Luz
Check out her inspirational non-profit, Eat Better Wa’ik
Matt Jozwiak
The globetrotting chef training crosshairs on international food insecurity
One of the greatest contradictions of the developed world is the gap between food waste and hunger. Within the US alone, 38 million Americans face food insecurity each year – while 108 billion tons of food go to waste. After a successful career in the kitchen, in 2016 Matt set about addressing this issue with his organisation, Rethink Food.
Founded in partnership with Best of the Best restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York, Rethink Food collects excess produce from restaurants, grocery stores and corporate kitchens and repurposes it to make nutritious meals for those facing food poverty. To date, the organisation has prepared more 5 million meals and rescued 410,000kg of food, while also launching the Rethink Certified Program to empower independent restaurants to be a part of the solution to food insecurity.
Learn more about Matt
Check out his ground-breaking organisation, Rethink Food
Maya Terro
The environmental agitator challenging big business to end food poverty in Lebanon
The simplest solutions are often the most brilliant – and in Beirut, Lebanon, Maya Terro has been applying this principle to its most altruistic extent. Volunteering is at the heart of her initiative FoodBlessed, which addresses both hunger relief and food rescue in a country where over 60% of the population lives under the poverty line.
FoodBlessed has served over 1.8 million meals to date to underprivileged, vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in Lebanon, while diverting 2,500,000 tons of unwanted and unsaleable food from supermarkets, retailers, farmers markets, social events and even rubbish bins. In 2020 and following the Beirut port blast, Maya set up community kitchens in the city by making use of businesses that had to shut down their operations. The initiative was able to prepare and deliver 100,000 meals to blast victims.
Learn more about Maya
Check out her volunteer-driven initiative, FoodBlessed
Jhannel Tomlinson
The climate champion engaging and empowering young women through coffee
Many people walk the fine line between climate change outrage and constructive action for years before meaningful change happens. Jhannel started acting right away, co-founding Young People for Action on Climate Change Jamaica (YPACCJ) when she was still a teenager.
The organisation focuses on educating and training young people, showing them the practical ways in which their actions will impact tomorrow’s weather as well as their families’ farm yields, livelihoods and wellbeing. Working with the International Women in Coffee Alliance in Jamaica (JAWiC), she also seeks to empower women in the coffee industry through training and recognition, fighting for a future where women have equal access to resources and the benefits of their labour.
Learn more about Jhannel
Check out her work empowering women in Jamaica
Stay tuned to the 50 Next website and to 50 Best’s social channels on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to discover when the 50 Next Class of 2022 will be announced
