FoodOp, the SaaS co-pilot for professional chefs, has raised €5 million to expand internationally and make kitchen operations significantly easier.

The round was led by US venture capital firm MK Capital, with participation from existing FoodOp investor, The Footprint Fund. The investment will support FoodOp’s expansion into the UK and US.

Foodservice is a €2.6 trillion global industry, yet up to 70% of businesses still manage procurement, menu planning, and budgeting manually using spreadsheets, Word documents, or pen and paper. At the same time, food waste is one of the world’s largest climate challenges, accounting for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and costing €800 billion annually.

By combining an intuitive interface with AI-driven automation, FoodOp simplifies kitchen operations while reducing the administrative workload, food costs, and CO₂e emissions through reduction of food waste.

“One of the most motivating aspects of scaling FoodOp is that we are simultaneously scaling our environmental impact. In the past year, FoodOp has helped reduce 4,500 tons of CO₂e through lower food waste and more sustainable menu planning,”

says Nichlas Saul, Co-founder and CEO of FoodOp.

Strong adoption in the Nordics and the UK

FoodOp has more than doubled its revenue and user base in each of the past two years and works with leading contract caterers and hotel groups. Today, more than 2,000 chefs across 700+ professional kitchens use FoodOp daily.

Among its early UK customers is Thomas Franks, a leading family-owned contract caterer, operating more than 350 sites across the UK and Europe.

“FoodOp is the first food management platform that scales well with our chef teams and has been immensely helpful in supporting our sustainability goals”

says Gavin Young, Group Culinary Lead, and Genevieve Boast, Group Head of Sustainability.

‍

FoodOp makes kitchen operations simple

Running a professional kitchen has never been more demanding. Staff shortages, rising costs, and manual workflows leave chefs spending too much time on administration instead of delivering great food.

“Menu management systems are not new, but when 70% of kitchens still rely on pen and paper, it’s clear that existing solutions haven’t been accessible and intuitive enough,”

says Nichlas Saul, Co-founder & CEO of FoodOp.

“Our role model is Canva. Canva made design accessible to everyone, not just specialists. FoodOp does the same for kitchens; giving every chef a simple, intuitive way to save time, reduce costs, and focus on great culinary experiences.”

‍

Looking to the US Market

It is no coincidence that the investment round is led by US venture capital firm MK Capital, which will support FoodOp’s expansion into the US.

North America is rife with opportunities for FoodOp to add value with its proven platform.

“Foodservice is one of the largest and least digitized industries globally, and FoodOp is uniquely positioned to change that. We believe FoodOp has the potential to become the Canva for professional kitchens and a category-defining company,” says Mark Koulogeorge, Managing Partner at MK Capital.

FoodOp expects to double its team over the next 12 months to support its growth and invest heavily in building the best product for professional kitchens.