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It’s easy to get caught up in the news and activities of the industry’s global giants, but what about the smaller firms pushing boundaries with bold ideas? In this instalment of Start-up of the Month – which celebrates lesser-known companies and their innovations – we speak to Anya Doherty, founder and CEO of Foodsteps, a specialised food sustainability platform that aims to help the food industry meet its net zero ambitions.

What challenge or gap in the market first inspired you to create Foodsteps, and how has that vision evolved since 2019?

I’ve always been passionate about sustainability, and when I realised just how much the food system contributes to the climate and biodiversity crisis, I knew that focusing on food was what mattered most. The food system drives a third of global emissions and is the leading cause of biodiversity loss – so if we want to tackle these challenges, we have to start there.

While researching the environmental impact of food systems at Cambridge University, I became even more aware of the scale of the challenge – and the need for better ways to measure and reduce the food system’s impact. That’s what led me to start Foodsteps in 2019, to help drive the transition to a more sustainable food system.

Supply chain emissions make up a significant share of the food sector’s footprint. What were the biggest hurdles you identified in current supplier data practices, and how does the Supplier Hub address them?

Supply chain emissions make up an enormous proportion of a food business's environmental impact –often around 70-90%.

The difficulty is that every supplier is somewhere different on their sustainability journey. Some may have already invested in measuring the environmental impact of their products, but many others don't have the resources to do this. It’s likely that a supplier will be asked by many of their customers to submit similar data in different formats – adding to their workload without adding value.

But the real problem we saw is that the industry has no way of solving this at scale. Food businesses have extremely long and complex supply chains. If they only needed to engage one or two suppliers, they might manage in-house. But to solve this at scale, food businesses need a platform to collect sustainability data from their suppliers. That's what the Supplier Hub was built to do.

Can you walk us through how the Supplier Hub automates data collection and validation? What makes your approach different from traditional manual systems or legacy tools?

The traditional approach is spreadsheets, email chains and a lot of manual chasing. Procurement sends out requests, data comes back in different formats, and then someone has to figure out whether it's actually usable. That doesn't scale.

We've built a structured process. Suppliers upload their data through guided workflows – they answer questions about their methodology, upload supporting evidence, and their customers then get one simple view of their data.

But collecting data is only half the problem. There's no universal standard for measuring the impact of products. So even when suppliers have emissions data to contribute, a business often can't use that data straight away in their reporting because it's not consistent with everything else in their inventory. That's where our team comes in – we review every data point and do the necessary gap-filling work to ensure it's consistent across the supply chain and meets audit standards.

What really sets us apart is the expertise behind the platform. We have long-standing partnerships with Defra, WRAP, CAA, WWF, the University of Oxford and other leading institutions – so we're at the forefront of the research shaping how food businesses measure and reduce their impact. For our clients, that means whatever format a supplier's data comes in, we have the know-how to spot issues and fill gaps reliably and accurately. You can't get that assurance with a simple data collection tool or by trying to manage things in-house.

What have early partners or pilot users told you about the impact of the platform on their decarbonisation strategies?

We built the Supplier Hub on years of learning with our partners. It started as ad hoc work – helping partners collect and validate data for specific purposes. For instance, Levy, the UK's leading sports and entertainment caterer, had been buying seaweed-based packaging from a supplier who claimed it had a lower carbon footprint than standard options.

Without verification, Levy couldn't reflect the benefit of that investment in their sustainability reporting – they were still using generic industry figures. Once we validated the supplier's data and confirmed a footprint 2-3x lower than alternatives, Levy could accurately demonstrate the impact of that sourcing decision and report a significantly lower emissions factor.

That kind of work, and seeing that positive impact for clients, laid the groundwork for our Supplier Hub. As part of the launch, we carried out a pilot with one of the UK's leading food retailers. The feedback from both the business and their suppliers has been really positive – and what we've learned is that by making the process simple and intuitive for suppliers, engagement is much easier and more successful. When suppliers see value in participating - like getting third-party validation they can use in their own commercial conversations – they're far more likely to engage.

Foodsteps combines a specialised sustainability platform with in-house expertise. How do you balance technology with consultancy to support food and beverage partners on their net-zero journey?

We built the Foodsteps platform to help teams be self-sufficient. Chefs can measure the impact of ingredients as they’re designing recipes. Procurement can analyse emissions data from suppliers and use it to make informed sourcing decisions. It's designed to put the tools in the hands of the people doing the work.

But when it comes to major strategic challenges - like making real progress on climate targets –businesses often need support that goes beyond what any platform can offer.

That's where our expertise comes in. We do the complex modelling work, then present the data and help businesses design realistic plans. A burger chain can't stop selling beef, but there may be sourcing changes that could significantly reduce their impact - changes that are impossible to identify without expert support.

What advice would you give to other food-system start-ups trying to drive change in an industry that can be slow to adopt new tools? Is there anything you wish you’d known when founding Foodsteps – particularly around fundraising, product development or working with large food businesses?

The business environment today is much tougher than it was five years ago. Budgets are tighter, and businesses are far more selective about where they spend. For a start-up to thrive, it has to deliver real value quickly by solving a genuine pain point, demonstrating measurable results, and staying adaptable as customer priorities shift.

One lesson I learned early: you can't assume others prioritise sustainability the way you do. We had a meeting with one of the large banks, and the first question they asked was: 'Why should I care about sustainability?' I'd been so surrounded by passionate peers that it genuinely hadn't occurred to me. We lost a lot of early interest until we learned to reframe things in commercial terms that businesses actually understand - cost savings, risk reduction, regulatory compliance - not just environmental impact.

At Foodsteps, we're constantly evolving – whether that's improving data quality, expanding our technology, or developing new solutions to help businesses reach net zero. The start-ups that succeed are the ones that adapt quickly, stay clear on their value and prove their impact.

Finally, where do you see Foodsteps’ biggest opportunity to accelerate supply chain decarbonisation over the next five years?

Foodsteps’ biggest opportunity to accelerate supply chain decarbonisation lies in moving the industry from passive reporting to active, data-led intervention by institutionalising sustainability into the commercial engine of the food system.

By integrating and surfacing Scope 3 directly into the workflows of procurement and R&D teams, we are closing the gap between high-level climate targets and daily operational decisions – ensuring that cost, nutrition and carbon are balanced at the point of purchase.

By establishing a harmonised UK benchmark for LCA data, we are creating a 'common language' that facilitates true like-for-like comparison and the best possible decision-making for F&B companies. Most importantly, providing suppliers and food manufacturers with rich data on how their products perform on sustainability will allow them to drive continuous improvement and benefit the industry overall.