Fou Food Lab

Fou Food Lab is a food technology company founded by Ivana Mik, a food scientist specialising in the development of food products and processes. The lab works across the journey from recipe creation to scale-up, with a particular focus on fermentation and its potential to create new flavours, ingredients and applications. Its services include research and development, product development, creative concept development, and training for restaurants and companies.

Fou Food Lab’s work spans fermented foods and drinks, alternative ingredients, and ways to make use of underused resources. Projects include developing flavour-building blocks, fermenting coffee and cocoa, exploring alternative yeasts for aroma with lower alcohol, and creating applications for bacterial biomass. The lab has also worked on stabilising algae pigments, upcycling cocoa juice, valorising animal-based waste, and making grass edible. Alongside its client projects, Fou Food Lab shares knowledge through fermentation training, a podcast and the Blub Club fermentation community. Its approach combines food science with creative experimentation to help organisations develop distinctive products and processes.