Innovation & AI meets networking
From November 11 - 14 sizzly had the honor of attending the prestigious Web Summit 2024 at the MEO Arena in Lisbon. The Web Summit is one of the largest tech events in the world. With over 70,000 participants from 160 countries, it offered a unique stage to present technologies, trends and innovations.
German Pavilion at the Web Summit
sizzly was part of the German Pavilion, where we were able to represent German technology in all its diversity together with 101 other startups and pioneers under the hashtag #madeingermany. The event was a unique opportunity to network with leading minds in technology and digitalization. We were also able to share our vision for the future of catering and gather new ideas for our platform.
Cashless payment: the new standard in (community) gastronomy
Cashless payment and digital pre-ordering are becoming increasingly important in community catering - not only to speed up processes, but also to improve the customer experience. sizzly is a mobile ordering & payment platform for (company) catering, (community) gastronomy and events. With the sizzly-platform, we enable caterers and restaurateurs to integrate mobile payment, NFC chips and even vending machines into a store solution.
The Web Summit focused in particular on the question of how digital payment systems and AI-supported automation can help caterers to work more efficiently and sustainably. The aim is to fully digitalize ordering processes and thus reduce waiting times, food waste and operational costs.
Web Summit: focus on innovation, AI & sustainability
The Web Summit not only gave us the opportunity to sizzly but also to dive deep into topics such as sustainability, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of platform technologies. The exchange with other start-ups and technology providers who presented their tools and solutions was particularly exciting. These could soon be integrated into the sizzly platform. From new AI-supported automation technologies to innovative sustainability solutions - the variety of inspirations was impressive. In any case, this underlines our conviction that the future of catering lies in digital networking and the intelligent use of data.
Technological trends for the gastronomy of the future
Many technologies were presented at the Web Summit that could also be revolutionary for communal catering. For example, new developments in the following areas were particularly exciting:
- Artificial intelligence (AI): Automated tools for predicting ordering behaviour and optimizing warehousing and menu planning.
- Sustainability solutions: Systems that minimize food waste and improve the carbon footprint of catering businesses.
- Platform integrations: Solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into existing infrastructures to simplify workflows.
Highlight: sizzly meets Federal Minister Dr. Robert Habeck at the Startup Germany Night
A special highlight of the week was the Startup Germany Night on Tuesday, an exclusive event organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and the Digital Hub Initiative. Other partners of the event were Germany Trade & Invest, Baden-Württemberg International (BW_i), Berlin Partner for Business and Technology GmbH, BRYCK, Startup Portugal, AHK Portugal and Niedersachsen.next Startup. The night brought together German and international innovators and provided a platform for forging new partnerships.
In addition, our meeting with Federal Minister Dr. Robert Habeck was a very special experience. The personal exchange with the Federal Minister and other decision-makers was inspiring and encouraged us in our mission to sustainably transform the catering sector with innovative technologies.
👉🏼 The official press release from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is also interesting in this regard: Habeck visits Portugal - start-ups take center stage.
Innovation from Germany for smart catering
Our trip to the Web Summit was not only an opportunity sizzly as a technology partner for catering and gastronomy, but also to gather exciting ideas for the further development of our platform. We are also looking forward to integrating some of the tools and technologies we learned about there into our system to further improve the customer experience.
A big thank you goes to the organizers of the Web Summit and the partners of Startup Germany Night. All in all, we were able to show together how strong the German tech scene is and how we can promote innovation and sustainability by working together. We are shaping the future of (community) hospitality and events - smarter, more sustainable and more efficient.
