MaGie Creations: “Foodvalley NL acts as a sounding board for us”

“Power flour. That's what we call the flour that we make at MaGie Creations from brewer's grains, a by-product of beer breweries. It is a sustainable, fiber- and protein-rich alternative to wheat flour in products such as bread, pasta, vegetarian burgers and muesli bars.

The idea arose three years ago, when the municipality of The Hague asked me if I wanted to develop a circular business case for brewer's grain. It was very interesting, but I immediately realized: this requires a national approach.

I started working out the entire chain, from raw material to supermarket, and through the foundation Samen tegen Voedselverspilling (Together against Food Waste) I started working together with product and process developers from Wageningen University & Research. We are now generating volume for the market and are working on our own products: brewnies – brownies with brewer's grains – and the brewbar, a cereal bar. Within two years, there should be a demo factory that can process 10 kilotons of brewer's grain per year.

Brewer's grains are mainly known as animal feed, and not yet as an ingredient for foodstuffs. Therefore, we need to initiate an awareness-raising process. The fact that we have been a member of Foodvalley NL since December 2020 will certainly help us with this. Through them we come into contact with potential customers and we can present ourselves to an international audience. Foodvalley NL also acts as a sounding board. That is invaluable to us as an ambitious start-up.”

Madeleine Gielens, founder MaGie Creations