The Drexel Food Lab received the 2022 Entrepreneurship Award from Kendall College National Louis University and the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ).

The award was open to culinary instructors nationwide and recognizes ideas and initiatives that positively impact a college and community or for thoughtful innovation of operations.

The Drexel Food Lab focuses on food product design and culinary innovation. The Lab applies culinary arts and science to improve the health of people, the planet and economies.

The Lab is open to Drexel students enrolled in any academic program who want to learn about food product development. Students and faculty engage with the Lab in a variety of ways including pursuing their research or startup projects, as extracurricular instruction, or as paid student workers on funded projects. Students develop a product from initial brainstorm through production and sales.

The organization’s client list includes startup businesses through multinational companies and is funded through philanthropic support, government and foundation research grants and contracts, and industry consulting projects.

The Drexel Food Lab began the Food Entrepreneur Ecosystem Development (FEED) program with funding from Know.Capital and others to support small local food businesses in accelerating products to market. The program supports entrepreneurs and products promoting nutrition, sustainability, fair labor practices, local economic investment, and supporting communities most negatively impacted by inequities in the food system.

The first cohort of awarded businesses received technical assistance support with product development and refinement, nutritional analysis, market analysis, copacker identification, along with other food manufacturing and commercialization needs that fall within Drexel Food Lab’s capabilities. The FEED program is a community of small, local food entrepreneurs who meet to share, ask questions, and learn in person and virtually.

The Food Lab has garnered media attention for its work with the Centers for Disease Control and the Philadelphia Department of Health, collaboration with regional businesses, and its contribution to the ongoing research on upcycling and consumer acceptance. Food Lab students also participated in recipe testing for The Anti-Inflammatory Family Cookbook, which was published in early 2021.