The iFoodlab Incubator puts a small group of early-stage producers on the same system our own factory runs on, and funds most of the cost while you build. You pay a fixed monthly participation fee. We invest the rest, as a platform credit of up to $7,300 released as you implement.
Why
We ran our own FSSC 22000 system on paper for years before we built this. We know what it costs a small producer to get food safety right, in hours more than in rand, and we know the binders are the first thing to fall behind when the business gets busy. The producers who most need a proper system are the ones least able to pay for one on day one. So we fund it. Not as a discount, and not for equity: as a platform credit, for businesses we've chosen, released as they do the work. We'd rather invest in you now and grow with you than meet you in three years with a cupboard of binders.
What you get
The credit
Covers your setup and funds the platform for your first three months while the setup agent builds your system with you and your first batches run on it.
We look at what the system shows: documents approved, HACCP plan signed, batches through the line checks, a mock recall run, suppliers approved, your team inducted. The evidence comes from the platform, not from a form.
Funds the platform for the next twelve months at the same participation fee. If you're not there yet, you get sixty more days and a clear list of what's missing.
Every invoice shows the Assist plan at its standard price, the Incubator credit, and what you pay. No surprises at graduation: the credit ends, the price was always visible.
Who qualifies
Meeting the criteria makes you eligible, not accepted. We choose ten per quarter, for fit: producers who will run the system on the floor, not file it.
How it works
Ten minutes. What you make, who buys it, where you are, where you want to be in two years.
You hear from us within ten working days. Every application is read by a person.
Your setup interview in week one. Your first batch on the system in month one. Your implementation review at month three.
Twelve more months on the Run credit. Then you move to standard pricing, which you've seen on every invoice since day one.
Graduation
You graduate when the fifteen months end, or earlier if any of these happen first: your team passes ten people, you add a second line or site, or you achieve GFSI-recognised certification. You move to the Core plan at standard price, with sixty days' notice and no setup fee, and you keep everything: your data, your documents, your history. If you want the setup agent to stay on, Assist is there at standard price.
If your business is acquired by or merges into a larger group, graduation applies from the date of the transaction. The credit is a non-cash platform credit applied against subscription fees; it carries no equity, loan or other claim on your business, and unused credit lapses on graduation or exit.
Not a start-up? See the standard plans: Core, Assist and Watch, all with unlimited users, priced per site.
See the plansApply for Cohort 1
Straight answers
No. You pay a fixed participation fee of $249 a month ex VAT. We fund the rest through a platform credit. Free systems don't get used; funded ones do.
No. The Assist plan is billed at its standard price on every invoice, and the Incubator credit is applied against it. The credit is for selected start-ups, is released against implementation, and ends when you graduate. It works the way start-up credits from cloud providers work.
We invest in your food safety system, not in your shares. The credit is a non-cash platform credit. We take no equity and no claim on your business.
You get sixty days and a specific list of what's missing. Most gaps are a few approvals and a mock recall. If it's still not there after that, you can move to the Core plan at standard price or leave with all your data.
Because we fund ten places a quarter and we choose them. An application tells us who we're working with.
Yes. The system is designed for FSSC 22000 and other GFSI-recognised schemes, and certification is one of the graduation triggers: when you certify, you've outgrown the programme.
It's yours. Export it at any time, during the programme or after.
For the first cohorts, yes. Other countries follow as we launch there.