Essento – the European insect food pioneer
Essento develops, produces and markets specialities made from food insects for retail and food service providers as well as for our own online shop, with the vision to create an added value for people and the environment.
Our core team

Christian Bärtsch
Founder & CEO
As the founder of Essento, Christian focuses on the strategic planning and is leading international projects.

Julia Brüggemann
Team Assistant
Jule takes care of the day-to-day business, ensures a smooth flow of operations and supports the entire team wherever necessary, whether that be in marketing or production.

Franzi Westermair
Operations
Franzi, as an all-rounder, takes care of events, accounting, purchasing and logistics, as well as making sure that internal processes run smoothly and that what doesn’t run is made to run.

Simon Pfund
Production
Simon develops our delicious products, plans and manages the production. He is responsible not only for our product`s delicious taste, but also for their quality.
Join our food revolution!
We are looking forward to your spontaneous application to contact@essento.eu.
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Brunner, Lecturer on consumer behaviour, HAFL
- Michelle Grant, Managing Director World Food System Center, ETHZ
- Patrick Zbinden, Culinary expert
- Dirk Zwanzig, Head R&D in the food sector
- Dr. Diego Moretti
- Cristina Popescu
Our mile stones
10 march 2014
Insect Apéro at the Bundeshaus Bern, Switzerland
16 september 2016
Publication of the insect cookbook “Grillen, Heuschrecken & Co.”
16 december 2016
Decision to legalise insects by the Swiss Federal Council
1 may 2017
Entry into force of the legalisation of insects as food in Switzerland
21 august 2017
Market launch (CH) Essento Burger and Balls
13 november 2017
Market launch (CH) Essento Insect Bar
25 june 2018
Market launch (CH) Essento Snacks (Nuts & Insects)
4 march 2019
Market launch (CH) Essento Bio Burger and Essento Bio Balls with Swiss organic Tenebrio
30 april 2019
Market launch (CH) Essento Protein Insect Bars
18 november 2019
Market launch in Germany with Essento Insect Burger at Hans im Glück
20 april 2020
Product update of Essento Insect Burger with Swiss organic Tenebrio
22. Juni 2020
Market launch (CH) Essento Insect Snacks in 3 different flavours
23. Juni 2020
Successful crowdfunding for the market launch of the insect snacks in Germany and Austria.
10. August 2020
Launch EU online shop
Partner
Since 2017, Essento has been an active member of IPIFF, the European association in Brussels that promotes edible insects.







Awards
In 2018, Essento was selected as one of the Top 50 FoodTech Start-ups in Europe and has been awarded as an EIT Rising Food Star.




