Essento – the European insect food pioneer

Essento is the European pioneer for insect food. Essento has been active on the European market since 2013 and was the driving force in Switzerland to initiate the legislative change that led to the approval of edible insects as food.

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.

Essento carries out important educational work among the population and draws attention to the topic of eating insects. In doing so, we want to drive thefood revolutionforward and make entomophagy normal in Europe.

Our core team

Christian Bärtsch

Founder & CEO

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

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Martina Ghisletta

Research & Development

Martina leads the strategic projects in all product areas + Unis and is jointly responsible for ensuring the successful acquisition of promising projects.

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Noelle Gmür

Sales & Marketing

Noelle uses her experience in the food sector to ensure transparent marketing and smooth sales at Essento.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Lucija Karlovic

R&D Specialist

Lucija is completing a six-month internship as a research and development specialist. She supports Martina and Simon in various projects.

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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.