Nomad Foods’ start-up challenge to reshape frozen home cooking

Nomad Foods has launched the second challenge under its Future Foods Lab venture clienting programme, calling on start-ups to develop innovations that help consumers prepare flavour-led meals at home with minimal effort.

The Culinary Creativity Challenge builds on the Future Foods Lab initiative, launched in 2025 in partnership with global innovation network Innoget, and seeks practical product and technology solutions that can enhance the frozen food cooking experience.

The company — owner of brands including Birds Eye, iglo, Findus, Ledo and Frikom — is looking for innovations across three key areas.

These include new frozen meal concepts featuring global flavours, particularly formats such as bite-sized options or components designed for meal kits. Nomad Foods is also seeking meal-building components, including sauces, bases and toppings that allow consumers to customise dishes at home.

A third focus area covers kitchen-enabling solutions, such as packaging formats or tools that simplify or accelerate meal preparation.

Carly Arnold, chief RDQ officer at Nomad Foods, said the challenge is designed to put the consumer at the centre of product innovation.

“Food is one of the most personal forms of self-expression. For the Culinary Creativity Challenge, we’re looking for partners who put the consumer at the centre of every bite,” she said.

“This challenge is about empowering individuals to get creative in the kitchen and could include innovation in new frozen meals, global flavours, small formats, sauces and bases that allow easy customisation, or smart ideas that cut cooking time and make the experience more enjoyable. I’m really excited to see what ideas are submitted through our Future Foods Lab.”

The Future Foods Lab programme targets start-ups with proven products, proprietary technology and the ability to scale across Europe, rather than early-stage concepts.

Selected participants gain access to a venture clienting model, which includes a paying customer relationship with Nomad Foods, alongside opportunities to test and validate solutions within the company’s European manufacturing and supply chain network.

Startups will also receive mentorship from Nomad Foods teams across R&D, procurement, marketing and operations, with potential pathways to co-branding, commercial scaling and long-term partnerships.

The Culinary Creativity Challenge follows the first Future Foods Lab call for start-ups, which focused on functional nutrition solutions. Winners from that programme are expected to be announced in April 2026.

Applications for the new challenge are open until 24 May 2026, with submissions accepted through the Future Foods Lab platform.