Fermentation that works.
Sustainable, and the future: fermentation makes food keep longer, deepens flavour, and uses resources more efficiently. Built as a reproducible process — not one person's know-how, but something a whole team can work with.
Berlin · Consulting & R&D
Fermentation. Plant-based cuisine. Zero waste.
Systems for businesses that actually want to put sustainability and innovation into practice.
For canteens · restaurants · food brands · startups
What we're built for
Plant-based dishes, without compromise.
Depth, texture, umami. Plant-based cooking that isn't perceived as a compromise — because it convinces through taste, not through moralising.
Zero waste as an operating principle.
Side streams become usable ingredients, flavour building blocks, and products. Not as a PR move — but because it makes operational sense.
No show setup. No loose concept paper. Systems your team can work with every day.
Who works with it
Three contexts. One system.
Canteens & catering operations
You want more plant-based dishes on the plate — but plate waste is high, the kitchen doesn't know the processes yet, and fermentation sounds like a risk. That can be solved.
We build plant-based menu systems with depth and acceptance: umami flavour building blocks from fermentation, clear prep logic, and recipes that work with your team and your capacity. Side streams get used, not thrown out.
Restaurants
Fermented sauces, bases, and seasoning pastes that make your service more stable — because they don't depend on one single cook and taste the same every night.
We develop flavour systems that fit your kitchen: with parameters, sensory checklists, and the know-how to keep fermentation safe and reproducible in a running operation. Flavour as a process, not a coincidence.
Food brands & startups
You have an idea — a fermented product, a plant-based line, a side-stream concept. Now you need someone who can take it from prototype to a recipe that holds up.
We develop it with you: parameters, iteration logic, sensory specification, first scale-up considerations. Documented, repeatable, and honest about what works — and what doesn't.
How we work
Diagnosis → Design → Build → Stabilise
Diagnosis
Clarify goals and constraints
Staff, space, refrigeration, allergens, workflow, capacity. We listen first — before recommending anything.
Design
Define processes and systems
Fermentation building blocks, SOPs, QA checkpoints, flavour systems — tailored to your operation, not off the shelf.
Build
Implement and train
Implementation on-site or in a test setup, on-the-job team training, iteration until it runs.
Stabilise
Fine-tuning and handover
Checks, reviews, final adjustments. A clean handover into daily operations — with everything your team needs.
Systems that run in daily operations.
Services
Three formats — depending on where you stand.
Strategic consulting
Clarity before investment.
- Priorities & quick wins
- Setup and risk check
- Pilot plan
- First SOP drafts
Process development & implementation
Build a system that lasts.
- SOP package
- QA system (light)
- Flavour systems & ferments
- Prep and production logic
- Handover documentation
Ongoing support
Stabilise and keep developing.
- Reviews & troubleshooting
- SOP updates
- Iterations
- New ferment releases
About me
The kitchen of the future is plant-based — and fermentation is its key.
Plant-based concepts rarely fail for lack of good intentions. They fail on culinary depth: umami, texture, maturity. That's exactly where fermentation comes in — in restaurants, in canteens, at food brands and startups, all the way to industrial production.
With FlavorFocusLab, I advise businesses on building plant-based, fermentation-driven concepts and products that hold up in daily operations.
I'm Simon Hannig, founder of FlavorFocusLab. I've been cooking professionally for 15 years and working with fermentation for over ten years. I've built my own culinary concepts and a food production operation. As a trained chef and business economist, I know both sides: how flavour is created — and what a process needs to look like to pay off in a working kitchen.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Do you only work plant-based?
The focus is on plant-based systems. Additions — depending on the business, context, and goals — are possible and get clarified in the first conversation.
Do you take over production?
No. We build systems — your team runs them. That's not a compromise, it's the point: knowledge that stays, not knowledge that leaves.
Isn't fermentation risky in a working kitchen?
Not as a controlled process. We work with clear parameters, QA checklists, and SOPs — so fermentation runs safely, reproducibly, and documented. No black box.
Do you offer team training?
Yes. Either as an integrated part of implementation or as a separate block — whichever makes more sense for your team. Public workshops in Berlin: Dates & tickets.
Request a project
Request a project
Tell us briefly what it's about. You'll get an honest assessment of scope, the right format, and next steps — even if we turn out not to be the right fit.