Answering the Market’s Call, Starday Foods Launches A New AI-Powered Platform for F&B Product Development

Starday introduces a strategic innovation partnership that blends deep F&B expertise with advanced AI-based tools built to enhance decision-making in product development

Platform helps F&B teams accelerate organic growth with AI-powered, faster, lower-risk product innovation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Starday, the AI-driven product innovation platform, today announced the launch of Starday Innovation, a new strategic partnership offering for food and beverage teams. Starday Innovation brings together AI and data-powered R&D to help teams accelerate decision-making throughout the product development cycle. Designed to reduce risk, shorten time to market, and drive organic growth, the platform equips brands with clear, actionable guidance so teams can move from idea to execution with greater clarity, confidence, and efficiency.

Starday offers end-to-end collaboration for its partners – combining AI-powered tools with culinary R&D and deep F&B expertise to equip F&B brands with predictive insights and tailored guidance. From identifying the next demand-driving trend, to designing and launching products that earn shelf placement, drive velocity and repeat purchase, Starday enables faster, smarter and de-risked innovation that aligns with evolving consumer priorities and category dynamics.

As food and beverage companies grapple with how to effectively integrate AI into their operations, Starday built the R&D system the market has been craving. In less than four years, Starday has created four category-disrupting brands, launched 16 successful products, and earned millions of customers – demonstrating its ability to turn signals into shelf-ready solutions. Its All Day chickpea protein toppers became #1 in $/door and outperformed category velocity by 72%. The company’s latest launch, Habeya sweet potato crackers, developed to anticipate growing demand for allergen-free family snacks, were accepted by five major retailers pre-launch and saw 30%+ month-over-month velocity growth in their first four months on shelf. Starday has also secured on-shelf placements with major retailers, including Target, Walmart, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and Kroger.

“Everyone’s looking to AI to magically solve their problems, but the reality is, AI is a tool. That means that it's only effective when teams are aligned, empowered, and know how to use it with clarity and purpose,” said Chaz Flexman, CEO and co-founder of Starday. “We built Starday’s Innovation platform to address the biggest challenges food and beverage teams face in product development – overwhelming data, chasing misleading signals, and working within rigid, siloed R&D processes. As we built our own brands, we heard the same need across the industry: tools that cut through the noise, deliver actionable insights, and help teams move from idea to execution with more speed and confidence. That's exactly what we've created, and we're excited to share it with industry to help fuel faster, lower-risk product innovation that drives standout growth.”

Starday built and leverages five distinct and complementary tools designed to enable, enhance, and advance human expertise, creativity, and decision making. When combined with Starday’s deep expertise in culinary development, brand building, and go-to-market strategy, these tools provide a truly end-to-end innovation engine.

The tools:

• Trend Exploration: Most trend reports skim the surface. Starday’s digs deep—quantifying cultural relevance, utility, and momentum.
• AI Consumer Content Analysis: Consumers are shouting their needs online—most teams just can’t accurately hear them. This tool turns the chaos into clear, scalable insight.
• Consumer Predictions: Static segmentations miss the moment. Starday models enable flexible segmentations, capture evolving behaviors, and provide topical insights.
• Product Review Insights: Thanks to bots, review data is lying. Starday cuts through bots and bias to surface what actually drives sentiment.
• Retail Product Database: Syndicated data shows what’s on shelf. Starday identifies what’s missing—and where products can win.

“We’re in a new era where consumers are demanding more from the food products they are purchasing, from nutrient density to specific dietary qualifications, forcing F&B companies to be more strategic and intentional with what problem they are solving with each new product,” said Nick Mares, co-founder, Kettle & Fire and Light Labs. “There’s tremendous opportunity for visionary companies like Starday that are building the groundwork that helps improve the bigger picture of a food system that continually serves its consumers and their evolving needs. While we got ourselves to a pretty great product with Kettle & Fire, suffice it to say that Starday’s data and guidance would have been wildly helpful during the early R&D days to speed up outdated processes.”

One of Starday Innovation’s early F&B partners was exploring a move into the growing at-home matcha category. Traditional desk research lacked the nuance needed for product differentiation. Starday’s AI-powered tools uncovered a key consumer pain point: the at-home experience lacked the rich, creamy texture of café-made matcha lattes. The team’s unlock: boosting fat content to deliver that indulgent texture people crave. By layering in persona insights (like preferences for milk and sugar levels) and real-world constraints from its retail product database (on pricing, ingredients, and packaging), Starday delivered a full concept and R&D brief within just four weeks—cutting the traditional innovation cycle by 75%. The result: a market-ready concept built to lead, not lag behind the trend.

Starday’s platform isn’t just providing another tool – it’s the only end-to-end partner that turns predictive insights into actionable R&D and concept development in months, not years. To learn more about how Starday Innovation can accelerate product development, visit stardayfoods.com.

About Starday
Founded in 2021, Starday is a strategic partner for food and beverage teams to unlock organic growth through faster, smarter, lower-risk product innovation. Its Starday Innovation platform goes beyond data, delivering clear, actionable insights and customized support that give teams the tools they need to move from idea to execution. In less than four years, the company has created four category-disrupting brands, launched 16 successful products, and earned millions of customers – demonstrating its ability to turn signals into shelf-ready solutions. Starday has also secured on-shelf placements with major retailers, including Target, Walmart, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and Kroger.

Starday is backed by leading venture capital firms, including Slow Ventures and Equal Ventures; notable entrepreneurs, including Tristan Walker, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, and Instacart Founder Max Mullen; and multinational food and beverage companies.