Category: News

Hops & Co. is on a mission to make the beer brewing industry more sustainable. They achieve this by upcycling the byproducts of beer brewing into highly nutritious, sustainable flour. After collecting the spent grain from their partner breweries, they dry and mill it to produce flour. This flour is then distributed to their customers, which include local cafés, bakeries, and restaurants that use it to create a variety of goods. By doing so, Hops & Co. contributes to a circular economy, reduces waste, and helps local businesses adopt sustainable practices at an affordable price—offering their flour at a price comparable to conventional options.

Moritz Jäger and Luis Koenigs are the co-founders and team leaders of Hops & Co. Both are 20-year-old International Business students from Germany, currently expanding their team with plans to have 7-8 members by the end of September.

Initially, Moritz and Luis were part of an innovation team within Enactus, a student association at Erasmus University that serves as a startup incubator. In late 2023, along with a few former team members, they founded Hops & Co., inspired by the vast potential for upcycling spent grain, a highly nutritious byproduct. Rotterdam’s network of microbreweries, cafés, and restaurants further fueled their mission.

Through conversations with brewery representatives, Moritz and Luis discovered that waste management is often an expensive, time-consuming task that harms the environment, especially when spent grains are transported over long distances or disposed of. Even when not wasted, these byproducts are typically sent to farms for animal feed. On the customer side, they found that many local businesses want to adopt sustainable products but are often deterred by the high costs—sustainable alternatives are typically three to four times more expensive than conventional products. This is where Hops & Co. saw an opportunity: to upcycle byproducts into highly nutritious flour and offer local facilities an affordable, sustainable alternative.