What Food Industry Leaders Listen for in a Technology Pitch

For emerging technology companies, a successful pitch to food industry leaders starts with solving a meaningful business problem and clearly demonstrating business value. Applications for the 2027 FMItech Pitch Competition close Sept. 5, 2026. 

By: Jennifer Shawgo, Senior Director of Technology Strategy & Programs, FMI  

A strong pitch gives food industry leaders enough clarity to understand the problem, see the business case, evaluate the evidence and understand the potential for the solution. 

For emerging technology companies building for the food industry, that clarity starts with knowing the customer and the environment where the technology will be used. The most compelling pitches connect a strong product to a meaningful business need and make that connection easy to understand. 

Start with a problem worth solving for the food industry 

A good pitch establishes the problem early and explains why it matters. 

In food retail, wholesale and CPG, meaningful problems often show up in labor, margin, inventory, operations, customer experience, data or growth. An emerging technology company that understands where the friction lives and who experiences it can explain the value of its solution with much greater credibility. 

Solid industry context matters. Grocery is a complex operating environment, and the same challenge can look very different depending on the customer, size, format or part of the value chain. Showing that you understand grocery realities gives the audience a reason to keep listening. 

Connect your technology to the business 

Once the problem is clear, the pitch should show how the technology works in the wild. That means explaining who uses it, where it fits into existing workflows and which business outcomes it is designed to affect. 

If a solution saves tedious labor, explain where the work happens today and what changes with the technology. If it improves the shopper experience, show how that improvement can translate into conversion, loyalty, customer lifetime value or another meaningful business result. 

A clear view of the customer and market opportunity also helps illustrate the broader potential for the product. Food industry leaders want to understand who the solution is built for, how the company plans to reach those customers and whether there is a viable business behind the technology. 

Bring evidence 

Emerging companies will naturally be at different stages, so evidence can take many forms. 

A working product, pilot, early customer, partnership, revenue or measurable result can all demonstrate progress. The strongest evidence shows that the company has tested its assumptions, learned from the market and started to validate the value of the solution. 

This is where a pitch can move from interesting to credible. Real-world experience gives the audience something concrete to evaluate and helps show how the technology performs outside of a demo environment. 

Make your opportunity easy to understand 

The audience needs enough information to understand the product, the business and where the opportunity could go without getting buried in features or technical detail. 

A well-defined problem makes the solution easier to understand. A clear business case makes the value easier to evaluate. Relevant evidence gives the opportunity more substance. In a short three-minute pitch, clarity is critical. 

A strong pitch leaves the audience with a clear picture of where the technology fits, the value it can create and why the opportunity deserves a deeper conversation. 

For emerging technology companies ready to pitch their solutions to food industry leaders, applications for the FMItech Pitch Competition are now open through Sept. 5, 2026. 

Apply for FMItech Pitch 2027