Revelstoke’s Cronometer nutrition app snags Canadian food technology award

A Revelstoke start-up celebrating 20 years of success in the global food technology industry has earned a prestigious national award for its commitment to helping millions of people meet their nutrition and health needs.

The inaugural Foodtech Frontier 25 awards in Vancouver on Oct. 9, hosted by the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), will recognize 35 companies addressing challenges around sustainability, food security, health and supply chain efficiency, including Revelstoke’s Cronometer.

“Our country is also home to some of the most forward-thinking food innovators in the world,” CFIN CEO Dana McCauley said in a release. “We’re supporting the growth of these companies to strengthen our economy, create new jobs, and feed more people in a sustainable way.”

Cronometer, which launched in 2005 under CEO Aaron Davidson to fill a gap for nutrition-tracking platforms, is among the eight B.C. companies and the 10 already-established companies in the industry being recognized at the awards.

“We were very excited to hear that we’d been nominated as one of the top 10 foodtech companies in Canada,” Brendan Benson, product team manager, told Black Press Media at Flourish Bakery, next door to Cronometer’s office. “We were ecstatic to hear about it. It’s a big deal.”

Over 20 years, the company has scored roughly 13 million downloads of its mobile Cronometer app, and more than tripled its staff from 20 to 65.

Though a challenge has been continuing to grow its personnel with limited office space, “we’ve had a really good pool of talent to pull from from over the years,” Benson said, adding that Cronometer is actively looking to fill multiple new positions this fall. Last week, staff flew in from Ottawa, Toronto and even Ireland for an international get-together, following the big news about Foodtech Frontier 25.

“This is recognizing us as one of the top foodtech companies on the market,” Benson emphasized, describing Cronometer’s overarching goal as “to be able to generate food suggestions that help users meet their nutrition and energy targets.”

He acknowledged users and locals alike for their interest and support in the company’s ambition.

“We’ll be chatting at the gym with people who use our app and doing live customer support,” Benson joked. As well, “people come from out of town. It’s always cool to hear from people who use our app and want to come and say hi.”

For Revelstokians specifically, Cronometer provides free premium memberships, paying homage to its birthplace. This year, its newest perk — developed over the course of six to eight months — is a photo-logging feature that can help foodies monitor their nutrition live while eating.

“You can now take a photo of your meal — we’re able to identify the foods in your meal and we’re able to identify the micro- and macronutrients,” Benson explained. “From there, we’re matching them to curated foods in our database.”

Users can additionally navigate the app to substitute items in their diet or get protein breakdowns of their meals, a feature which is leveraged in part by artificial intelligence (AI).

“I think what we’re most excited about is the adoption of AI,” Benson said, while also reassuring that “we still have that human intervention to ensure we still have a high degree of accuracy in whatever we do.”

Next up, he said an option for voice-activated log-in is coming for Cronometer users. As well, looking even bigger beyond its North American and largely Canadian user market, Cronometer is planning an expansion overseas to establish itself in France, Germany and the U.K.

“That’s going to be a big push of ours in the coming years, to push into the European and foreign markets,” Benson said. “It’s a really exciting time to be in this industry right now.”

Asked what his advice to other Revelstoke start-ups would be, Benson offered that “if you surround yourself with people who want to succeed in a vision, then you’re going to be successful.”

He, Davidson and other Cronometer staff will attend CFIN’s award ceremony next Thursday afternoon at the Business Development Centre of Canada in Vancouver.

“From cutting-edge processing tools to smart AI solutions keeping our food safe, the companies we’re honouring today show how innovation can help the food industry grow strong in a fast-changing world — all while creating jobs, boosting the economy, and putting Canada on the map as a foodtech leader,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald added in the release.