Turning Personal Struggle into Award-winning FoodTech Venture
Welcome back to the Innovative Business Visions Series, where we bring our alumni’s phenomenal entrepreneurship and innovation stories to you. Discover how HKUST Business School alumnus Francis SO (BBA in Marketing, 2022) transformed a personal health journey into Food With Benefits — an award-winning FoodTech startup tackling food waste.
When Francis describes his teenage years, he does so with unusual frankness.
“I still remember when I was in high school, I was really fat, like more than 100 kilograms, I hated working out a lot.”
Today, he is the co-founder of Food With Benefits, a fast-growing FoodTech startup that has rescued more than 60 tons of food waste and was recently crowned Champion at the Grand Final of the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge (HKSEC) 2024–2025.
The transformation, he says, began long before the business plan.
A Personal Turning Point
Francis’s lifestyle shift began when he moved to Canada for his studies. Immersed in a culture where gym sessions and nutrition tracking were routine, he began monitoring calories and micronutrients — small habits that produced lasting change.
“That’s how I started my healthy lifestyle,” he says.
But returning to Hong Kong revealed a contradiction. Healthy living, he found, was often expensive and inconvenient.
“Eating healthy here is difficult… A salad probably costs you 100 bucks.”
Even products marketed as nutritious did not always live up to their labels.
“You look at the ingredient list… they have a lot of hidden ingredients. So that’s why it got me thinking, maybe I should create a brand that can really solve my pain point.”
That idea took shape during his final year at HKUST Business School, where he was studying marketing.
From Marketing Classroom to FoodTech Startup
Food science was not Francis’s background. Determined to bridge the gap, he reached beyond his discipline and contacted a professor in the Food Science and Nutrition programme. The professor then introduced him to a student who was studying freeze-drying technology. The two quickly aligned around a shared vision: combining health, convenience and sustainability.
Freeze-drying would become central to Food With Benefits’ products, enabling the company to preserve nutrients while extending shelf life to more than a year.
Equally influential was an HKUST Business School marketing elective titled Brand Activism. “Ultimately… the reason why I started Food with Benefits was because of a marketing course I took,” Francis says.
The course reframed business as a platform for social impact — a philosophy that continues to guide the company.
Tackling Food Waste at the Source
An avid hiker, Francis had long been aware of environmental issues. Conversations with friends in procurement and retail revealed the scale of food waste across the supply chain.
In Mainland China and Hong Kong, he learned, as much as 20 to 30 percent of fruits and vegetables are wasted during farming and transportation.
Food With Benefits now works directly with farmers to collect surplus or cosmetically imperfect produce. Using freeze-drying technology, the team transforms it into nutrient-dense “shake-and-go” smoothie powders and, more recently, upcycled energy bars.
“So far, we saved more than 60 tons of food waste,” Francis says. “Our brand philosophy is really simple. We always strictly follow three principles: convenient, healthy and less food waste.”
Incubated by HKUST Entrepreneurship Center’s IPIC – Chan Dang Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award, the company has built a growing distribution network in Hong Kong, supplying retail shops, cafés, restaurants and fitness centres. With support from the Hong Kong Housing Authority, it has also launched a pop-up store at Domain Mall in Yau Tong.
The HKSEC championship marked a significant milestone in its social innovation journey.
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Left: The Business Students’ Union (BSU) experience sparked Francis's passion for community building and meaningful engagement.
Right: Whether leading or volunteering, Francis never missed an opportunity to support the School community, learning that small contributions can create meaning experiences.
Broke — Then Backed
The path was not without setbacks. In the early stages, Francis and his co-founder struggled to find a viable business model.
“We thought building an e-commerce shop is very simple… But the truth is, it’s not.”
At one point, they ran out of money entirely.
“We literally went broke… my bank account had less than a three digit number.”
An invitation to join the Hong Kong Science Park incubation programme arrived at their lowest moment. Although the required deposit felt daunting, the programme ultimately provided mentorship, funding support and strategic guidance that helped the startup regain momentum.
“To be honest, I felt hopeless, but excited at the same time,” Francis says. “I really believe in myself.”
Why Waiting is the Biggest Risk
Looking back, Francis credits HKUST Business School not only for technical knowledge, but for providing the ecosystem that allowed him to experiment.
“One advice from me to all the students is act instantly,” he says. “When you’re still a student… you have plenty of opportunities and resources.”
Entrepreneurship competitions, mentorship networks and cross-disciplinary collaboration made it possible to test ideas before graduation.
“As a student, you don’t need to worry about income, so act instantly.”
From a self-described “super fat boy” to the founder of an award-winning social enterprise, Francis’s journey reflects a conviction shaped in the classroom and tested in the market: start before you feel ready — and build something that matters.
To watch the interview highlight, please CLICK HERE.
