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Executive Summary
mindit.io partnered with Planteneers, a pioneer in the plant-based food industry, to co-create the world’s first digital configurator for plant-based food products – Plantbaser. This virtual platform enables B2B customers to customize ingredients, protein sources, and product properties, and receive tailored samples in under 20 minutes. The result: faster time-to-market, increased project profitability, and a competitive edge in the global food innovation space.
Key Results
- Reduced product time-to-market by over 80%
- Increased profitability from small and mid-sized customers
- Launched globally in under 8 months
- Created a fully digital, scalable product development and sampling journey
- Enabled real-time analytics for business insights and decision-making
About the Client
Planteneers is part of Stern-Wywiol Gruppe GmbH, a family-owned group generating €500M+ in revenue across global B2B food markets. With decades of experience in food processing, Planteneers drives innovation in plant-based alternatives by offering raw materials and technical know-how to manufacturers. The company sought to leverage digital technologies to automate traditional product development workflows and enhance customer engagement.
The Challenge
Two major business challenges stood out:
- Time-to-market: Traditional custom product development could take up to 18 months.
- Profitability: Many development projects for smaller clients led to financial losses.
Additional technical challenges included creating a secure, scalable digital platform tailored to the needs of diverse users, while integrating advanced customization and sample ordering features.
Project Goals
mindit.io was brought in to:
- Build a secure, white-label food configurator for product customization and sampling
- Automate manual development processes and improve data collection
- Enable scalable customer engagement, regardless of plant-based expertise
- Provide analytics for behavior tracking, sales insights, and traffic monitoring
mindit.io’s Solution
The project followed a phased approach:
Phase I – Concept: mindit.io collaborated with Planteneers and a Swiss innovation partner to define technical architecture, design user journeys, and create mock-ups.
Phase II – Develop: Using Scrum and Secure Software Development Life Cycle (S-SDLC) practices, the platform was built and launched globally in less than 8 months. The solution included the core modules: product catalog, interactive configurator, and sample ordering.
Phase III – Enhance: New tools such as a Product Owner Process application and Analytics module were added to monitor platform performance and track user behavior in real-time.
Technologies: Spring Boot, Java 11, Angular 16, Microsoft SQL Server, Elasticsearch, Keycloak, Microsoft Azure
Key Features and Functionalities
Product Catalog:
- Centralized recipe data management
- Recipe search, edit, and export capabilities
- Order management and technical document generation
Product Configurator: - Real-time product customization and intelligent product matching
- Sample ordering by type and quantity
- Promo code functionality and comment sections
- Re-ordering, saved configurations, and bestseller shortcuts
- Fully responsive for mobile and tablet use
Analytics Module: - Real-time reports on user behavior and traffic sources
- Insights into sales performance by product category
- Data-driven decision support for marketing and R&D
Results
The Plantbaser has transformed Planteneers’ product development lifecycle. What once took up to 18 months now takes 20 minutes – from configuration to sample order. The configurator has streamlined internal workflows, enabled direct customer interaction, and supported more profitable engagement with smaller accounts. As more customers use the platform, real-time data captured through analytics continues to fuel R&D and improve customer satisfaction.
Client Testimonial
“Our partnership with mindit.io brought to life the world’s first plant-based food configurator. The platform not only shortens time-to-market but also delivers measurable value to our team and our clients.”
– Planteneers
Visuals and Supporting Media
- Mock-ups of configuration journey
- Dashboards showing analytics insights
- Screenshots of the product catalog and ordering interface
- Roadmap for future feature releases
Strategic Takeaways
- Digital configurators are a game-changer for personalized B2B food development
- Automation reduces costs and improves service for long-tail clients
- Real-time data collection supports strategic R&D planning
- Co-creation and iterative development accelerate innovation
What’s Next?
Planteneers will continue to enrich the Plantbaser by integrating new products and recipes developed by its R&D team. Customers will be able to explore and sample these instantly, while insights from the platform will inform future product innovation. Ready to revolutionize your B2B product development?
