FCSI EAME CONFERENCE 2026 KEYNOTE SPEAKER


A PLASTIC-FREE VISION FOR FOODSERVICE


Xampla is in the business of building a better tomorrow. CEO Alexandra French will tell delegates how the company is already on track to replace single-use plastics from foodservice with sustainable alternatives


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t is one of the big conundrums of our time: how to reduce the proliferation of unsustainable plastics.


In foodservice – an industry that has seen exponential growth in food for off-premise consumption – this question is even more pertinent. Joining the conference


from Cambridge-based materials innovation company Xampla, CEO Alexandra French will outline how a small start-up has taken on the significant challenge of reducing single-use plastics through innovation. Te company develops plant-based alternatives to single-use plastics and microplastics and has made strides in the foodservice industry.


French joined Xampla in 2023 at the stage “where we were going into our commercialization phase”, she recalls. She comes from a background in chemicals – previously, her work focused around emission control for cars and greenhouse gas abatement and she later went on to run a business for battery materials for vehicles. “I started in big corporate


and moved into the startup world when I joined Xampla, but there’s always been that thread of a cleaner, healthier planet at the heart of my career,” she says.


Te technology at the core


of Xampla – Morro – was developed at the University


of Cambridge where Marc Rodriguez García, the company’s co-founder and CTO was doing his post-doctorate degree. Te name derives from ‘tomorrow’ hinting at the focus of the team. “Morro really came about


by looking at plants, taking materials from nature,” says French. “We are not doing anything chemical when we create these materials that have fantastic functional properties. Tey are completely plastic free, PFA free, and microplastic free.” To develop the product


as it is today, García started out studying spiders and the strength of silk. “Silk, by weight, is five times stronger than steel – it doesn’t get battered in a


rainstorm. So he was looking at how this material in nature is so functionally fantastic,” she says. Learning from the silk protein molecules, he applied it to plant protein to create Morro.


FROM CONCEPT TO COMMERCIAL REALITY


García developed the technology and spun out Xampla in 2018; the first employee joined in 2020. In the six years since, the technology has evolved greatly into a real tangible product today. Morro is implemented as a


natural liner in boxes, cups and containers used for carrying food. “During the development work the team found that these plant materials had really


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