AI for Food & Drink Businesses: Opportunities, Risks and What Comes Next – Recap
On 20th April 2026 Women in the Food Industry held an unmissable event to discover how AI is transforming food & drink businesses & how to use it to your advantage. Here is a recap of the event at Corner Corner including a link to one of the afternoon workshops.
Artificial Intelligence is already transforming the food and drink industry – from how businesses source ingredients and predict trends to how recipes, marketing and content are created.
But alongside the opportunities come important questions: Will AI replace creativity? Can it really help food businesses grow without job losses? And how do we protect originality in an age of AI-generated content?
One thing is certain: AI isn’t going away.
Our expert panel discussed how can we can use AI responsibly, creatively and to our advantage.
The inspiring event explored how AI can support food and drink businesses while leaving more room for human creativity, innovation and connection.
Through fireside chats, workshops, expert panels and practical discussions, we explored real-world uses of AI and the opportunities it presents for the industry.
Who did we hear from?
✨ Inspiring Speakers
The event was charged by leading voices in AI including:
LJ Rich – World-renowned AI musician and presenter who has hosted global AI events including the UN’s AI for Good Summit.
Elisa Moyns – Senior commercial leader at Opply helping food and drink brands grow with AI-driven strategy and smarter supply chains.
Pade Ojomo – AI Enablement Consultant and founder of The GPT Club, the UK’s first AI implementation community.
Kate Hofman – CEO of Pesto helps founders and operations teams build resilient food and drink brands using AI to replace risky manual workflows like order management and inventory.
Thomas Akintan – Co-founder of Avalon Insights specialising in practical AI implementation across businesses and organisations.
Hosted by Mex Ibrahim – Co-founder of Women in the Food Industry and award-winning advocate for equality, sustainability and ethical food.
We were kept refreshed with Picoso non alcoholic spicy sodas – thanks to co-founder Tish!
Attendees enjoyed inspiring fireside chats, a panel and three afternoon workshops on:
1) Turn Your Story into Sales – Practical AI Content Tools for Food & Drink Brands – see full pdf of the presentation.
2 ) AI in food operations and the supply chain
3) Pesto’s R.E.C.I.P.E for using AI in Food and Drink brands
Watch this space for more photos and feedback from the event.
Some of our supporters
