Inviting Researchers, Startups and Entrepreneurs Nationwide to Discover Future Food Businesses for Sustainable Growth
- From Future Food to Future Business
- The initiative enables Food, Drink and Snack products to scale through co-investment, business development and market expansion across CP Group’s network in over 17 countries.
As global consumer behavior continues to shift toward health, nutrition, great taste and sustainability, the food industry is entering a new era in which competition is no longer defined by taste or price alone, but also by the ability to create future-ready innovations with real business scalability. Charoen Pokphand Group has launched “Healthylicious: Food • Drink • Snack Pitching Program”, one of the key initiatives under “CP Innovation Exposition 2026”. The program serves as a platform to discover, incubate and scale innovations from both inside and outside the organization, connecting knowledge, technology and business collaboration to create new growth opportunities for CP Group and society at large. CP Innovation Exposition 2026 will take place from October 20 – 22, 2026.
The program aims to discover food, beverage and snack products with the potential to open doors to co-investment opportunities and real business development with CP Group under the concept of Innovative • Healthy • Delicious. It marks the first time CP Group has opened a full-scale food innovation competition to external participants, creating opportunities for researchers, startups, SMEs and young innovators nationwide to present creative products to the real business sector. Healthylicious also seeks to connect knowledge, research and technology with CP Group’s strengths in production, marketing and global business networks, working together to create innovations that meet evolving consumer needs, generate economic value and contribute to Thailand’s sustainable development.
When Health, Taste and Innovation Become the New Priorities for the Food Industry
As consumers place greater importance on health, nutrition, sustainability and changing lifestyles, Food • Drink • Snack innovations must deliver more than great taste. They must also have the potential to grow into viable businesses. Healthylicious is therefore designed as a pitching platform that connects “delicious and healthy products” with “business opportunities”, enabling researchers, startups and entrepreneurs to work together as partners, further develop their products, test the market and grow alongside CP Group’s business network.
Opening the Door to CP Group’s Ecosystem
The program welcomes Food • Drink • Snack products in all formats from a diverse range of applicants, including food startups with market-ready products, researchers and academic institutions with food technologies or intellectual property seeking commercial partners, as well as health and wellness food SMEs with an existing consumer base and the ambition to scale their growth.
Applicants may propose a range of collaboration models, including equity investment, IP sale or licensing, product co-development and industrial-scale manufacturing, joint ventures, or business growth-sharing models such as GP sharing. At the application stage, applicants are not required to specify investment amounts or equity ownership structures.
The program will select participants through four competitive rounds, from Product Concept, CP Synergy & Pitch and Market Opportunity to the Final Pitch. Applicants will be shortlisted to 30 teams, then 10 teams and finally five finalists, who will present their innovations to a panel of senior executives. Selected teams will have the opportunity to explore partnerships with CP Group, leveraging the Group’s capabilities to bring products to market and support the development of innovation into viable businesses.
Empowering Thai Innovation for Regional and Global Growth
Sigve Brekke, Group Chief Executive Officer of True Corporation Plc., as Chairman of CP Innovation Exposition 2026, said that “Healthylicious is a space for new possibilities, where external innovators, researchers, startups, and entrepreneurs with high-potential ideas can bring their food, drink and snack innovations to life. Through the program, they will gain access to CP Group’s end-to-end capabilities across investment, production, technology, supply chain, and business networks in 17 countries, helping these innovations move from concept to market, and from market to long-term growth.
With Thailand’s health and wellness food market growing at more than 10% a year, and the country being one of the few in the world with three UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy, Phuket, Phetchaburi, and Songkhla, food is a powerful economic driver. As consumers increasingly seek products that combine health, nutrition, great taste, and sustainability, this creates an important opportunity to turn innovative products into scalable business growth.”
A Major Opportunity for Future Food Innovators
Applications for Healthylicious are open from July 1–31, 2026. Participation is free of charge throughout the program, with no limit on the number of teams that may apply.
Interested applicants can submit their innovative food, beverage and snack products, together with an intro video and pitch deck in the required format, via https://healthylicious-pitching.cpgroupsustainability.com/
Because products with strong potential deserve the opportunity to be developed into real businesses, create value for consumers, and generate long-term benefits for society and the country, CP Group is committed to leveraging its organizational strengths in investment, production, technology, supply chain and business networks across 17 countries to help Thai innovations grow in a tangible way. Healthylicious is therefore more than a competition. It is a space of opportunity that connects the creative power of Thai innovators with CP Group’s capabilities to help shape a better future of food for people, the economy, society and the planet sustainably.
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