About ── A Gastronomic Innovation Center

Makeat is an innovation, design and product development studio focused on the gastronomic ecosystem. Based in Barcelona, we work at the intersection of thinking, making and experiencing, designing projects that transform ideas into systems, tools and experiences with real impact.

 

We understand gastronomy as a complex, living system where creativity, innovation, science, strategy, operations, technology and emotion coexist. Our work moves between analysis and creation, combining consultancy and design as two complementary ways of approaching the same challenge: understanding reality in depth in order to transform it with purpose.

 

Through Consultancy, we analyse contexts, processes and behaviours to define clear frameworks for decision-making, innovation and growth, and activate this knowledge through workshops, talks and tailored learning formats, designed to share methodology, align teams and open new perspectives. Through Design, we translate those frameworks into tangible solutions (products, tools, devices and experiences) where form, function and narrative are inseparable.

 

We work with materials, technology, processes and people. We collaborate with brands, operators and professionals from food, drinks, science, design and business, acting as a bridge between innovation and real use. From this way of thinking and making, initiatives like Tools by Makeat naturally emerge, expanding the possibilities of gastronomic design through creative tooling.

 

At Makeat, every project is an opportunity to explore new languages, question conventions and design with intention. We think through every detail, every texture, shape, scent and flavour, because we believe that meaningful impact happens when ideas are not only imagined, but carefully built.

| Our Methodologies

At the core of our work are the methodologies that guide how we think and how we build. Food Thinking allows us to approach gastronomy as a living system, connecting culture, context, technique, experience, science, innovation and creativity to develop projects with depth and meaning. FAC.U² structures the journey from analysis to creation, helping us turn understanding into action with clarity and coherence. Together, these methodologies are embedded in every project we develop at Makeat, across both consultancy and design, ensuring that ideas are not only creative, but also solid, intentional and executable.

A02 ── Team
| Juan Umbert
Co-Founder & CEO
| Adrià Colominas
Co-Founder & CTO
| Víctor Echevarria
Head of Strategy
| Alicia Cusco
External Consultant - Catao
| Carlos Clemente
Project Manager
| Pol Bernat
Conceptual Designer
| Chema Ortolano
Head of Consultancy & R&D
| Maria Rodríguez
Head of Communications
| Mariona Prats
Head of Production
| Alex Lahuerta
Creative Designer
| Lucie Levrard
Production Doer
| Samuel Colominas
Graphic Designer
| Marta Florido
Product Designer
| Manuel Mur
Senior Designer
| Javi Albo
Administrative Officer
| Ana de Sousa
A02 ── Our ecosystem

Lasarte | Disfrutar | SIPS |  Macallan | Aethos Mallorca | America’s Cup | Azurmendi | Bellus | Bombay Shapphire | Dewars | Salmón Gurú | Grosvenor House JW Marriot Hotel | Jumpers | Levi’s | Mo Barcelona | Rocambolesc | Moet & Chandon | NeoSpot | Popitas | Bacardi | Lluc Crusellas | Carles Codina (Four Seasons Madrid) | Welbilt | Paradiso | Grupo Esencia | Le Tribute | Miquel Guarro | Hofmann | Mamzel Marbella | Mr. Porter |

THINKERSFOOD UNIVERSE

Afterlife

| Project info

[ Operational Strategy / Systems Design / Scalable Gastronomic Models ]

When extreme conditions become a testing ground for real innovation.

Serving more than 8,500 meals in just two days from two containers, while replacing over 32 traditional food trucks, was not a hypothetical challenge. It was a real operational scenario faced at Afterlife for NeoSpot, under conditions of maximum pressure, volume and speed.

Makeat approached the project from a consultancy-led perspective, designing, developing and executing the entire operation from scratch and within a highly constrained timeframe. The core of the work focused on analysing the context, defining an efficient operational model and designing flows capable of performing consistently in a minimal space.

 

 

A key element in this process was the implementation of the FIT Kitchen System by Welbilt Inc. Iberia. This allowed us to standardise complex processes, reduce friction and ensure control over quality, safety and execution, even under extreme demand. Technology was not treated as an add-on, but as a structural enabler of scalability and performance.

|

Beyond execution, the project functioned as a real-life stress test for food service systems. Extreme contexts accelerate learning, exposing weaknesses, validating decisions and generating insights that are directly transferable to everyday professional kitchens. What emerges are simpler processes, more efficient operations, optimised teams and models designed to scale with coherence.

 

This is how Makeat understands consultancy: using real, high-pressure environments to design systems that work in practice. Innovation not as a concept, but as a tool activated in service of reality.

Careers at Makeat BCN

We work with chefs, brands, and innovators around the world to turn imagination into matter — and we’re always looking for curious, restless minds to join us.

 

We value thinkers who build and makers who think. People who are comfortable with ambiguity, who see both code and cuisine as creative tools.

gestion@makeat.tech

Carrer Ramon Turro, 5,
Barcelona, Spain 08005
+34 646 044 137