Dr Darren Burke has built a career as an academic researcher and university professor. He taught at Saint Francis Xavier University for ten years, then left to commercialize his work in the crowded sports nutrition industry. Within three years, his company was the biggest in Canada, then two years later in the top for the United States. Five years after he launched he was acquired by a large manufacturing based in Chicago, Illinois.

As a healthy active person Dr Darren Burke has always been interested in the environment, animal welfare, and sustainability. In 2017 he and business partner, TJ Galiardi created a technology to rescue nutrients from food destined for waste. At that time, upcycled food wasn’t a thing being done, nor the term used for food. Shortly after they launched the business, they were part of the founding group to start the Upcycled Food Association, which has grown significantly year over year since its founding.

With the help of this ground-breaking technology, nutrients in discarded fruits and vegetables can be saved and used in recipes for smoothies, bake goods, and other natural health products. The company grew from idea to more than $30mm in value in just three years. TJ Galiardi and Dr Darren Burke left the company called Outcast Foods in 2021 and have moved on to new endeavours. Dr Burke is mentoring other start up founders and working in academia as the Entrepreneur In Residence at Saint Mary’s University.

About Dr Darren Burke

Dr Darren Burke is a former university professor who turned his research into a new category of sports nutrition products. He grew the company from inception to Canadian and US market leader in five years, followed by a successful exit. In 2017 he and a co-founder developed a sustainable technology to reduce food waste and save valuable nutrients in fruit and vegetables destined for landfill. They built the company from idea to $30mm value in three years with multiple manufacturing facilities. Dr Burke is currently researching innovation for health and wellness consumer products, sustainable technology, developing science based products, and he is the EIR at Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre at Saint Mary’s University.