AI Trailblazer Award
zeroG's Tray Tracker has been named in Gartner's "Emerging Tech: AI Vendor Race — Emerging Business Use Cases for Domain-Specific Models Transform R&D and Sustainability" report, published 27 July 2026. It's a recognition that builds on an already strong track record: in November 2024, Tray Tracker won the AI Trailblazer Award at the Lufthansa Group Innovator Award Ceremony.
The problem: a $2.4 billion blind spot
Every year, an estimated $2.4 billion worth of food goes unconsumed across the aviation industry. Meals come back from cabins, kitchens, and lounges only partially enjoyed by passengers, and until now, most airlines had no systematic way to understand what wasn't being eaten, or why.
That gap isn't just about waste. It's a missed opportunity to understand what passengers actually want. With the right insights, airlines and caterers can continuously refine their menu offerings, better match catering to real demand, and in turn reduce food waste as a natural result.
How Tray Tracker works
Tray Tracker closes that gap with a simple idea, executed precisely. A compact AI-powered camera, installed directly at the tray return point, captures every uneaten meal as it comes back. Computer vision then identifies what's left on the tray down to the item level, estimates the weight of the waste, and feeds it all into a live dashboard, broken down by date, hour, menu, and route.
Real impact, already in motion
Tray Tracker, developed with Lufthansa Group, is already running across Frankfurt and Munich, with further rollout underway. The numbers tell the story: up to 50% reduction in food waste, real CO₂ tracking that feeds directly into ESG and Net Zero reporting, and detailed insight down to individual meal components (down to a single olive for example) that helps catering teams plan smarter and serve what passengers actually want.
This is proof that domain-specific AI doesn't have to stay in pilot mode, it can run at scale, every day.
Recognized twice over
Being named in Gartner's research follows Tray Tracker's AI Trailblazer Award win at Lufthansa Group's Innovator Award Ceremony in 2024, external validation, on top of internal recognition, recognition, that this is a solution turning a real industry challenge into an opportunity for airlines and caterers alike.
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