Tech Bites

There are apps for almost every piece of the dinning experience. There are apps to recommend restaurants, buy the reservations, document the experience and paying for the meal. Non-industry folks, who have the idea to build a better experience for themselves and fellow diners, are developing most of the new restaurant technology. In-studio guests Camilla Marcus and Lauren Hobbs, founder of the Techtable Summit happening this September, talk about the need for the restaurant industry to become more engaged in developing their own technology. This piece was brought to you by Fairway Market

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The internet and social media have given people a virtual soapbox to stand-up and rant, review and critique restaurants with sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Urbanspoon. The reviews are every public – and lead to mixed results and responses from businesses. BlurtBox is the next generation of reviewing platforms, where diners use an app to send businesses anonymous feedback. In-studio guest, BlurtBox founder Julien Meyer talks about aggregating customer feedback into valuable data. This program was brought to you by Edwards.

“Just by talking to people we can learn so much more than we did by sitting behind a computer screen.” [28:00]

— Julien Meyer on Tech Bites

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This week on Tech Bites Host Jennifer Leuzzi interviews Scott Reich and Mike Winik, founders of Our Harvest. Scott and Mike discuss the pros and cons of running a business that depends on long term production of products and the collection of massive amounts of data. Scott and Mike want to help people get better locally sourced food, while helping support the lives of local farmers, and they believe they can do all this through data predictions. This program was brought to you by Route 11 Potato Chips.

“We’re offering a truly curated experience in a modern way, just using technology.” [19:00]

— Scott Reich and Mike Winik on Tech Bites

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Eater, Est. in 2005 as the Blog & Bar Americain, created much of today’s requisites for online restaurant (nay – pop culture?) coverage we’ve come to expect, love and loathe on today’s internet. In-studio guest Eater founder Lockhart Steele talks about 10 years of Eater, the web and seaport living. This program was brought to you buy the International Culinary Center.

“Its about the whole experience of dining out, thats what eater is about, is it a great experience.” [25:00]

— Lockhart Steele on Tech Bites

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The restaurant industry has always managed to stay connected through a unique global network of word-of-mouth powered by purveyors that travel between kitchens, cooks with mobile phones, magazines and visiting chefs. As tech evolves so does the network. Enter Culintro, culinary + introduction circa 2009, a bid to be the comprehensive industry digital hub. In-studio guest Culintro founder Stephanie Berghoff talks about evolutions in the industry and the best way to find a job. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

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Taking a page from the Silicon Valley playbook, FOOD-X combines start-ups with culinary ventures in one of the first food business accelerators. Created in 2014, the three-and-a-half month program gives food start-ups access to funding and mentorship with the industry stars like chef Dan Barber and CEO Danielle Gould. In-studio guest Shen Tong, founder and partner of FOOD-X talks about disrupting the food industry to create communities of change. This program was brought to you by Bonnie Plants.

“In the next few decades the big names in the food industry will be different, some of them have not even been invented yet.” [15:00]

— Shen Tong on Tech Bites

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This new tech company ChouxBox comes from a chef and front-of-house guy, who wanted to spend less time on paperwork and more time cooking and the dinning room. They developed a “POP” or point-of-purchase inventory system that works with a snap of an iphone camera. In-studio guests Tony Aiazzi and Xavier “X” Mariezcurrena, talk about the unlikely story of going from restaurant to start-up incubator, to having a tech team in the Philippines that makes it all seem like magic.This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

—Tony Aiazzi on Tech Bites

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Learning to cook via video is a growing food tech category. From subscription-based models to crowd-sourced amateur videos, to YouTube celebrities, lots of businesses are banking on the idea people want how-to videos in the kitchen. In-studio guest Joseph Epstein, discussed his patent-pending learning system at the foundation of Salivation, and what it’s like a like behind the scenes of a food tech start-up. This program was brought to you by the International Culinary Center.

“Kickstarter is a great platform you can reach out to your future customers and fans…it really lets you know on a due dilligence level that there is a market for this idea.” [24:00]

“What gets ahead in any sector or category that is full, is unique content…what we’re planning to put out has better content and more effective content.” [26:00]

— Joseph Epstein on Tech Bites

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It takes more than a traveling chef and great pork buns to conquer the global restaurant and media markets. In this episode of Tech Bites, the studio is jam packed with the social ninjas that run the digital presences for Momofuku Restaurants worldwide and Zero Point Zero Productions (the creative powerhouse behind Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, PBS’s Mind of A Chef, MeatEater, Apex Predator and Food Republic). Listen in on Helen Cho, Danny Carnaje from ZPZ and Marguerite Mariscal and Rebecca Palkovics from Momofuku talk tweets, paper cuts and pork belly. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“We’ve had a Facebook renaissance. I think video on Facebook is the fastest growing demo that they have, actually.” [31:30]

—Marguerite Mariscal on Tech Bites

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Music can be an important ingredient to any dining experience and expressing the point-of-view of the house. In some cases, music and million-dollar DJ’s eclipse the food and chef. In this episode, in-studio guests DJ Timka and Chef Laurent Gras, discuss current trends and music tech, and their collaboration on music for the dinning room of three-star Michelin L2O.

“The only downside to live streaming is if your internet goes down, you’re in trouble.” [09:00]

–DJ Timka on Tech Bites

“Music has a very positive energy. If you use it as a compliment to your experience it’s great for consumers and customers.” 12:00

–Laurent Gras on Tech Bites

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