The Spoon Podcast

This week, the Spoon crew got together to discuss some of the big stories of the week on a new weekly video news show we’re launching called The Food Tech News Show.

The stories Carlos Rodela and I discuss include:

You can watch the full show on YouTube, or listen to it on the Spoon podcast.

And, if you’d like to watch next week’s Food Tech News Show, join us on March 22nd at 1 PM Pacific on Streamyard, Twitter, or on our YouTube channel.

Music from #Uppbeat 

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Over the past decade, Fresco has been building technology that helps appliance and housewares brands to create smart kitchen products.

The journey for Fresco started when the company - then known as Drop - created a connected kitchen scale. After finding success selling its scale in the Apple store and other locations, the company started working with other brands to help provide enabling technology to power their smart kitchen solutions. 

Fast-forward to today, and Fresco is now working with some of the world's biggest kitchen brands, including Panasonic and Viking, to help them build out their smart kitchen solutions.

To hear about this journey, we welcome Anthony Sullivan, the Chief Product Officer for Fresco, to the podcast. 

On the podcast, host Michael Wolf talks with Anthony about:

• The journey from a consumer product company to a platform company
• Building software for appliance brands
• The evolution of the mindset of appliance companies around creating solutions that enable cross-brand connectivity
• The challenges of getting consumers to adopt more tech-forward solutions in the kitchen
• And lots more!

You can learn more about Fresco at www.frescocooks.com 

If you are interested connecting with Fresco and other kitchen tech companies, you'll want to be at the Smart Kitchen Summit on June 4-5th in Seattle. Use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets at checkout.

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Around 2009, Ralph Newhouse's company hunted down excess inventory of small electrics and would re-sell them into the secondary market. However, it wasn't long before Newhouse realized he wanted to make his own appliances, and that's when the Chefman we know today was born.

Newhouse wasn't done. As he and Chefman started to see how new connected products made their way into the market over the past decade, he realized he wanted to create a brand around more tech-forward connected products, and that thinking led to the creation of ChefIQ, a startup within a startup focused on the smart kitchen.

In this conversation, Newhouse talks about this journey, why he decided to create a separate company for his connected products, and where he sees the future of the connected kitchen going. 

And...for those interested new products, we have a couple reveals by Ralph in this podcast that are heard for the first time. 

Have a listen!

For those interested in checking out where the future kitchen is going, you'll want to be at the Smart Kitchen Summit on June 4-5th in Seattle. Use discount PODCAST at checkout for 15% off tickets.

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Ty Thompson and the rest of the Ovie team recently passed a major milestone: They shipped their first piece of hardware.

The product, a consumer food waste management system, was over half a decade in the making. Along the way to market, the founding team faced numerous challenges around funding, finalizing the product concept and design, building prototypes for manufacturing, and finding the right manufacturer to work with.

Ty talks about all of these challenges and the lessons learned, including:

-Battling mission creep around the product's vision

-How to find the right minimum viable product to get it into production

-What you need to do (and what you shouldn't do) when looking to find the right manufacturing partner

-How to balance your life and your day job while hustling to build a startup

And much more. 

Ovie will be at Smart Kitchen Summit, so if you like what you hear and want to connect with the team in person, get your ticket at www.smartkitchensummit.com.

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Chris Young is one of the most provocative and interesting thinkers in the future of food and cooking, so any time he visits The Spoon podcast we learn a lot.

This time was no exception. 

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, we talk about:

• How he has put AI compute into something as small as a thermometer 
• Where he thinks generative AI and other AI is going in the food and cooking space
• How he thinks big companies should approach the AI era 
• Why he's back creating content for Youtube and other channels again
• And much more!

Chris will be back at Smart Kitchen Summit this summer in Seattle, so if you're interested in seeing him there or learning more, head to www.smartkitchensummit.com.

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Food delivery through underground tubes?

Sounds crazy, but it's already happening today, and Pipedream's Garrett McCurrach thinks it just may be the future of delivery.

We catch up with Garrett just a week after they announced their first pilot in the Atlanta suburbs, where they have built a system that delivers food and other items underground for nearly a mile.

During this podcast we talk about how Garrett came up with the idea, what it was like to showcase the system to Jeff Bezos, how the company is working with fast food restaurants to rethink drive-thru pickup and what he sees for the future of underground delivery. 

As always, like or subscribe if you haven't already. 

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This week SuperGut CEO Marc Washington joins the podcast to talk about why new GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are keeping CPG brand CEOs up at night.

These new drugs, which got their start as a new class of pharmaceuticals that help contol type 2 diabetes, have become very popular in recent years as weight loss drug. They are hugely effective in suppressing appetites and reducing the overall calorie intake of those taking them, so much so that some speculate that they could have a significant impact on overall demand for food if, as predicted, tens of millions begin to take them in coming years as the price comes down and more accessible formats (i.e. not shots) become available. 

 Marc thinks a lot about these drugs because his company, SuperGut, creates a natural alternative to GLP-1 drugs in the form of supplements, snacks and bars. His journey to leading the company was born out of both a personal loss as well as a chance meeting with Dave Friedberg, the CEO of The Production Board. 

You can learn more about Super Gut on their website.

And a quick plug before we go: The Spoon is heading up the food tech conference at CES, the world's biggest technology expo. If you'd like to become involved as a sponsor, just fill out this form and we'll be in touch!

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In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, we welcome Ari Tulla, CEO of Elo Health.

Ari got his start in tech working for mobile giant Nokia, where he helped lead the company's mobile app studio. 

However, after his wife experienced a health scare in the late 2000s, Ari decided to turn his attention to the broken health system and built what he describes as a "search engine for doctors."

After he sold that company, he began to think about how the explosion in personal data using wearables and other inputs could help pave a way for food as medicine and personalized nutrition. That journey eventually led to the creation of Elo Health, a company that uses AI to power a personalized nutrition and supplement platform. 

Ari will be joining The Spoon and others at the Food AI Summit on October 25th to discuss his journey. If you want to connect with Ari personally (and try an Elo Health personalized supplement!), join us in Alameda. Use the discount code PODCAST for 25% off tickets. 

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We're back after a couple weeks off to wrap up some of the top stories of the week. 

Mike and Allen talk about these stories:

• Wonder acquires Blue Apron
• Scentian wants to replicate insect smell capability using AI and sensors
• Video from Serve Robotics leads to arrest and conviction 
• Tesla has broken ground on  its Drive In Theater and Diner 

Our Food AI Summit is in just three and a half weeks. Use discount code PODCAST to get 25% off of tickets!

The Spoon is back for another week of food tech news, and this week Michael Wolf and Allen Weiner talk about what's going on in the smart kitchen, alt protein, CRISPR and more.

Here are the stories we talk about:

• Samsung and LG play nice in the kitchen, and Samsung launches food app. 
• MOTO Pizza, where you wait a month for your pizza order, is crazy about Picnic's pizza robot
• Pairwise reups partnership with Bayer for CRISPR-based innovation
• GFI says plant-based meat sales were up in 2022
• DoorDash is bringing AI to their apps and call centers

As mentioned in the show, the Spoon is once again leading the charge for food tech at CES, the world’s biggest tech show. If you are interested in showcasing your future food or food tech innovation, head over to The Spoon’s CES page for more info.

Also, on October 25th, we’ll be bringing leaders at the intersection of food and AI together for a day of conversation. Please use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets to the Food AI Summit.