The Spoon Podcast

We're back after a summer hiatus and are back this week with a food tech news wrap-up. This week Michael Wolf and Allen Weiner talk about:

Trader Joe's says no to self check out

The continuing decline of plant-based meat sales

Academics are worried about implications for AI and automation on family meal

A 20 year success story: Mini Melts selling 30 million ice creams a year through its kiosks

Starship continues to grow, deploying sidewalk robots to 50 universities

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.

Andrew Simmons is an open book.

When the long-time entrepreneur decided to buy a restaurant in 2020, little did he know that in just a few months he would be forced to close his doors due to COVID. 

But instead of giving up, he had to get creative and, after surviving the pandemic, he kept on tinkering, trying to figure out how new technology could make his restaurant more efficient. 

During this whole experience, Andrew has been documenting his journey via posts on Linkedin and on a blog. As he reinvents his restaurant through technology, he talks about what works and what doesn't, providing a potential blueprint for other operators who are thinking about how technology could change their business. 

During this podcast, Andrew and Mike talk about:

• How the installation of a pizza robot from Picnic completely changed how he does business
• How one piece of game-changing technology, like a pizza robot, forces other changes and adoption of new technology throughout the restaurant's work flow
• The impact of new technology on his unit price for pizzas 
• How analytics software helped him realize his dine-in business was not profitable and how it changed his thinking about how he ran his restaurant
• How he was forced to rethink how he used employees through the use of technology and how the employees (and former employees) have reacted
• His pizza subscription concept and how he believes it can help him pay for opening new restaurants
• Andrew's plans to launch a 100 unit restaurant chain built using off-the-shelf restaurant technology

If you are considering using technology such as robotics for your restaurant, this episode is a must-listen!

 

 

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In this week's podcast, we talk food and AI with Evan Rapoport. Over the past decade, Evan has led teams in Google Research and other organizations looking at how AI could impact biodiversity and change. During our conversation, we talk about a project called Tidal, in which he and Google used AI technology like computer vision and applied it to aquaculture. We also discuss the impact of AI more broadly on the food system and how Evan thinks newer technology like generative AI might have an impact sooner than we think on the world of food.

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When you think of the kitchen of the future, do you envision a 3D food printer instantly whipping up a dinner or a snack?

While the crazy idea might not happen tomorrow, if life follows the path of science fiction (as it often does), there's a good chance a food printer will be sitting on our kitchen counter in 10 or 20 years.

If we're going to get there, this week's guest Jonathan Blutinger might have something to do with it. Jonathan is a 3D food and software-defined cooking researcher who is trying to envision what this future world of cooking looks like.

In the podcast, we talk about

• How Jonathan got started exploring future cooking technologies
• What is laser-cooking and how does it pair with 3D food printing
• How the current state of the 3D food printing ecosystem compares to other industries like digital music
• The difference between printing sweet vs savory products
• Will consumers ever accept the idea of 3D printed food?
• And lots more!

Enjoy this week's podcast and we'll see you next week!

 

 

 

 

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As a child, Oliver Zahn was a self-described "mathy" kid who had a fascination with how the world worked. This early interest in the mechanics of the universe would lead him to the study astrophysics and embark on a career that would land him at one of the world's top universities teaching cosmology.

But as Zahn went on to become a world-recognized astrophysicist and cosmologist who would also work at places like SpaceX and Google, his interest in another childhood interest - food - continued to grow, especially as he realized the potential of complex mathematical models to effect change in the food system.

That realization led him to found Climax Foods, a company using artificial intelligence models to discover new, more sustainable plant-based ingredients that can replace those derived from animals. 

In the episode, Zahn talks about this journey from astrophysicist to future food entrepreneur and the work Climax has done using AI to create cheese with plant-based ingredients. 

Podcast Timeline: 

How did you get into the field of food? (3:01)   Transitioning from Google and tech to Climax (7:28)   The cold start problem in artificial intelligence (11:49)   Tackling dairy in a holistic way (18:18)   Building a consumer brand company vs platform company (22:30)   The opportunity for future food companies (25:42)   Can generative ai be used to create future foods? (29:15)

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This week we catch up with Wired's Joe Ray. Here at The Spoon we're fans of Joe's kitchen reviews, where he cuts to the quick and tells the reader exactly why he or she should (or shouldn't) buy a product. 

In this episode, we take a look back at how Joe got started in food, why he picked up one day and went to France to become a writer, his tutelage under the famous restaurant reviewer François Simon, and his approach to kitchen technology journalism.

We also talk about the current state of kitchen tech and the smart kitchen and where we see it all going.

Enjoy!

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In this podcast interview, Mike catches up with SideChef's Kevin Yu in the wake of the company's recent funding round to discuss the evolution of SideChef and the smart kitchen market.

A lot has happened since Mike and Kevin first met on the roof deck of a restaurant at SXSW, so they reminisce about old times, talk about the cyclical nature of innovation, and how AI will impact the connected kitchen space. Kevin shares SideChef's AI strategy, his plans for the company, and where he thinks this is all going.  

Podcast Outline:

Introduction: (00:00)

-Host: Michael Wolf

-Guest: Kevin Yu, CEO and founder of SideChef

Early days and the birth of SideChef (02:29)

SideChef's recent funding round (03:15)

The evolution of SideChef (05:42)

Plans for the future (07:30)

Expansion of SideChef platform into computer vision and machine vision (10:34)

Collaborating with Bacardi (12:36)

The state of the connected kitchen space (15:59)

Overcoming challenges in the industry (17:00)

The potential of shoppable recipes and future innovations [20:53]

Cyclical nature of innovation and the role of AI [23:02]

 

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Are VCs still hungry for food robotics investments?

We ask S2G's Arthur Chow and Vebu Labs' Buck Jordan what their thoughts are on the food automation landscape.

In this podcast we ask:

• The current investment climate for food automation
• Why founders should consider monetizing on their vision soon through incremental releases of products
• The roll-up opportunity for investors
• Alternative forms of financing for food robotics founders
• Whether we will see a food robotics unicorn

You can watch the video of this session on The Spoon here.

 

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Do you know what DeSci is?

If you don't, don't feel bad, especially if, like me, food is your primary focus.

A16Z's publication Future describes DeSci as a movement in which "a growing number of scientists and entrepreneurs are leveraging blockchain tools, including smart contracts and tokens, in an attempt to improve modern science. Collectively, their work has become known as the decentralized science movement, or DeSci."

If you're like me and are just learning about DeSci, the reason for that is that while it's a trend that's caught the attention of the biotech and research funding worlds, it hasn't made its way into the future food conversation just yet. 

But it's only a matter of time, so I figure there's no better time to learn. To help us do that, our guest for this episode of The Spoon Podcast is Dr. Jocelynn Pearl, a biotech scientist, entrepreneur, and podcaster. 

In this episode of the podcast, we discuss the following:

• What is DeSci?
• How DeSci is changing the insular and outdated world of research publishing
• The benefits of using Web3 tools like DAOs, blockchain, and NFTs in science research
• Why DeSci hasn't yet reached the future food industry just yet and why that may soon change
• What the future of science research may look like with these types of tools

If you'd like to hear more from Jocelynn, you can find her podcast, the Lady Scientist Podcast, and read some of her writing on her website.

As mentioned in the episode, we are having an event next week on the state of food robotics, and we'd love for you to join us. So get your free ticket here. 

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Our special guest is Scott Heimendinger for our weekly food tech news wrapup. 

Scott is a long-time kitchen tech inventor and entrepreneur who is currently building his next big thing.

In this episode, we discuss the following stories:

• Tovala intro's new oven
• Why all the sourdough tech now? Do we need tech to make us better bakers?
• Good and bad way to use generative AI with food 
• CloudChef Wants to Capture a Chef’s Knowledge in Software to Recreate High-Quality Cuisine Anywhere
• Facebook wants us to let us know we're out of milk via our AR glasses. This is ok, but how can AR be made actually really useful?

  As always, you can find more Spoon Podcasts at our website or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app. 

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