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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Catherine Lamb

Harvie’s Customizeable D2C Farm Sales Platform Could Help Local Growers Survive

Connecticut farm Farmer Joe‘s Gardens announced today it is partnering with Harvie, an online farm share platform, to pivot and serve people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pittsburgh, PA-based Harvie connects people online with local farm shares, also known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs). By using its service, Farmer Joe’s Gardens can specialize its CSA boxes based on individuals’ preferences. “For 10 years, we’ve packed a standard box of food for each member regardless of what they like and what they don’t like,” Farmer Joe noted in a press release. “We now have the technology that allows us to customize each box, so we make sure each member gets what they want.”

Going forward, Farmer Joe’s Gardens will go onto Harvie’s platform and enter a list of all its available crops. At its core, Harvie is a D2C sales platform connecting small farmers with local consumers. Harvie’s algorithm will match the crops to each member’s preferences to optimize their order, which can be one-time or a subscription box, like a CSA. It sends the lineup to the customer, who has 24 to 48 hours to make changes and order extras from the farm, like milk or eggs. Harvie then sends the optimized order back to Farmer Joe’s Gardens, which takes care of the fulfillment and delivery.

To be clear, Harvie does not actually grow any crops itself — it just manages farm share subscriptions for agricultural producers. According to Harvie’s CEO Simon Huntley, who spoke with me earlier today, the service’s real value-add is in its personalization feature. “The original CSA box is just farmers throwing whatever they have in a box,” he said. “We’re helping farms provide customization at scale.” Harvie also handles any customer service requests and provides add-ons, like recipe recommendations and storage tips.

Farmer Joe’s is a hyper-regional example, but overall Harvie — or services like it — could be key to help local farms survive through the coronavirus pandemic. In a time when small farmers are struggling to stay afloat with COVID-19 shutting down farmers markets and restaurants who typically purchase farm-grown food, growers are looking for new ways to get their products into the hands of consumers. Optimizing D2C sales, like CSAs, could make the difference between surviving the growing season and having to fold completely.

Thankfully for farmers, the popularity of CSAs is actually on the rise. According to Yelp, sales of farm shares have risen a whopping 405 percent since the beginning of March. But in order to make it through this crisis, farmers will have to make sure that folks who sign up for CSA continue their membership. Having a customized produce offering could go a long way in maintaining customer loyalty. As a bonus, personalized CSAs could help cut down on food waste, since people aren’t stuck with a basket of produce they don’t like or know how to prepare.

Thus far Harvie works with 150 small farms in the U.S. and Canada. According to their website, Harvie member farms see an average increase in retention rates of 15-20 percent. According to Huntley, the coronavirus pandemic has actually helped sales for their growers — Harvie farmer’s sales are up almost 200 percent. He also noted that they’re seeing an increase in farmers signing up for the platform. “We’re in the right place at the right time.”

To work with Harvie, farms pay a $500 setup fee and a 7 percent transaction fee on all farm share purchases. Harvie also takes a small percentage of credit card sales.

That cost is not insignificant, especially if you’re a local farmer struggling to stay operational. But with markets and restaurants closed, or at least drastically reduced, CSAs are the only way forward for many farmers. If services like Harvie can help them gain a larger swath of loyal customers, even just to get through the pandemic, it’s likely worth the fee.

When It Comes to Food, What Compromises Will We Make in the Age of COVID-19?

This weekend I went to my favorite neighborhood coffee shop and, just like always, reflexively brought along my takeaway mug. But when I got there I saw the signs that — duh — coffee shops aren’t using takeaway mugs anymore in an attempt to cut down on potential contamination. So I got my coffee in a paper cup and, once outside, poured it into my own mug so that it would be easier for travel.

That interaction got me thinking: with restaurants shifting from dine-in to all takeout and delivery, what will the toll be on packaging? Americans already throw out a staggering amount of food and beverage to-go containers, most of which ends up in a landfill. It’s too early to see any new data from the past few weeks, but I’m willing to bet that that number is increasing.

Really, we’re between a rock and a hard place: on one hand I want to support my local restaurants and cafés however I can, which, right now, means ordering takeout. At the same time I feel guilty when I end up throwing away a clamshell container, cutlery, napkins, and a cup and plastic straw every time I get a veggie taco meal with a drink to go.

This quandary brings up a bigger question that will only grow as we continue into the great unknown of post-COVID-19 life: what are we willing to sacrifice? The question applies to several sectors of the food world.

Grocery. Ordering groceries for delivery has the benefit of convenience and brings less risk of contamination. However, if you’re ordering from Instacart or Amazon, you’re supporting an enterprise that doesn’t necessarily take care of its workers the way it should.

On top of that, you might not be able to get exactly what you want, when you want it. Our own Chris Albrecht wrote about his not-entirely-pleasant experience with online grocery delivery, which was both “misleading” and “confusing.”

Food delivery. If you want to support local restaurants/eat delicious food that you don’t have to cook yourself but aren’t leaving the house, food delivery is an easy option. But as our resident restaurant expert Jenn Marston wrote, delivery is not without its fair share of compromise. Third-party delivery services often take large percentages of each sale from restaurants, despite deals that they’re implementing in the face of COVID-19. They’re also notorious for treating drivers poorly.

However, if you’re trying to really do the social distancing thing or are in quarantine, delivery might be one of your few viable options for feeding yourself.

Health. If you’re working from home right now, like most of us are, staying healthy might be a real struggle. Snacking is all too easy when your pantry is right there all the time and filled with dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

Admittedly, eating healthy is likely not the highest priority for a lot of folks right now. And there are tools that you can use to help stick to a balanced diet, if that’s a goal for you right now. But if this crisis lasts significantly longer and people are stuck eating canned foods and takeout with nary a fresh vegetable in sight, we could start having another health crisis on our hands.

Image via Blue Bottle.

Packaging. As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, single-use packaging for food is a humongous issue plaguing our planet. Before ish hit the fan with coronavirus, a crop of companies were stepping up to reduce their waste. Sweetgreen and Chipotle were rolling out fully compostable to-go containers with no “forever” chemicals. Pre-prepped meal delivery services like Daily Harvest were also transitioning to compostable packaging. These companies are hopefully still moving forward, but other initiatives, like Blue Bottle’s drive to transition to all-reusable cups by 2020, are likely put on pause.

What’s next?

For now, people are going to prioritize feeding themselves and their families — packaging and ethics are not necessarily the highest concern. Nor they should they be. But I have to wonder: will these questions start to factor in again once things go back to normal?

The truth is we don’t know when things will return to the way they were — or what parts of the meal journey will be permanently altered. Will we go back to our old balance of dining in and takeaway? Will we continue to order out more since many folks have struggled with unemployment and thus have less spending power? How many restaurants will even survive to reopen?

The scary answer is, we don’t know. But you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be here to report on the shifting food space throughout the coronavirus pandemic — with a cup of to-go coffee in our hands.

Frontline Foods is a Grassroots Org. Delivering Food from Local Restaurants to Hospital Workers

Many of us are wondering what we can do to help during the coronavirus pandemic. We can order takeout from our favorite local restaurants and applaud hospital workers, but, at least for me, it feels like I should be doing more.

At least one initiative has sprung up to help both restaurants and medical professionals. Frontline Foods is a donation-based platform that purchases and delivers food from local restaurants to hospital workers fighting COVID-19. One of the organizers, Joel Wishkovsky, came up with the idea just a few weeks ago (it feels like eons ago!) and started a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy food from local restaurants with which to feed hospital workers.

Pretty soon, he started to see folks in other cities working on similar initiatives. So he founded FrontlineFoods.org as a platform to centralize the grassroots efforts. “We provide tools, processes, and national funding for all of these local chapters,” Wishkovsky told me over the phone yesterday.

Less than two weeks in and Frontline Foods has already raised over $700,000 and delivered over 7,000 meals to healthcare workers. So far Frontline Foods is currently available in nine urban areas, from Austin, TX to Silicon Valley. You can donate to your local city or choose to donate nationally, in which case the organization itself will decide where to allocate the funds. Local restaurants apply to become part of Frontline Foods’ network, and all food is delivered either by the restaurant itself or by volunteers.

Today Frontline Foods announced its partnership with the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK), helmed by celebrity chef José Andres. WCK typically drops chefs in to feed hungry people in disaster-stricken areas. But in this crisis, Wishkovsky said that WCK was looking for a way to help the disaster that is supporting a restaurant during COVID-19. WCK will provide 501C3 backing for Frontline Foods and help them vet restaurant partners.

No Frontline Foods branch in your city? Don’t fret. You can also take initiative and petition to start your own chapter locally as long as you’re comfortable with putting together a team and leading fundraising (admittedly no small task).

If you want to do something a little less involved but still help out, you can also donate to Frontline Foods here.

New Study Puts Cell-based Beef Grown on Soy Scaffolding to the Test

A study published today in the scientific journal Nature Food outlines a new way to give cell-based meat a realistic, well, meaty texture. In the study, which was authored by researchers from Israeli cultured meat company Aleph Farms and the Technion Institute of Technology, Israel, describe tests of a new 3D scaffold made of soy protein on which animal tissue can be grown. (Thanks for the tip, CNET.)

The scientists tested out the scaffold with bovine cells to create a sample that looked like beef muscle tissue. The scaffold is porous, which gives the animal cells space to latch on and grow their own interweaving matrix of tissue. It’s also edible and, since it’s made from soy, provides additional protein. Tasters in the study noted that the final product accurately mimicked the texture of beef and had a “meaty flavour.”

For those who don’t nerd out studying next-gen alternative protein, texture is one of the biggest hurdles facing consumer adoption of cell-based meat. Scientists may already be able to grow muscle and fat tissues, but putting them together in a way that emulates the texture of meat is a much trickier issue. That’s why most of the samples of cultured meat and seafood displayed during culinary demos thus far — shrimp dumplings from Shiok Meats, chicken nuggets from JUST, and beef burgers from Mosa Meat — have the texture of ground meat.

However, companies and scientists around the world are experimenting with new ways to grow animal tissue cells. Aleph Farms, whose researchers helped write the aforementioned study, has successfully grown cell-based steak, albeit in very thin cuts. Memphis Meats’ technology allows it to grow pretty realistic-looking cuts of cultured chicken. Atlast Foods uses mycelium (mushrooms roots) to create edible scaffolds on which to grow muscle cuts like beef. Researchers are also experimenting with materials like spinach, gelatin, and even LEGOs as cultured meat scaffolding material.

We’re still likely several years from tasting cell-based meat ourselves, no matter the texture. Before it can hit the U.S. market, cultured meat has to gain regulatory approval from both the FDA and the USDA — and we don’t know if the timeline might be slowed down by the current global pandemic. Looking on the bright side: maybe that equates to more time for researchers to continue to solve the cultured meat texture problem.

Food Tech News: Craigslist for Local Beer, Contactless Food Delivery and Groceries

The world keeps on spinning, the food tech news keeps on coming. Despite the fact that everything is turned upside down by COVID-19 we’ll keep bringing you weekly updates on the food tech news front — and now you’ve got plenty of time to catch up on it. 😉

This week we’ve got stories about how to track down local beer when taprooms close, Sysco donating meals, and contactless food delivery.

Untapped launches brewery resource app

Want to track down your favorite local beer, even though its taproom is closed? Untappd, a beer rating app, just launched an in-app feature called Gregslist which lists the ways to support local restaurants and breweries in the U.S. (via Food&Wine). Users can search by venue name or look to see what’s available nearby. Each listing notes if the brewery is open, taking pickup, delivery, or curbside orders, or accepting gift cards. All data listed in Greglist is crowdsourced from Untappd users with edits by the Untappd team.

Photo: Kroger

Kroger converts one store to “pickup-only”

This week Kroger converted one of its grocery stores in the Cincinnati area to “pickup only” service. The store is taking orders from 8am to 8pm. According to GroceryDive, Kroger is testing this new format to meet skyrocketing consumer demand for alternative shopping methods, specifically those that reduce contact between people. Thus far this is the first and only store to pilot pickup-only service, but the grocery chain may roll the format out to more locations if successful.

Photo: Food Panda, one of Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero starts contact-less food delivery

Delivery Hero, a food delivery service based in Berlin, is now doing cashless, contact-less delivery in areas that it defines as “high risk” for COVID-19. The company is also requesting that restaurants sanitize their to-go packaging. This move could soon spread to Delivery Hero’s other brands which operate in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Data-driven Winery Winc Raises Over $5.3M in Equity Crowdfunding

D2C winery Winc’s equity crowdfunding campaign Winc Shares is closing today. The company launched Winc Shares on the platform SeedInvest in August of 2019 to raise its Series D funding round. At the time of this writing, the campaign had seven hours left to go and had raised $5.3 million.

If you’re not familiar, Winc is a winery that develops blends based off consumer data and trends. It sells D2C through tailored wine subscriptions, and also supplies its wine to over 4,400 retail and wholesale accounts. Prior to launching the Shares program Winc had raised $41.6 million.

The minimum investment for Winc Shares is $999 per investor. Each level includes perks of Winc credits and bottles of wine. With its new crowdfunded capital, Winc will launch a new “clean wine” brand as well as a line of saké over the next year. On its site, the company also states that it will acquire its first wine company in Q2 of 2020.

Equity crowdfunding has become a bit of a trend for startup companies in the food and drink world. GoSun, Small Robot Company, Miso Robotics, Mealthy and GOffee have all launched their own crowdfunding campaigns to let regular people buy a piece of their company. Winc’s campaign is one of the bigger and more successful, second in scope only to Miso, which is hoping to raise a whopping $30 million Series C round through equity crowdfunding (its campaign is ongoing).

Equity crowdfunding appeals to startups who want greater control over their destiny. If they get all their money from individuals, they won’t be beholden to the intense pressures that can come with VCs — though that means they also don’t get the connections and advice that comes from working alongside venture firms. Considering that Winc’s whole shtick is that it makes wine geared towards the palates of everyday people, not wine critics, it makes sense that the startup would choose to go the equity crowdfunding route.

One thing to note: the recent COVID-19 outbreak is throwing a wrench into the entire food and drink ecosystem, affecting everyone from farmers to restauranteurs. It’s too soon to tell if the coronavirus will negatively affect Winc specifically. But one thing’s for sure: Winc’s campaign is ending none too soon. With so many people losing their jobs, equity crowdfunding may be one of the areas that struggles in our new COVID reality.

Like Local Farms? You Better Step Up Now or They’re Going to Disappear

Certain food sources, like e-commerce grocery sites and meal kit companies, are seeing a boost in sales in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, many parts of the world are shuttering farmers markets and restaurants, eliminating key revenue sources for local farmers. So how can those farmers survive in our new coronavirus reality?

Unfortunately, it won’t be easy. Small farmers make a significant chunk of their money from these markets or selling to restaurants — which, as you’ve probably noticed, are also struggling. The numbers are discouraging: Civil Eats pointed to an analysis of the impacts of COVID-19, predicting a $689 million decline in sales from March to May 2020 for farmers who sell at local markets. It’s especially tricky for farmers who sell perishable goods, like eggs and produce, which might go bad while their sales channels are blocked.

Some farmers and supporters are fighting back by making a petition to designate farmers markets in areas like Seattle, where they’ve been shut down, as essential. I think that makes sense. People are already shopping shoulder-to-shoulder in grocery stores, way closer together than six feet. Arguably, it’s less dangerous from a public health standpoint for them to shop outside in the open air?

One solution for farmers could be to move towards selling more CSAs, or Community Supported Agriculture. With a CSA, individuals can buy a share in a farm’s output, which is delivered either to their door or a pick-up point, usually once a week. It’s a way to continue to get local produce and support farmers without having to risk cross-contamination in a farmers market, if those are even still available. Clearly people are interested — according to Yelp, deliveries of CSAs have gone up 405 percent in March.

Certain online platforms are also facilitating online sale of local foods. MilkRun in Portland, Oregon, for example, is an online marketplace connecting people with local farms in their area. MilkRun’s CEO and Founder Julia Niiro told me that the company’s orders have increased more than 6 times since the start of the crisis with “no signs of them slowing down” as farmers markets close. Even if you aren’t in the Portland area, Niiro is urging diners to buy from local farmers wherever they can. “If you want to be able to get beautiful, local food at any restaurant after this crisis is over, you need to buy directly from small farmers now,” she told me.

Restaurants are also thinking of creative ways to support farmers. Naked Farmer in Tampa Bay, Florida, which was slated to open its doors this April, has instead pivoted to open a digital farmers market. People can order locally-sourced foods through either the Naked Farmer website or UberEats, and can get their orders at a pick-up zone or via delivery. In Seattle, Eric Rivera, who’s been especially innovative in the face of COVID-19, is partnering with local farmers to sell bags of locally grown vegetables for pickup at his restaurant. Diners can also add it onto their delivery order from his restaurant, Addo.

Some existing online farm-to-diner sites are struggling to keep up with the sudden explosion in demand. UK-based platform Farmdrop, a service that delivers food from farmers to Brits’ doorsteps, has had to limit its drop-off days. When I checked the site earlier today, I saw a note that they are “at capacity and unable to take any further orders for the current days available,” but would be opening new slots soon. In the U.S., local farmed food delivery service Hungry Harvest has also had to pause new signups due to an increase in orders.

That’s an encouraging sign that people want to support local farmers and buy their goods. It also shows that we need more services connecting consumers to farmers and facilitating purchases and delivery. And soon.

Small farmers are already struggling to survive for a myriad of reasons — if we don’t find ways to sell their produce, or give them a significant bailout, we could be looking at a future with significantly fewer farmers markets and locally-grown food. And that’s not a future I want to eat in.

Minnow Adds Disinfecting UV Lights to No-Contact Food Pickup Pods

Earlier this month, Minnow announced that it had installed its IoT-connected cubbies for food deliveries in seven locations in Portland, Oregon. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seattle-based startup just announced it will be taking extra steps to make its Pickup Pods safer and contaminant-free.

Chiefly, the company is adding UV lights to the interior of its cubbies to sterilize any food containers placed inside. However, we should note, while UV light does have the ability to kill some bacteria and viruses, it’s not 100 percent proven that it protects against the coronavirus.

Contactless food pickup, like Minnow offers, is already useful in a time when we’re trying to avoid touching things as much as possible (including our faces). For those who aren’t familiar with their technology: Minnow installs their pods, which contain 20 individual insulated cubbies, in public spaces like office buildings, apartments, and universities. Residents can pre-order lunch from a rotating menu of local restaurants via text or through the mobile web, then Minnow batches the orders and has them delivered all at once by one of their drivers.

The driver places each meal in an individual cubby and texts folks when their order is ready. Customers can then tap a hyperlink on their smart phone (no need to touch a screen on the actual Pod) to open the cubby’s automatic doors and grab their lunch.

According to an email from the company, Minnow has processed 4,000 food orders thus far. That’s significant, but currently most of Minnow’s pods are in office buildings. At a time when more and more people are being directed to work from home, that’s not exactly good for business.

However, a Minnow representative told me that the company is currently in talks with residential buildings about installing pods, which can be set up in as little as an hour and are totally turnkey (the company provides hardware, software, and support). Spaces lease them out for a monthly fee.

If folks continue to stay at home — and at this point, it looks like we’re going to be social distancing for a while — I could see services like Minnow’s pods gaining a foothold in apartment buildings as resident managers grow weary of coordinating delivery drivers coming in and out of the building.

There’s an obvious appeal for consumers. Even if delivery drivers drop off food at your doorstep, you still don’t know for sure if the container is sanitary, or how many people touched it on its way to your home. If you live in an apartment building, where you have to leave your home and go outside to get your order, that adds even more opportunities for contamination. Placing food in pods like Minnow’s, where they’re promptly disinfected by UV light, adds an extra layer of security that I imagine many people would welcome.

This might all sound over the top right now, especially since people are still allowed to go out and grocery shop and do takeout from their local restaurants (which you should do if you can!) But we don’t know how long COVID-19 will last. If quarantine measures escalate and paranoia around contamination grows, contactless and sanitizing tech like Minnow’s could be a helpful option for those hungry for food delivery.

These Coffee Bean Delivery Sites Will Help You Get Your Java Fix During Quarantine

Maybe you used to get your coffee at work. Or at a local café on your way into the office. Now that we’re supposed to be working (and staying) at home, how do you get your daily java fix?

Of course, there are plenty of coffee brewing devices out there, ranging from the simple to the high-tech and complex. No doubt you already have at least one kicking around your home.

But one crucial aspect for your home coffee routine that you will need to keep purchasing, quarantine or no, is the beans themselves. Sure, you could pick some up from your local grocery store, provided you’re comfortable doing that and don’t mind picking from whatever’s left on the shelves. Or order your beans via Instacart.

However, for those who seek a more adventurous rotation of beans — or can’t find artisanal beans at their local stores — there are plenty of delivery services happy to help you out. Here’s a list of coffee bean delivery sites that will mail curated packages of beans right to your door.

Photo: Crema
  • Mistobox can mail you over 500 coffee bean blends sourced from more than 50 roasters. Fill out a short survey and the service will suggest specific beans for you, or you can choose your own. Subscriptions to Mistobox start at $10.95 a month and can be delivered every one, two, three, or four weeks.
  • Trade Coffee asks you to complete a short quiz then recommends beans specialized to your tastes. You can either purchase the coffee through Trade or sign up for a subscription service to deliver beans ever one, two, or three weeks. Bonus: Right now Trade will donate $2 from every first purchase to support roaster employees. You can also leave tips for employees directly through their GoFundMe page.
  • Atlas Coffee Club is for java drinkers that want to take a (virtual) tour around the world — something that might be extra appealing now that we’re all stuck at home. Members of their coffee of the month club receive monthly shipments of beans, each sourced from a particular country. You can also buy beans directly on their site.
  • Passion House Coffee is a good option for coffee snobs (hi, it’s me!), especially if they’re having a hard time finding artisanal beans as coffee shops shut their doors. The company roasts each bag of beans themselves so they have absolute control over flavor and freshness. Bonus: They also deliver cans of cold brew!
  • Crema offers a short survey to guide you to a list of coffee beans, sourced from over 40 roasters, tailored to your taste and brew method. Coffees can be shipped every couple of days, weeks, or monthly. You can also buy 5-pound bags of beans if you’re going through a lot right now. Bonus: In response to COVID-19, Crema is currently knocking $1 off of every bag of coffee.
  • Counter Culture Coffee offers bags of beans available for individual purchase or subscription. It’s a single roaster, so you can get direct information about the source and processing of each roast and blend. You can also buy 5-pound bags if you want to stock up.
  • Just Coffee is a good option if you’re trying to prioritize ethical sourcing right now. The company is super transparent about their farmers and the environmental impact of each bag of coffee. You can buy single bags or sign up for a subscription.
  • If you have a favorite local roaster, you can also head directly to their website to see if they ship (they probably do). Support local!

It’s not much, but during this time when everything seems uncertain and like kind of a bummer, it’s nice to know you can count on getting something you love and rely on — like coffee beans — delivered right to you. Sometimes it’s the small things, you know?

Sourdough Bread is Taking over Instagram Right Now

If you’ve scrolled through Instagram lately, you’ve probably noticed a sudden uptick in people posting about their #quarantinelife baked goods. But one in particular has people Insta-bragging like never before: sourdough bread.

Really, it makes so much sense that people are hopping on the sourdough bread train. Making it requires very few inputs (just flour and water), but also demands frequent care throughout a day — the kneading, proofing, and baking process takes around 24 hours total. But the end results are utterly delicious, even for inexperienced bakers. And bonus, you don’t have to go to the grocery store and risk contamination to get your bread!

As with many things in our digitally connected life — like workouts, beauty tutorials, and more — people feel the need to share their baking exploits on Instagram. In fact there are 2.7 million posts tagged #sourdough on the ‘gram right now. The fact that NYT Cooking’s lead newsletter story this week was about making your own sourdough means that we’ll likely be seeing a lot more #artisanbread posts coming our way over the next few weeks.

My first attempt at sourdough bread. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Being a good millennial, I had to try my hand at sourdough this week. I’d gotten a starter from a friend which had laid dormant in my fridge. A few days of feeding later, plus an intensive 24 hours of kneading, resting, and proofing near the heater in my bedroom, and I had two pretty good loaves of sourdough!

Did I share it on Instagram? Of course I did. And I got comments back of people sending me their own photos of sourdough, focaccia, pretzels, and other yeasty endeavors. One friend and I decided that we would do a loaf exchange for our next round of sourdough baking. Another asked me to drop off some of my starter so she could start baking, too.

Unfortunately, my sourdough ambitions are on hold at the moment since every grocery store I’ve visited over the past few days has been 100 percent out of flour. Which just goes to show — if social media didn’t illustrate the point enough already — that we’re all baking to relieve stress and feed our loved ones. Because when everything seems uncertain and sometimes downright scary, it’s reassuring to care for something else — even if that something else is just a sourdough starter.

Just don’t forget to post your results on Instagram. #Sourdough #naturallyleavened #wildyeast

Want to Help Restaurants Survive? The National Restaurant Association Suggests Just “Buy a Meal”

With restaurants struggling as they’re forced to adjust to the new restrictions in place to fight COVID-19, you, like us, are probably wondering “How can I help?”

There are almost too many options about where to put your dollars to aid struggling foodservice locations. You can buy gift cards, virtually tip your bartender, or donate to relief funds. For places that are still open, you can also order takeout or delivery, either from the restaurant themselves or through a third-party site like DoorDash or Grubhub.

So where’s the best place to put your dollars? That’s the question I posed over the phone this week to Vanessa Sink, Media Relations Director of the National Restaurant Association. According to Sink, the answer is simple: buy a meal.

“Restaurants still want to cook for us,” Sink said. “They’re safe, and they’re there to make sure that we’re getting good food and enjoying it.” If you can, order pick-up or for delivery directly through the restaurant. That way, they don’t have to pay super-high fees to third-party delivery services, which, despite their claims, are not cutting restaurants much slack right now.

Restaurants are trying desperately to get the word out about the importance of ordering to-go meals, while we’re still permitted to do so. Foodservice establishments have actually banded together to launch a new initiative called The Great American Takeout (#TheGreatAmericanTakeout on Twitter) to motivate people to order more to-go meals from their local restaurants. It’s launching today.

Maybe you don’t feel comfortable ordering takeout or delivery from restaurants at this time. And that’s okay. “We support whatever people can do,” Sink said. You can still donate to relief funds for restaurant workers and bartenders — there’s a comprehensive list right here. You can follow the New Yorker’s Helen Rosner’s advice and call your elected officials to demand government relief for restaurants and foodservice workers. If your favorite restaurants are selling gift cards, you can buy one for when this all blows over (but be aware there’s always a risk that the restaurant won’t return to full service).

Or you can see how chefs are getting creative in your area. In Seattle Eric Rivera is offering the sale of pantry items made in his restaurant as well as pick-up meals. Celebrity chef Sean Brock is doing live, private cooking classes. Famed restauranteur Hugh Acheson is offering contracts to come and cook at your house when the COVID-19 quarantine period is over.

Finally, no matter what you do, tip well. Hopefully together we can help more restaurants come out the other side.

Sustainable Bioproducts Rebrands, Raises $80M for Protein Fermentation Tech

Biotech company Sustainable Bioproducts announced this morning that it has rebranded as Nature’s Fynd and raised $80 million in fresh funding. The Series B round was co-led by Generation Investment Management LLP and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from 1955 Capital, Mousse Partners, ADM Ventures, and Danone Manifesto Ventures. This brings the total amount of funding for Nature’s Fynd so far to $113 million.

Chicago-based Nature’s Fynd grew out of NASA-supported research in 2016. The company creates complete proteins by fermenting extremophile microbes based off of those that live in the scalding-hot geothermal springs in Yellowstone National Parks. The resulting protein contains all nine essential amino acids. Eventually Nature’s Fynd plans to use said protein to create its own food and beverage product lines.

For now, though, Nature’s Fynd has yet to start actually producing this fermented protein at a large scale. Today the company announced it will begin production at its 35,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chicago later this month. Nature’s Fynd CMO Karuna Rawal told me via email that they plan to start selling branded products to retailers in 12 to 15 months.

Food made with Nature’s Fynd’s protein. [Photo: Charles Cherney Photography]

The fact that Nature’s Fynd was able to attract such a hefty amount of capital suggests that investors believe in the potential of protein fermentation. It’s especially notable that the venture arms of Big Food companies ADM and Danone both contributed to Nature’s Fynd’s latest fundraise (both groups also participated in the Series A round). Perhaps those companies are hoping that down the road, they could incorporate alt-protein from Nature’s Fynd into their own animal-free products as an alternative to, say, pea or soy.

Nature’s Fynd is not the only company developing fermentation tech to create protein. Perfect Day and New Culture both use genetically-engineered microbes to ferment the building blocks of dairy. This is a cousin to so-called gas fermentation, in which microbes transform carbon dioxide into edible protein. And Motif Foodworks provides bespoke fermented protein to CPG companies making animal-free products.

“Our innovative technology was developed by studying nature’s own solutions for adapting — and ultimately thriving — in environments with limited resources,” Thomas Jonas, the CEO and co-founder of Nature’s Fynd, stated in an email to The Spoon. Considering that the future of our food production is a bit perilous right now, it’s a smart move to invest in novel ways to create dietary staples. Protein included.