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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Food Tech News: Food Waste For Solar Energy, DoorDash Announces New Gifting Feature

Food waste used to produce solar energy

A recent winner of the Sustainability 2020 James Dyson Award, Carvey Maigue (a student at Mapúa University in the Philippines) created a technology that converts food waste into UV light-capturing windows and walls. The system, called AuReus, traps luminescent particles from certain fruits and vegetables (which would otherwise be wasted) in a resin substrate. The particles then absorb and reflect the light, and PV cells along the side of the walls and windows absorb this light. Lastly, the captured light is converted to DC electricity.

DoorDash announces new gifting feature

This week, DoorDash announced its new gifting feature for the holiday season. Users can now send favorite food items to friends and family located anywhere in the country through the app. To send a food gift, a user simply needs to enter the recipient’s address on the app, and then customize the order with a digital card. Not sure what to send? According to DoorDash, the most popular requests include french fries, burrito bowls, and cookies.

Ikea pledges to make 50% of menu items vegan

By 2025, Ikea’s goal is to make half of its menu items and 80 percent of its packaged meals vegan. The multinational chain already carries vegan items like meatballs, soft-serve, and hot dogs. After reading scientific reports and consumer research studies, the company aims to do its part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions through providing foods with a lower carbon footprint.

UK Pizza Huts adds Christmas Pizza

Do you think that pineapple on a pizza is a weird topping? I personally think traditional Christmas dishes as pizza toppings might triumph over pineapple for being even stranger. Pizza Hut locations in the UK are now carrying a Christmas pizza, which includes shredded chicken, bacon, sage & onion stuffing, and a red wine gravy. The pizza is available now and until supplies last.

Food Tech News: $45M Raised for Mycelium Leather, Pistachio Milk Launches in U.S.

With COVID-19 cases spiking once again and winter creeping in, today might be the perfect time to get cozy and catch up on some Food Tech News. This week we have stories on mycelium leather, pistachio milk, a seasonal Pepsi flavor, and a line of formal wear created by your favorite stuffing brand.

MycoWorks raises $45m Series B round

MycoWorks raised a $45m Series B funding round this week, led by WTT Investment and DCVC Bio. New investors include two celebrities, John Legend and Natalie Portman, as well as Valor Equity Partners, Humboldt Fund, and Gruss & Co. MycoWorks makes an animal-free leather from mycelium, which is essentially the root system of mushrooms. In addition to the funding news, the company announced the opening of a new manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. This funding round will be used to open several more manufacturing plant locations.

Táche launches “first true” pistachio milk

Táche, a New York-based startup, made its pistachio milk available for purchase this week. The milk is the first to be made purely from pistachio nuts and is free of other nuts and added oils; the milk also comes in a sweetened and unsweetened version. During the past few months, the company has raised $1.1 million through angel investors and friends, with one notable investor being the former CEO of Stonyfield Farms. A 32-ounce carton of Táche’s pistachio milk costs $7.99, and customers can purchase a six-pack of the milk on the company’s website. The milk is also available in some coffee shops and cafes in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.

Pepsi releases limited addtion apple pie flavor

Pepsi’s release of this seasonal special aims to emulate all of the goods things in a fresh-baked apple pie: cinnamon, a buttery crust, and warm apples. The company wanted to provide an option for those who don’t have baking skills but want to enjoy the flavors of an apple pie. However, there is a catch; not everyone can get their hands on a bottle of this limited-edition soda. In order to enter for a chance to receive a free 2-liter bottle, participants must share a photo of their baking fails on Twitter or TikTok with the hashtag #PepsiApplePieChallenge.

Stove Top creates a line of formal wear for Thanksgiving

Stove Top, a brand of Kraft Heinz known for it’s packaged stuffing mixes, created a line of formal wear for Thanksgiving. The line includes items such as “Stufflinks” (featured above), a stuffing-print shawl, and a headband. Surprisingly, many of the items have sold out already, with the exception of the $30 crushed velvet jacket with a stuffing print lining. The line of formal wear can be found on LetsGetStuffy.com.

Anova Launches New Line of Plastic Neutral Vacuum Sealer Bags

Sous vide specialist Anova announced they had launched a new line of plastic neutral vacuum seal bags through a partnership with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise focused on reducing the amount of plastic entering the waste stream. Companies within the Plastic Bank program become plastic neutral goal through the purchase of plastic reduction offset credits from the Plastic Bank, which use the funds to reclaim ocean-bound plastic and recycle it. Anova’s new bags also feature an accelerated degradation additive so they break down faster when exposed to air and light.

Food Tech News: Potato-based Chicken R&D, Good Catch Launches D2C Platform

If you’re reading this week’s Food Tech News, that means we’ve made it past Friday the 13th, 2020. Congrats! A few stories stood out to us this week, including potato-based chicken alternative development, Good Catch’s D2C platform, and a funding announcement in AI-driven vertical farming.

Large Nordic chicken producer invests in potato-based, chicken alternative

Scandi Standard, the largest producer of chicken in Nordic countries, announced this week its partnership and investment in Veg of Lund, which is a producer of bottled plant-based smoothies. It seems like an unlikely duo, but Veg of Lund has patented its smoothie base of potato and rapeseed oil, which will be used to create the plant-based chicken alternative. The meat producer has invested in a two-year research project to create the chicken alternative, with the investment totaling SEK 4 million (approximately $460K USD).

Good Catch & Alpha Foods now offer home-delivery

Good Catch Foods, producers of plant-based seafood, and Alpha Foods, a plant-based meat company, have now made its products available direct to consumers. The home delivery service can be used by those based in the USA. Consumers can purchase plant-based tuna made from a blend of legumes directly from Good Catch’s website. The company’s other products are not yet available for home delivery, and there is a three tuna pouch minimum order requirement.

On Alpha Food’s website, consumers can purchase plant-based chicken nuggets, burritos, and pouches of “beef” crumbles. The company’s products are sold in bundle packages, with the option of reoccurring shipments every month.

Good Catch and Alpha Foods join companies like Beyond, PepsiCo, Impossible, and many other brands in launching its own D2C platform.

Swegreen secures funding for AI-driven vertical farming

Swedish-based Swegreen and research partners have received an investment totaling 9.1 million Swedish Krona (approximately $1.05M USD) from Vinnova. Research partners include Mälardalen University and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, and the three entities will be working together to continue to develop Swegreen’s AI-platform for vertical farming. Swegreen additionally aims to advance the digital supply chain and achieve climate neutrality through its urban food production.

Food Tech News: Tesla Tequila Sells Out, Bodegas Trial Vegan Fridges

This week’s Food Tech News round-up is a great distraction from constantly refreshing election updates and bashing how slow Nevada is when it comes to counting votes. A few stories stood out to us this week, including Tesla’s Tequila, vegan fridges in bodegas, Beyond Meat pizzas at Pizza Hut, and an indoor farm company funding round.

Tesla Tequila sells out in hours

A few years ago on April Fool’s day, Elon Musk made a joke about the idea of Tesla Tequila. Fast-forward to 2020, and Tesla Tequila has come to life. The tequila is aged for 15 months in a French oak barrel and comes in a hand-blown glass lightning bolt bottle. The liquid itself has “a dry fruit and light vanilla nose with a balanced cinnamon pepper finish.” Even with a hefty price tag of $250 per bottle, it sold out in a few hours, and it is unclear if it will be restocked.

New York City bodegas get vegan fridges

Three bodegas in New York City will host Plantega, a collective that sources vegan products for in-store displays, and its vegan fridges for a 12-week trial run. The fridges will contain vegan products from brands like Just Egg, Miyoko’s Creamery, Beyond Meat, Good Catch, and No Evil Foods. Vegan products like these are normally found in health food stores, specialty stores, and Whole Foods. Plantega’s goal is to make vegan products more accessible to underserved communities that normally don’t see these products in their local stores. The three Plantega fridges will be located in bodegas in Bushwick, Cypress Hills, and The Bronx, and more locations may be added if the trial goes well.

UK Pizza Huts to add Beyond Meat pizzas

Pizza Huts located in the UK will add plant-based Beyond Meat sausage, beef, and pork on top of its pizzas. The new pizza flavors include 3 Meat Supreme, Italian Style Sausage, Beyond Beef Sizzle, and Beyond Pork & Sweet Chilli. The chain has been using Violife cheese to top pizzas in the UK, and will likely continue to use this cheese for its newest vegan pizzas.

80 Acres raises undisclosed funding round

80 Acres operates eight indoor farms throughout the U.S., and the company’s most recent funding round of an undisclosed amount was led by Barclays with participation by Virgo Investments, Orange Wings Capital, QuietStar Capital. 80 Acres produces salad greens, microgreens, herbs, and tomatoes, which can be found at Whole Foods, Kroger, The Fresh Market, and through distributors like Sysco and US Foods. The company’s total funding amount to date is $40M.

Food Tech News: Tik Tok Creator’s Menu and Biodegradable Bacardi Bottles

Happy Halloween! This year’s holiday will certainly look different, but I know I will be checking out the full moon, making my own chocolate peanut butter cups, and watching The Shining. Maybe you can find joy in creating a candy chute or developing your own candy delivering robot for trick-or-treaters. Or, you can spend some time catching up on food tech news like Tik Tok’s new food menu, biodegradable Bacardi bottles, Whole Foods’ predictions for new food trends, and adaptogen coffee pods.

Tik Tok partners with Postmates for “Creator’s Menu”

Tik Tok has skyrocketed in popularity amongst millennials this year, with the majority of its users between the ages of 16-24. To capitalize on this demographic, Tik Tok partnered with Postmates to create a menu of this year’s most popular food trends that millennials are salivating over. Available from October 28 to November 22, local restaurants in Los Angeles will be serving up their versions of whipped coffee, cloud bread, pancake cereal, and a bento box. These are the food trends on Tik Tok that have reached between 259 million to 3 billion hashtags. With the whipped coffee going for $7.50 and the bento box $20, this is a price only a millennial could justify.

Photo from Bacardi

Biodegradable Bacardi Bottles

Bacardi has started using bottles that look exactly like regular plastic, except for the fact that these bottles are apparently able to break down in the trash, both outside and in the ocean. The material used to make the bottle is called polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), and its main component is canola oil. Danimer Scientific, which makes this material, feeds canola oil (which contains carbon dioxide that was stored in the plant) to bacteria. The bacteria then turns this into PHA, which is extracted to make plastic-like products. Companies like Nestlé and PepsiCo are also using this material for packaging.

Whole Food predicts food trends of 2021

Whole Foods released its annual food predictions for the upcoming year, and it should come as no surprise that plant-based foods are a trend that is predicted to continue on an upward trajectory next year. Healthy baby food, chickpea-based foods, vegetable jerky, and upcycled foods are some on the list. Out of all the predictions made, my personal favorite is alcoholic kombucha.

Adaptogenic, compostable coffee pods from Hong Kong

Hong Kong-based Beams Coffee combines the trends of gourmet coffee and adaptogens in its compostable pods. Adaptogens are plants and herbs that are supposed to help the body combat stressors, and Beams Coffee uses medicinal mushrooms like Cordyceps, Lion’s mane, Reishi, and Tremella. These mushrooms are paired with specialty coffee from Sydney and Melbourne and come in pods that are 95 percent sugarcane-based. The coffee pods are available in four varieties including beauty, mind, energy, and immunity, and are compatible with the Nespresso maker.

Food Tech News: Fried Chicken-Scented Face Masks, Halloween Robot Delivers Candy

Hormel and Jack in the Box give away scented masks

If you love the smell of chicken and bacon, now you have the option to inhale these scents all day. To promote new product launches, Hormel and Jack in the Box are giving away free scented face masks. Jack in the Box will soon launch a new plant-based UnChicken Sandwich and is giving out free fried chicken-scented face masks to celebrate. To promote the launch of its Black Label Bacon, Hormel is giving away “breathable bacon” face masks.

Photo from PR Newswire

Reece’s to deliver candy bars through robotic door

This year’s Halloween will likely be sans trick-or-treating, but Reese’s brand came up with a festive solution to distribute its peanut butter chocolate cups despite the circumstances. The brand created a robot door that travels through neighborhoods via remote control, and will release smoke and play a Halloween soundtrack. To receive a king-size Reese’s peanut butter cup from the door, one must simply approach the robot and say “trick-or-treat”. To determine where the robot door will stop this Halloween season, you can pitch your request on Reese’s Instagram page.

$30K food and agribusiness prize for MIT and RaboBank competition

MIT and Rabobank are hosting IGNITE, a virtual kick-off on November 9th for its food and agribusiness competition. The 6th annual Rabobank-MIT Food & Agribusiness competition aims to support student innovators in the food tech and agriculture space based in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Winners of the competition will receive $30K USD, access to industry mentorship, and other resources. The kickoff event is free to sign-up for, and the applications for the competition are due in January.

Prime Roots launches plant-based meats and meals at Whole Foods

Producers of vegan, koji-based meat products, Prime Roots will be debuting its meat alternative products and prepared meals in Whole Foods next week. Koji is a type of fungus that gives Prime Root’s chicken, bacon, and beef a meaty texture and umami flavor. Some of the company’s plant-based prepared meals include bacon mac and cheese, Hawaiian shoyu chicken, and beef shepherd’s pie. The company’s products will be available starting on October 27th in Bay Area Whole Foods.

Food Tech News: Bee-Free Honey, Menu Items With Low Carbon Footprints

It was an exciting week in food tech with the annual SKS Summit happening earlier this week (if you missed it, check out the highlights of day one, day two, and day three). Outside of this week’s virtual event, a few other stories stood out to us, including bee-free honey, low carbon footprint menu items at Panera, Minnow partnering with two restaurants, and anti-stress nutrition bars.

Melibio is creating bee-free honey

Melibio is using microbial fermentation and synthetic biology to create honey without the use of bees. The process will mimic the process a bee would take to create honey and will use real flower nectar. Honey is often touted for its health benefits, and Melibio’s honey will contain small amounts of the amino acids, minerals, and enzymes found in real honey. The company plans on launching a product for food and beverage companies by late 2021.

Panera Bread releases climate-friendly labels on menu

Starting this week, Panera Bread’s menu will include “cool food” badges that signify which of its menu items have a lower carbon footprint. Around 55 percent of the chain’s existing menu items will have a cool food meal badge. Ingredients that are considered to have a low carbon footprint include vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes. Medium carbon impact ingredients include fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, and poultry, and beef has the highest carbon footprint. Last month, Just Salad also released a Climatarian menu that shows menu items with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions.

Minnow launches pilot program in fast-casual restaurants

Minnow, the recent winner of the SKS Startup Showcase, launched a pilot program for its contact-free delivery and pick-up solution. The Minnow Pickup Pods will be located at Crisp Salads in Portland, Oregon, and bNatural Kitchen in New Haven, Connecticut. Similar to the design of an Amazon locker, the pods disrupt the use of expensive third-party delivery services like Doordash or Postmates. Additionally, the pods have a touchless interface for pick-up, and the cubbies are insulated to keep food fresh.

myAir releases stress-reducing nutrition bars

Tel-Aviv-based startup myAir makes nutrition bars infused with different herbal compounds to manage stress. The personalized nutrition company offers a short three-minute quiz on its website to determine a customer’s level of stress, and then the customer’s heart rate, sleep quality, physical activity is tracked through smartwatches. This data is then used to determine what combination of bars would be most beneficial for the customer. The gluten-free and vegan bars cost $3 each, and are available in flavors like Calm Green (infused with lemon balm extract) and Sleepy Gray (infused with hops).

Food Tech News: Greenhouse Gas Straws, Improved Amazon Grocery Delivery

If you’re ready for a break from all those political memes, here’s your chance to catch up on some final pieces of food tech news from the past week. A few stories that stood out to us include foodware made from greenhouse gases, improved Amazon grocery delivery, PBR’s THC-infused seltzer, and a limited-edition plant-based tuna melt.

Straws made out of pollution

Newlight Technologies, a biotech company based in Southern California, launched commercial foodware and fashion lines made from pollution-eating microorganism secretions. In the company’s Huntington Beach facilities, ocean water conditions are recreated in vats, and then microorganisms are added. Then the vats are purposefully polluted with collected greenhouse gases. Microorganisms then gobble up greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and their excretions are gathered to be dried and formed into pellets. The substance that is molded into pellets in called AirCarbon, and it is then melted and molded to make things like straws, utensils, and wallets. The end products are actually carbon-negative since the gases did not end up in the environment.

Amazon adds feature to improve grocery delivery

If you tried ordering a grocery delivery through Amazon at the start of the pandemic, you might remember checking for available slots around 10 times a day with no luck. Or you might have been one of those people who woke up in the middle of the night to reserve a slot. Amazon just announced a new feature as a solution to this problem: if there are no available slots at the moment, a customer can sign up to wait for the next open delivery time. With the new feature, customers will be given an estimation of when the next available spot will be then notified when it opens. They will have two hours to place an order.

Photo from Npr

Pabst Blue Ribbon releases THC-infused seltzer

Last week Pabst Blue Ribbon announced the release of its 4.2 percent hard cold brew coffee. This week, the company’s new THC-infused seltzer hit shelves. The lemon-flavored seltzer contains no alcohol and has 5mg of THC. The new beverage is targeted at consumers who are curious about cannabis and would prefer eating or drinking it rather than smoking it. Apparently the product is already popular, with both the first and second productions selling out quickly. Priced at $24 each, four-packs of the seltzer are available at dispensaries and online.

Veggie Grill launches Good Catch tuna melt sandwich

Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based tuna, partnered with vegan restaurant chain Veggie Grill to release a limited edition tuna melt sandwich. Good Catch makes a protein-rich plant-based tuna from a blend of six legumes: peas, chickpeas, lentils, soy, fava beans, and navy beans. This January, Good Catch raised a $32 million Series B funding round, and Veggie Grill is the first restaurant that Good Catch has partnered with. The tuna melt sandwich will be comprised of a tuna salad, American cheese, pickles, and tomato on griddled rye bread, and it will be available until the end of the year.

Food Tech News: Cryogenic Avocado Trees, Vegans Take Over Television

This Friday, I bring you news on freezing avocado trees for future generations, vegan food brands advertising on television, and plant-based seafood hitting the frozen food aisle of Walmart. Between avocados and vegan food, these news tidbits are a direct appeal to millennials. Now all I need is some food tech news about brunch.

Avocados can now be cryogenically frozen for the future

I am pleased to share that my descendants will now be able to experience avocado toast. Chris O’ Brien, a Ph.D. student at the University of Queensland in Australia was able to revive avocado plant cuttings that he froze at -320°F with liquid nitrogen. Avocado trees are susceptible to disease, pests, disasters, and climate change; this discovery is important because it may help ensure that we will have avocados for future generations. Beside avocado trees, other plants like potatoes, grapevines, apples, bananas, and berries have all been successfully frozen then revived using cryopreservation.

Vegan foods brands are advertising on T.V.

Big names in the plant-based space have started running T.V. advertisements this year. Beyond Meat ran its first television campaign in August during the Lakers vs. Jazz game, with actress Octavia Spencer as the narrator. The Meatless Farm showcased its pea protein meat alternatives in a tantalizing commercial that ran in the UK, and Dr. Praegers used vegetable superheroes to promote its veggie burgers.

Vegan food brands seem to also be expanding their advertisements off the television. In the past week, I have personally seen ads for OZO pop up on my computer, and cheeky Oatly ads on the side of bus stops.

Sophie’s Kitchen brings plant-based seafood to Walmart

Sophie’s Kitchen, which makes plant-based seafood, will launch in Walmart this month. The company’s frozen plant-based crab cakes and shrimp will be made available in 400 Walmart locations. Sophie’s Kitchen joins other vegan brands available at Walmart including Gardein, So Delicious, Beyond Meat, and Lightlife.

Food Tech News: Wild Type Is Looking for Chefs, White Castle Is Offering Rewards

Some final bits of food tech news from ’round the web this week:

Wild Type Has a Pre-Order List for Chefs

While still a good five years out from commercial production, Wild Type said this week it has opened a pre-order list for chefs wanting to include the company’s cell-based seafood into their dishes. Right now, the company is developing a cultured salmon prototype that would work in sushi dishes. Wild Type cofounder Justin Kolbeck clarified that the company is not launching its product, just “releasing news” that they “have the next iteration of the product.

White Castle Launches a Rewards Program

White Castle has launched its first-ever rewards platform, called “the Craver Nation loyalty program.” Like other digital rewards programs out there, Craver Nation will offer discounts and deals to loyal customers that sign up for the White Castle mobile app. The program was trialed earlier this summer in Louisville, Ky. and is another digital tool in the chain’s quickly-growing arsenal of them.

Asia-based abillionveg Raises Fresh Funding

Singapore-based app abillionveg announced this week that it has closed a $3 million pre-Series A round, with participation from Nan Fung Group, CloudKitchens, and York Capital. The app features community-led reviews for vegan and vegetarian products, including both retail and restaurant offerings. Simultaneous to the funding news, the company announced it has struck partnerships with plant-based heavyweight Impossible Foods and restaurant-booking platform Chope.

Cornucopia Farms Is Building a Large-Scale Hydroponic Farm in Georgia

Leafy green lovers, take note. Marietta, Ga.-based Cornucopia Farms said this week it is completing construction on a 56,000-square-foot hydroponic farm two hours east of Atlanta. The farm will grow all manner of greens, including herbs, Romaine, and Bibb lettuce, among other types, and will produce an estimated 12 million heads of leafy greens and 2 million pounds of herbs per year when it is completed. That won’t be for a minute, though: completion of the project is expected at some point in the latter half of 2021.

Food Tech News: Lettuce Glow, Plus More Expansions for Food Tech Companies

Since most of us are still relatively homebound, it’s no surprise much of the food tech news of late has been about grocery, grocery delivery, farming at home, and big food brands going the direct-to-consumer route.

Herewith, the latest developments in those areas from around the web this week:

Lettuce Grow’s Farmstand Gets a Glow

Lettuce Grow, a smart-garden company founded by Jacob Pechenik and Zooey Deschanel, announced this week a new accoutrement for all your at-home farming needs. The company is launching its Glow Rings LED indoor grow lights as an add-on to its Farmstand hydroponic vertical garden. The garden, which we covered back when it was first released, previously lacked any lighting technology and had to be kept outside. The addition of the Glow Ring means those would-be agtech enthusiasts with no outdoor space can try their hand at the indoor smart-farming concept. 

Giant Food Stores grows Mid-Atlantic footprint | Supermarket News

A Giant Partnership for Union Kitchen

Grocery chain Giant Food is expanding its partnership with Washington, D.C.-based food accelerator Union Kitchen. The chain will offer more products from Union Kitchen participants — all of whom are food and bev producers — through its grocery delivery program. For shoppers, it means access to more locally made and/or grown goods.

JUST Is Expanding to More U.S. Stores . . . Again

Eat JUST, the company behind plant-based egg product JUST, said this week via an email to The Spoon that it is in the midst of what it calls its largest expansion yet. By the end of September, the company will have its products at “more than 17,000 points of retail distribution” across the U.S., a 40 percent increase that includes stores like Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, and Safeway. Food Lion, Giant Food, and many other local stores are also on the list.

Food Tech News: The Great Vending Machine Bug-Out, Food Tech Lawsuits Galore

We may be all-in on next-gen vending machines here at The Spoon, but does that mindset apply to those currently dispensing edible tarantula in a can? Read on to decide for yourself. Also, it’s another week another lawsuit for third-party food delivery services, this time in the booming online grocery sector.

Edible Insets Arrive in Japan’s Vending Machines

Japan, a country famous for its vending machine culture, has upped the ante recently by selling bugs out of these machines. Kotaku reports that, though still not terribly common, an increasing number of vending machines around the country now sell edible insects, from crickets to grasshoppers to (for the really adventurous soul) scorpion and tarantula. 

Now DoorDash Isn’t Getting Sued for Price-Gouging

DoorDash was dropped from a recent lawsuit that alleges third-party food delivery services used the pandemic as an excuse to price-gouge homebound New Yorkers. Grubhub, Uber Eats, and Postmates are all named in the suit, too. The voluntary dismissal noted that consumers leading the suit “reserved the right to refile against DoorDash.”

Instacart Facing Lawsuit Over Service Fees

Grocery service Instacart faces a lawsuit alleging the company charged millions in “deceptive service fees” to customers and also failed to pay hundreds of thousands in sales tax. D.C. Customers were “tricked” into “believing they were tipping grocery delivery workers when, in fact, the company was charging them extra fees and pocketing the money,” said DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine, who filed the suit. Previously, Racine sued DoorDash over its former tipping policy for drivers.