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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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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. 

Food Tech News: Virtual Derby Fare Is Upon Us

The Kentucky Derby is around the corner! Not that I or many other folks will be physically present for the famed event this year. We will, however, be cooking up some classic Derby fare, courtesy of the internet. Read on for more on that as well as other food tech news bits from the last week.

Virtual Derby Menu 2020

Churchill Downs Racetrack, home of the Kentucky Derby, is once again offering an at-home Derby menu for couch-bound attendees of the famous event — of which there will be many more this year, given the venue’s reduced capacity requirements. For the event, taking place September 5, Churchill Downs has created an at-home menu fans can access online and create in their own home kitchens. 

Africa’s First High-Tech Greenhouse

Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects has started construction on the first fully automated glass lettuce greenhouse in Africa. The greenhouse, outside Cairo, Egypt and roughly 2.5 hectares in size, will grow herbs and lettuce, while automation technology will regulate climate and plant density for more optimal growing in desert conditions.

The Profitability of Plant-Based Eggs

Eat Just, maker of the famed JUST plant-based egg, is on track to profitability, according to a report this week from Reuters. The company aims to turn an operating profit before the end of next year is also considering and initial public offering.

Target All-In on Online Grocery

Target announced this week that its grocery pickup service is now available across the U.S. The service is now available in about 85 percent of its stores. For now, only Target’s most popular items (about 750 of them) are available for pickup, though the ongoing popularity of online grocery could change that in the future.

Food Tech News: New Meals from Sun Basket, a Dr. Pepper Shortage, and Virtual Concession Stands

These days, food tech news is flying by at breakneck speed — sort of like how I’ll be doing this weekend on my paddle board. Before that can happen, though, here are a few last bits of intel from the past week to keep you up to date on your food tech, whether you’re spending the weekend lakeside, curbside, or on your couch. Just don’t plan on a Dr. Pepper to go with it.

Sun Basket launches no-prep meal kits.

Meal kit company Sun Basket this week launched its Fresh & Ready line of products, which the company says can go straight into the microwave or oven and be ready in as little as six minutes. This new line is available as part of Sun Basket’s weekly meal plan subscription, and maintain the company’s focus on fresh, organic ingredients sourced from family-owned farms.  

Refill brings virtual concessions stands to Ohio high schools.

Refill, a company that makes virtual concession stand technology for things like sporting events, announced this week it is testing out its platform in Ohio high schools. The system uses features like contactless ordering and payments to make the process of grabbing grub during a ballgame more efficient and socially distanced.

Kroger is launching a marketplace strategy.

Kroger will double its online grocery inventory through a new digital marketplace strategy. The move, which is an obvious bid to compete with Target, Amazon, and other online heavyweights, will initially focus specialty retailers with natural, organic, and international products. The launch will also include housewares, toys, and other items.

There’s a Dr. Pepper shortage. 

Hang tight, soda lovers. Dr. Pepper had to reassure fans this week that its products would be back on store shelves in full force soon. “We’re doing everything we can to get it back into your hands,” the company tweeted, adding that it’s working with distributors to do so.

Food Tech News: Kroger Pilots Contactless Pay, How QSRs Could Change the Whole Food System

Had your fill of food tech news for the week? Of course you haven’t. With that in mind, here are a few more bits and bites to carry your appetite for food tech through the weekend.

Kroger Launches Contactless Payments

Kroger launched a pilot for contactless payments in Seattle, WA this week. The test will take place in the grocery retailer’s QFC division, and allow customers to use their mobile phones to pay for groceries. The system accepts a number of payment types: Apple, Google, Samsung, Fitbit, and mobile banking apps. 

Microsoft and Land O’Lakes Bringing More Tech to Rural Areas

Farming technology is all well and good, but farms first need to have access to broadband. As AgFunder points out, 18 to 40 million Americans do not have that connectivity, especially those in rural areas. To address that issue, Microsoft and Land O’Lakes said this week they are working together to bring more connectivity to farms and rural areas.

Hostess Opens Innovation Lab

Hostess Brands has opened a new innovation lab in Kansas that employs researchers, product testers, and bakers creating new kinds of snack cakes. The lab will test and develop new prototypes for food products, which means we could well have a new kind of Twinkie in our hands in the future.

How about now no cow?

If QSRs swapped beef with alternative proteins in their products, they could completely alter the food system. That’s the premises of an excellent new article from Wired, which outlines the problems with our over-reliance on beef and how fast-food chains can use their wide availability and low prices to change consumer attitudes about meat.