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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Industry Perspectives

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.

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.

Goodr Delivers Groceries and Surplus Food to Hungry Students, Seniors in Atlanta

“Hold on, I have to get my credit card.” Jasmine Crowe, CEO of Goodr, was grocery shopping in the middle of our call earlier today. She was at the store not stocking up her own pantry but buying grocery staples for one of the dozens of families that are using Goodr’s expanded program to get fresh food during this tumultuous time. 

Goodr is an Atlanta-based startup providing the logistics needed to redistribute surplus food from large businesses (think: Coca Cola, Chick-fil-A, etc) and to non-profits feeding the hungry. And with the coronavirus outbreak shutting down schools and, consequently, taking away free lunch from students, Goodr is stepping up to make sure that kids in the Atlanta area still have healthy food to eat.

To feed students, Goodr is working with school cafeterias which are still preparing packaged meals. The company picks up and delivers these meals to designated apartment drop-off zones in areas where many students live. They’re on track to deliver meals to over 40,000 students in the Atlanta school district.

Separately, Goodr is introducing another new service to drop off groceries to families who can’t afford to (or aren’t physically able to) shop themselves, or can’t make it to food pantries. “It’s like Instacart, but it’s free,” Crowe explained to me. Since the grocery delivery service doesn’t rely on surplus food, Goodr pays for the groceries through individual sponsorships (you can do it too, if you like).

In addition to grocery and student meal drop-off, Goodr is also delivering fully prepared meals cooked by partner chefs to seniors that might be hesitant to venture out and purchase food, or don’t have the financial ability to do so. Crowe said that the seniors have the option to ask that the food be dropped off outside their door to reduce the risk of contamination. Finally, the company is increasing the frequency of Goodr’s pop-up surplus food grocery stores.

These emergency initiatives are all happening on top of Goodr’s current surplus food deliveries from offices to nonprofits. “It’s still business as usual,” Crowe told me.

To increase their delivery capacity Crowe said that Goodr has hired 10 new drivers. They try to hire drivers that were recently laid off from their jobs and pay them $20 per hour. Crowe told me that Goodr uses the Google Maps Paperboy API to direct drivers through the most efficient routes. Currently, one driver can deliver groceries to six or seven families in an hour and a half. I’m from Atlanta and, knowing the traffic situation there, that’s pretty incredible.

Goodr typically gets a lot of its donations from offices and restaurants, many of which are closed or in the process of closing. Crowe told me that right now, they’re sourcing “a little bit from everywhere.” The company is still getting donations from some food partners, like Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola, and is also taking food from companies that are going out of business and clearing out their fridges and pantries. 

Crowe doesn’t know how long those donations will last, however, or how long Goodr will be able to keep the lights on. Like many other food companies, it is not immune to the struggles that come with our new COVID-19 reality.

Nonetheless, Crowe said they’ll keep doing what they can and paying their team for as long as they can. “I’m a believer in good Karma,” Crowe told me as she finished her grocery shop. Then she had to go deliver the food to an Atlanta family, or senior, or student, and do it all over again.

Foodservice Companies Pivot to Feed Hospital Workers

In times where the news seems bleaker than ever, it’s encouraging to be able to report on uplifting stories, however small. So I was happy to receive a press release from Simply Good Jars, a Philadelphia-based startup that sells fresh meals in reusable jars via smart RFID-enabled fridges. It places these fridges in high traffic spots like offices and hospitals so people can grab-and-go with a healthier meal than, say, a bag of chips or candy bar.

The company reached out to let us know that they were pivoting from the smart fridge model to a delivery one. Under the new model, folks in the Philly area can order eight Simply Good Jars salads that will be delivered to their door on a weekly basis through April 8. There’s no delivery fee and the jars will not be collected for reuse. If you live in Philadelphia and are interested you can sign up here.

That’s interesting in itself — a smart fridge-oriented company pivoting to delivery — but what caught our eye was what followed that announcement: Simply Good Jars is also offering free meals to hospital workers at the three hospitals that normally already have their smart fridges. In a time when many healthcare professionals are working grueling hours under tons of stress, a free, fresh meal is not just a nicety, but critical.

Photo: Sweetgreen

Simply Good Jars isn’t the only company stepping up. Sweetgreen is reappropriating its Outpost operations to deliver free salads and bowls (in newly compostable containers!) to hospital workers in the cities Sweetgreen currently serves. Outpost is Sweetgreen’s delivery-catering hybrid service that sets up batched delivery drop-off sites in offices of larger companies. I’m not sure how many hospitals have an Outpost — it seems more targeted towards tech companies — but if you work at a health facility and want a Sweetgreen Outpost there, you can head to bit.ly/sgimpactoutpost to request one.

For those who want something a little more comfort food-y, &Pizza is offering free, unlimited pizza pies to hospital workers who show identification. If they’re unable to leave their post, workers can text 200-03#HERO to get a code which they can use to get their pie delivered.

Obviously these offers aren’t entirely selfless. Giving away free product to healthcare workers is a smart marketing strategy as well as, you know, the right thing to do. But in times when everything seems pretty bleak, we’ll take good news where we can find it. Feeding hospital workers is an important way to support those on the front lines fighting the outbreak — and it’s also an encouraging show of humanity and community support.

Plus, these actions could encourage similar foodservice companies, especially those with deep pockets, to start their own service to feed medical professionals.

In fact, why stop at hospital workers? I’d love to see Chipotle and other healthy-ish fast casual chains sending food to low-income residents, seniors and other groups that are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 (with proper distancing and sanitation precautions, of course). Because these are tough times — but they become a little easier if we’re well-nourished. It’s time for more foodservice companies to step up.

If you know of any other restaurants or foodservice establishments feeding hospital workers (or other high-need groups) drop us a line at tips@thespoon.tech or comment on this post to let us know!

New to Working From Home? Here Are Some Food Tech Tips to Avoid Big Weight Gain

As someone who has worked exclusively from home for the past two and a half years, I’d like to say “welcome!” to all the people who are now forced to do the same (and thank you for doing your social distancing part!).

And as someone who gained 18 pounds in those two-plus years, I’d also like to say, it’s really easy to pack on unwanted weight while working from home. I mean, you’re cooped up in a relatively small space all day, it’s real easy to make frequent trips to the cupboard, you can work in sweatpants or pajamas that expand with you, and there is just you (or family) so there’s less guilt around snacking.

Thankfully, over the last few months I have learned to change up some routines and have steadily been shedding that weight ever since. So if you are new to working from home, I wanted to share some food tech tips to help you navigate your new normal.

Please note: I’m not a dietitian or nutritionist. I’m not going to tell you what you should be eating, you should go see an expert if you are concerned about that. This is more about little things you can do around your place to keep extra weight off.

  1. Don’t put your home office in the kitchen. I realize that this may not be possible for everyone, but if you can avoid it, don’t set up at the kitchen table or counter. Frequent snacking is the enemy, and it’s far too easy to grab a handful of Thin Mints each time you finish a spreadsheet. It’s harder to graze all day when the food’s in another room.
  2. Get a nutrition app to keep track of what you’re eating. Keeping track of what you eat is super helpful. I use MyNetDiary to log my food, but there are a lot of other options out there. MyNetDiary gives me a target calorie intake count for the day, as well as keeping track of my macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs). It takes some practice to get into the habit of recording all your meals (even snacks!), but it has a barcode scanner, and keeping this kind of diary really helps put into perspective not only how much you eat, but how many calories are hidden in your everyday meals.
  3. Get a food scale. Yes, weighing everything you eat makes the act of tracking what you eat more complicated, but in the end it actually makes the whole process easier. Weighing your food so you know how many grams/ounces your are consuming makes your tracking more accurate, especially when logging it into a nutrition app. Weighing food also helps with portion control! The Wirecutter’s recommended pick is $20 on Amazon.
  4. Check out online cooking classes! Yes, your favorite restaurant is probably delivering right now. And yes, they are implementing contactless methods to reduce human-to-human interaction. But even in the best of times you wouldn’t eat out every night (let alone every meal). Maybe now is the time to try your hand at home cooking. Not a good cook, you say? Well lucky for you there are plenty of online recipes and cooking classes to help elevate your cuisine. There’s always YouTube or Tasty for instructional videos. Additionally, The Chef and Dish offers private online video cooking classes, or you can try the Food Network Kitchen app, which offers live and on-demand cooking classes taught by Food Network’s roster of celebrity chefs.
  5. Exercise. Normally, I’d say hit up the gym every day if only to interact with other humans. But given the current pandemic, I can’t recommend that. If you can get outside and away from people, go for a walk or a hike. Otherwise, throw some burpees or pushups into your routine (as always check with your doctor before engaging in strenuous activity).

These are just a few tips that I have found helpful. They aren’t rocket science, but hopefully you can learn from my past missteps. For other WFH pros out there, what works for you to keep the weight off? Leave a comment, or drop us a line to let us know.

Legal Considerations Before Deploying Autonomous Delivery Robots

The following is a guest post written by Ariel Yehezkel and Allison Wu Troianos of the law firm Sheppard Mullin.

With e-commerce consumer expectations constantly rising with the ubiquity of same-day delivery, startups and established corporations alike are focusing on developing and investing in efficient last-mile delivery and e-commerce fulfillment solutions. Specifically, online grocery retail is one of the most rapidly growing e-commerce sectors for home delivery, with a projected 70 percent of consumers purchasing their groceries online and a market value of $100 billion within the next two to four years. Consequently, there is also a trend towards acquisition activity focused on disrupting and supplementing traditional logistics systems and developing technologies that facilitate various aspects of the direct-to-consumer grocery supply chain as corporations seek to secure a foothold in the market.

Several companies are using sorting robots in warehouses to assist in order fulfillment and other companies have been using and developing autonomous delivery robots that facilitate the last-mile logistics of direct-consumer-delivery.

With these technological developments come novel legal questions that potential acquirers or investors that develop and manufacture delivery robots and that use robotic systems in warehouses need to consider.  Such legal considerations include tort liability, privacy and data protection issues and regulatory concerns regarding traffic and motorized vehicle laws.

Tort law in many legal systems would impose liability on the person or entity in control of a device that causes damage. Therefore, liability in the event of a traffic accident or other tortious activity caused by a delivery robot would likely fall on the company that was controlling or steering the delivery robot at the time of the incident. Further, the designer or manufacturer of a delivery robot that injures a pedestrian or damages property could also be held liable under the theory of strict product liability if an injured party alleged that the robot was dangerous due to a defect in their manufacturing or design. Under a strict product liability theory, such injured party could argue that a reasonable person would not expect a small robot autonomously operating on the sidewalk without a conspicuous design feature such as a flag, which in turn creates unlawfully dangerous situations for pedestrians or drivers.

However, traditional civil liability frameworks may not be sufficient enough to address the potential issues that may arise from accidents or damage caused by delivery robots. The level of autonomy of robots and the level of influence humans have over their operation could affect how liability is allocated, as current tort laws assume human involvement in the operation of robots. As innovations enable robots to become more autonomous, current liability frameworks may not be able to adequately assign liability because the more autonomous a robot is, the less it can be treated simply as a tool of a human user.  It is yet to be seen how legal frameworks will evolve to account for liability arising from damage caused by autonomous delivery robots, but they will necessarily need to adapt as technological advances make it possible for robots to operate without as much human control or oversight.

Privacy and data protection issues could be implicated due to delivery robots using camera recording and collecting other consumer data through the delivery process. Certain federal, state and local laws restrict and regulate data collection and retention, so companies must be aware of all relevant data protection regulations and make sure any data delivery robots collect is handled in compliance with such regulations.

For example, the collection of personal data is restricted and regulated under certain data protection laws, which would include any information relating to an identifiable natural person. An individual may need to be given with notice or be required to give consent if their personal data will be collected, and the controller of such collected data would be the principal party responsible for compliance with the applicable privacy law. Any personal data collected and transmitted by a delivery robot, including the consumer’s address and biographical data, and any pictures, video or audio recordings, would need to be stored and processed in compliance with applicable privacy laws.

Certain local and state regulations regarding motor vehicles will also need to adapt to accommodate autonomous delivery robots, especially if they operate in public traffic. States have been adopting statutes permitting delivery robots up to a certain weight limit to operate on sidewalks and crosswalks. Starship Technologies, a leading company in the robot delivery space, has been actively involved in getting legislation passed in various states such as Virginia and Idaho. Starship has been advocating for proposals that allow Starship’s robots to operate, but that would exclude some of its competitors’ products from autonomous operation due to weight limits or other restrictions. Starship has demonstrated its robots in hearings for these proposed bills, which set forth the parameters for legal operation of these delivery robots, such as restricting their weight, requiring robots to have their own insurance and requiring a certain level of human monitoring, which could implicate some of the data privacy or liability issues discussed above.

Though several states have adopted such legislation, densely populated urban areas have been slower to follow suit. It could be quite some time before some large cities such as New York City pass legislation allowing delivery robots to operate in their streets and sidewalks.  Reportedly, when a same-day delivery robot appeared in Manhattan in November 2019, New York City officials promptly issued a cease and desist order, claiming that the delivery robots violated vehicle and traffic laws that prohibit self-driving cars and motor vehicles on sidewalks, and citing job loss and traffic congestion as their main concerns. Other critics cite accessibility and safety issues, asserting that the delivery robots pose undue obstacles to the disability community and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The growth in the autonomous delivery space has been exponential over the last several years and is expected to continue to grow as home grocery delivery becomes the standard. The legal considerations raised above are not necessarily roadblocks to further autonomous delivery innovation, but compliance with all relevant regulations and potential liability concerns should be taken into account as companies continue their foray into the autonomous delivery space and as investors continue to invest and acquire such companies. 

Ariel Yehezkel is the Practice Group Leader of Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice group. Allison Wu Troianos is an associate in the firm’s Corporate practice group. They regularly handle transactions in food and beverage industry, and have developed extensive knowledge in this sector. They can be reached at ayehezkel@sheppardmullin.com and atroianos@sheppardmullin.com, respectively.

Recipe Database Yummly Will Personalize “The Entire Digital Kitchen” to Help You Cook The Perfect Steak

If you’ve ever searched for a recipe online, odds are you’ve perused at least a few offerings on Yummly. This massive database started out with a focus on personalizing recipe discovery. Then, almost three years ago, appliance giant Whirlpool bought the company and the stakes changed. In the words of Greg Druck, Chief Data Scientist at Yummly, the company has now expanded from “personalizing recipe discovery to personalizing the entire digital kitchen.”

Curious? So were we, which is why we invited Druck to speak at Customize, our food personalization event happening next week in NYC. (Hot tip: There are still a few tickets left, and you can get 15 percent off with code SPOON15.)

To ramp up to the main event we asked Druck a few questions on what exactly a personalized kitchen might look like and what tools it’ll feature (hint: digital assistants and something called a “virtual pantry.”). And yes, the kitchen of the future should be able to perfectly cook a steak to your personal definition of doneness, every single time.

Check out the Q&A below. We’ll see you in New York!

Tell us a little bit about what Yummly does. 
Yummly is the most advanced AI-powered digital kitchen platform with over 25 million users. Yummly started out as a personalized platform for discovering online recipes. We are now expanding our offering to support the future of the kitchen. We want to help our users achieve their cooking-related goals with smart appliance integrations, premium guided recipes, and tools for meal planning and shopping.

Yummly places strong emphasis on personalized recommendations for the consumer. How do you optimize those suggestions? 
The Yummly recipe ingestion pipeline (pun intended) builds comprehensive representations of over 2 million recipes by inferring latent structure. Machine learning models parse the recipe and map it onto our food knowledge graph, inferring nutrition information, cuisine, techniques, difficulty, and more. This provides a foundation for content-based recommendation algorithms. 

Yummly also learns taste profiles for 25 million users by combining explicit and implicit feedback based on behavior and usage. Machine learning systems synthesize this data along with other contextual and ambient signals including day of the week, season, and location to create dynamic personalized feeds for each of our users. 

Has Yummly’s acquisition by Whirlpool changed its approach to personalization (by gathering data from home appliance usage, etc)?
Whirlpool’s acquisition of Yummly has allowed us to expand from personalizing recipe discovery to personalizing the entire digital kitchen. We believe personalization is the key to helping people achieve their goals, such as eating healthy, saving money, and reducing stress. Combining Whirlpool appliances as the hardware with Yummly software and machine learning systems allows us to personalize the experience to each home cook.

For example, Yummly will recommend personalized meal plans and shopping lists — in addition to individual recipes — based on a user’s tastes, goals, and appliances. We’ll keep track of the ingredients they have on hand and incorporate information from their “virtual pantry” into recommendations that will help them save money by reducing food waste.

Integrations with the Yummly Smart Thermometer and Whirlpool ovens will allow Yummly to adapt cooking algorithms to each user’s needs: for example, cooking a steak to a user’s personal definition of doneness. Combining these ideas into one seamless experience will substantially reduce friction in the kitchen. 

How do you envision recipes (and the recipe recommendation process) getting even more personalized over the next 5 years?
Conversational digital kitchen assistant AIs will help people create plans and recommend custom recipes that are much more personalized to specific needs and more useful for achieving goals in the kitchen. AI will guide you through the week, providing ongoing personalized advice, as well as gamifying and tracking progress against goals over time.

Your AI services will personalize a weekly meal plan and schedule for your household and then have the ingredients delivered to your home. Your plan may include a custom stir-fry recipe that uses up the carrots and chicken that were going bad (recognized using in-kitchen cameras) to save money and reduce food waste. It may avoid pasta or adjust ingredients according to your personalized nutrition plan to help you maintain a low-carb diet (because your assistant knows you’re not tracking well against your weight-loss goal). It might include a cheesy broccoli recipe to help you achieve your goal of getting the kids to eat more vegetables. It may even suggest cooking the chicken dish on Sunday to have an easy meal ready for Monday, reducing the stress of meal planning. Lastly AI may automatically adjust the bake time and temperature to make the dish extra crispy for you, and monitor cooking using a smart thermometer, notifying you when it is done.

This is just the tip of the iceberg — get your tickets to Customize to hear Druck’s fireside chat, where we’ll discuss how personalization will reshape the consumer kitchen. Get 15 percent off tickets with code SPOON15.

The Secret to Food Hyper-Personalization? According to Meal Hero’s CTO, It’s AI

What should you eat tonight? That question can be tricky to answer, especially if you’re trying to use up leftovers while feeding folks with diverse eating preferences and dietary restrictions.

It’s also the exact question that Erik Andrejko is trying to solve. Andrejko is the CTO of Meal Hero (formerly wellio), a personalized meal planning app that’s part of Kraft-Heinz’s Evolv group. At The Spoon’s Customize event in NYC next week, he’ll be speaking about how AI is the secret sauce that will shape the food personalization revolution.

So how exactly will AI reinvent data, discovery, public policy and more within the food ecosystem? You can learn some of the answers by reading Andrejko’s Q&A below, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want the full story you’ll have to see Andrejko speak at Customize next week! Use code SPOON15 to save 15 percent on your tickets.

Tell us a little bit about what Meal Hero does, and how it fits within Kraft Heinz.
At Meal Hero, we are empowering people to improve their lives by eating well. The consumer relationship with food is evolving, and we see supporting personalized food experiences, in particular supporting home cooked meals, as an essential part of a broader strategy of nourishing a growing world.

To that end, we have developed a personalized meal planning application that connects seamlessly to digital grocery fulfillment. It solves the problem of “what’s for dinner tonight?” for the 89 million US households that cook dinner 5+ times a week, making those occasions tasty, nourishing, convenient, and personalized to each household’s needs.

What are some opportunities to bring customized dining into the consumer kitchen? 
Dining at home is a complex challenge with multiple participants. One household we studied led by Susan, a working mom of three, exemplifies this complexity. Susan’s decision-making process starts in the morning as she glances at her fridge while cooking breakfast to determine what to use up for dinner. She then revisits the decision at the end of her workday, going through a complex decision tree that takes into consideration the ingredients she has available, one kid’s tree nut allergy, two kids’ distaste for spicy food, and her own desire to make something pescatarian at a reasonable cost before deciding that she can make fish tacos. As shopping for the missing ingredients and cooking take longer than expected, she’s forced to give the kids some snacks, and by the time the meal is ready, the kids are no longer hungry. We can reduce or eliminate the obstacles that people like Susan face in realizing their aspirations to nourish their households through software technology that embodies the expertise of a personal chef, a personal nutritionist, and a personal shopper.

What’s the biggest challenge facing companies trying to tap into consumer demand for personalization?
The biggest challenge centers around data: gathering it, organizing it, and sharing it. The cold-start problem is well noted in the field of data science and continues to be a hurdle for food personalization as companies struggle to initially gather or generate useful data. Once sufficient data is gathered, a system must be devised that is comfortable working with natural inputs and outputs to derive domain intelligence, which we have done with our Food Intelligence Platform. For the system to improve, it must continuously ingest data from users, whose app fatigue can impede the learning process if the system cannot yet generate sufficient value to combat abandonment. Finally, no firm operates in a vacuum with only its consumers, so the whole value chain must mobilize to adopt standardization, transparency, and accessibility of data. 

What do you think personalized food or drink will look like 5 years down the road?
Personalization will evolve to hyper-personalization as consumers’ expectations in the food domain increase over time to match those in other, more digitally mature domains (e.g. entertainment). We see that evolution occurring in the following sequence:

1. Convenience – How do we bridge the gap from the 80 percent of consumers who use digital tools for grocery planning and discovery to the 3 percent of grocery transactions that occur online? As consumer adoption of digital grocery grows, the connectivity from planning & discovery to commerce must become seamless. 

2. Lifestyle – Diet and lifestyle-based digital shopping journeys are increasingly becoming available, but none close the loop on going from what to eat to getting access to them conveniently and at a reasonable cost. 

3. Health – Food as medicine is just beginning to kick into gear. In about 5 years, we see food tech and health tech converging to create new and powerful consumer experiences. While we see this beginning to happen in pockets, it is not at scale.

In order for the food ecosystem to deliver on those personalized consumer values, a complete evolution is necessary across the value chain (ie: in data, discovery, public policy, standards, etc.). AI will be critical in accelerating the solutions to these challenges.

Viome’s CTO on why Gut Microbes plus AI can Reveal Perfect Diet

For all of us trying to eat healthier — especially those who are battling a chronic disease — figuring out exactly how certain foods will affect your body is critical. That’s what Viome is trying to help people determine. The startup examines your microbiome to create personalized dining recommendations (and recipes) featuring foods that are an ideal fit for your biology.

We’re pretty fascinated by the whole concept of microbiome-based eating, so invited Guru Banavar, the CTO of Viome, to speak at The Spoon’s Customize event in New York on February 27. If you want to join us (you should!) there are only a few tickets left, so get on it! (Use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off.)

To give you a taste of what’s to come, we asked Banavar a few questions about microbiome-driven eating, his time learning about AI with IBM Watson, and the biggest challenges for selling personal nutrition.

This interview has been edited for grammar and clarity,

Tell us a little bit about what Viome does.
Viome is on a mission to help people take control of their health and ultimately prevent and reverse chronic disease. We do this by understanding people’s biology on a molecular level, especially in their gut microbiome, using our proprietary metatranscriptomics technology combined with powerful AI-driven analysis to deliver them personalized insights and recommendations.

What’s the difference between personalized nutrition based on your microbiome (gut bacteria), and personalized nutrition based on your DNA?
Our microbial genome is between 2 to 20 million microbial genes, making our genetic material 99% microbial. This means that to fully understand the human body we must start by collecting data and analyzing the gut microbiome – the richest source of our microbes.  

Therefore, the first difference is that DNA tests only look at DNA (your genes), which never change throughout your life — even if you develop a chronic disease. We at Viome look at RNA (gene expression, or what your genes are actually doing within your body) which is dynamic and changes all the time. It’s a better indicator of overall wellness and chronic disease. Since any two humans share [more than] 99 percent the same DNA, but only about 5 percent of the same microbial DNA,  each person’s microbiome is incredibly unique — what works for you may not work for me.

In the past you’ve worked for a long time at IBM Watson. How do you think your AI experience has helped in the personalized nutrition field?
I was involved in solving a wide variety of problems from different industries at IBM Watson, so I quickly learned that AI is not one thing but really a toolbox of many techniques that you need to put together depending on the problem you’re solving.  Personalized nutrition based on molecular data is a very challenging field, and I brought my experience with the full range of AI tools & techniques to get the fastest and the most effective solution.

Viome currently recommends diets and recipes. Do you see it ever working in tandem with foodservice or grocery?
We already see many of our customers reporting that they use their Viome app in the grocery store, when they are choosing foods and supplements online or when they are selecting from restaurant menus. As we build new services within our app we are looking to make this frictionless, and we are in early stage discussions with a number of large grocery retailers and international food companies…. watch this space!

What do you think is the biggest challenge for personalized nutrition?
We have actually found that once people understand the technology, take the test, they see amazing results, so our job is less about acceptance and more about awareness and inspiration.

The science around personalized nutrition is advancing rapidly with multiple new papers published every day, especially connecting the microbiome and chronic diseases like Diabetes, Obesity, IBS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers and Cancer. Our world class science team is working with partners like the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser, United Healthcare and GSK, among others, to not only keep on top of the science but advance it through clinical studies and trials. Not all companies who give personalized nutrition recommendations with the same depth of scientific rigor and understanding, so education is important.

Banavar will be speaking about microbiome-driven personalized nutrition along with the CEO of Sun Genomics at Customize! Don’t miss out — use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off your ticket now, before they’re gone.

The Biggest Hurdle for Personalized Food? Consistency.

When it comes to food, I suffer from a devastating condition called choice paralysis. What do I want for dinner? Kale or spinach salad for lunch today? This ice cream shop has how many flavors?

First world problems, I know. But choice paralysis is one thing that personalization could help: by looking at data from past purchases and nutritional predispositions, we can more easily get high-quality recommendations for what to cook and eat, both in and out of our home.

In search of this type of future-focused perspective, we asked Peter Bodenheimer, partner at food business accelerator Food-X, to share his thoughts onstage at Customize. He’ll join us on February 27th to give a birds-eye view of the personalization trend, share how startups are trying to tap into the trend, and give a vision for the future of individualized dining. He’ll also give some insight into what challenges are ahead for companies trying to make personalized food (cough, consistency, cough).

Check out the Q&A below to get an idea of what Bodenheimer will be talking about at Customize — then get your tickets to hear him live in NYC! (Use code SPOON15 for that sweet 15 percent off).

Food-X is an accelerator for cutting-edge food tech startups. Have you seen an increase in interest in food personalization recently?
Absolutely. The number of companies that we see who are making personalization a core part of their business differentiation is through the roof. Of course, that makes it harder to lean on it as a key point of differentiation, but at the same time, there are so many different ways to approach it that every time I look at a new company there seem to be unique wrinkles to their specific product. 

What are some interesting approaches you’ve observed companies taking to capitalize off this trend?
We’ve seen people using big data, personal preference, genetic data, the latest medical literature combined with personal data, and so many other ways to provide product offerings that are designed to give each user their own optimal experience. In my opinion, the most interesting ones are those that are combining different sources of data to provide better context and products that match better with consumer demands. For example, we’ve seen products where the end goal is to layer genetic data, with specific types of consumer preference data to provide highly tailored recommendations that are focused on both health and taste.  

What do you foresee as some of the main challenges for companies looking to capitalize on food personalization and/or food as medicine?
There is a fine line between saying you are going to deliver something, whether that is an experience or a health benefit, and being able to deliver it consistently. The challenge with keeping every unique consumer happy is just that — they are all unique. What works well for me, may or may not work well for you. This coupled with the ever changing scientific literature can be more challenging as companies scale and need to have a supply chain that is reliable and flexible.

How do you envision the future of personalized dining evolving over the next five years?
More choices around both the food products and the delivery mechanism for those products. This means more services that allow people to better understand their unique physiology, genetic predisposition, and then for companies to provide more products that help them easily optimize their nutrition. What forms that will take is going to be interesting to guess at, but I’m confident that in 5 years we’ll have more choices while at the same time having to make fewer choices without data. 

Use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off your tickets for Customize — they’re going fast! We’ll see you in NYC.

Restaurants Will Soon Remember Your Dietary Restrictions and Birthday, Says SevenRooms CEO

There’s a lot to be said about becoming a restaurant regular: it usually means better service, personal touches, and an overall sense of community (ya know, if you tip well).

But what if you could effectively be a “regular” at every restaurant you step foot in, whether it’s around the corner from your house or on the opposite coast? That’s what BoH restaurant tech SevenRooms is trying to make a reality. The company lets restaurants track customer data to access guest information for more personalized service.

SevenRooms has its eye squarely on the future of dining, which is why we’re so excited to have its CEO, Joel Montaniel, speak at Customize at the end of this month. As a little amuse bouche we asked Montaniel a few questions about how he thinks the rise of personalization will change the way we eat out. Hint: Get ready for servers to remember your dietary restrictions, birthday, and favorite dessert.

Check out the Q&A below, then grab your tickets (discount code SPOON15 for 15 percent off!) to hear him speak in person on February 27th.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tell us a little bit about what SevenRooms does.
From neighborhood restaurants to international, multi-concept hospitality groups, SevenRooms is a hospitality platform that helps operators unlock the full revenue potential of guest data. Combining operations, marketing and guest engagement tools into one front-of-house solution, the platform helps operators to maximize profits, build brand loyalty and enable personalized guest experiences. 

As restaurants become more automated, how do you think foodservice can maintain a personalized touch to keep customer loyalty?
In a recent study, SevenRooms found that 1 in 5 diners (20 percent) want to book a reservation at a restaurant that could create a personalized menu for them – clearly showcasing that the foodservice industry must take advantage of automated personalization to help deliver these expectations and build loyalty.

At SevenRooms, we see the operations arm of restaurants continuously becoming more intertwined as technology is integrated, making processes more seamless as the power of guest data is unleashed. Through direct integrations with POS systems and other technology partners, we can create complete guest profiles including dining preferences, allergies, order history and more. The restaurant industry is centered on human interaction; and by helping restaurants use technology to understand who their guest is and what they want, we can empower operators to have the most personalized customer interactions possible.

In addition to enabling these seamless, memorable experiences, technology can also help personalize guest marketing to draw them back in. Robust historical data helps restaurants more accurately market to diners, ensuring they’re able to reach the right guests, at the right time, with the right message. For example, if a diner has never ordered wine at a restaurant, it likely wouldn’t make sense to invite them to an exclusive vineyard tasting event.

Embracing technology provides restaurants with the ability to elevate experiences by creating and promoting specific events and perks that speak to their guests’ interests, solely by tapping into data collected across the guest journey.

Why do you think that the personalization trend has been on the rise lately? What about this particular time has given it opportunity to grow?
With the advancement of technology, consumers now expect more from their daily interactions, whether it’s suggested shoes for purchase on Amazon, songs to listen to on Spotify or shows to watch on Netflix. Hospitality is no different. According to recent research, when staying at a hotel with multiple properties, 29 percent of Americans expect their preferences and guest profile to be easily communicated between properties.

This clearly showcases that in the hospitality industry, it’s paramount to personalize the guest experience, exceeding expectations and ensuring the guest feels special in the process. For example, when a regular who happens to be vegetarian is seated, the waiter should have the new vegetarian pasta special on hand to recommend with the diner’s favorite white wine. If it’s a guest’s birthday, a complimentary glass of champagne can really go the extra mile to turn a casual dinner into a loyal guest.

From hotels to restaurants and nightlife venues, guests appreciate and desire personalization, especially at places they’ve visited before, with over half of Americans saying that a waiter/waitress simply remembering them from a previous visit would make their experience more memorable. The data, now available through technology, has afforded venues the opportunity to create these personalized experiences and fine tune their service based on customer preferences, in turn giving the trend more room to grow.

How do you see personalization evolving with shifting restaurant setups, new technology, and an increased consumer demand on convenience?
We’ve seen significant disruption in the restaurant industry in the last few years — especially when it comes to increased delivery options and a rise in consumer expectations both inside and outside the restaurant. Convenience is king — and consumers want faster, more seamless choices. But as consumers increasingly demand this convenience, we are also seeing them expect much more personalization out of their experiences when they choose to dine-in a restaurant.  

A quarter of Americans admit they wouldn’t return to a restaurant if their dining experience wasn’t memorable or special, so restaurants must continue to evolve how they deliver personalized experiences.

The future of this will come with new voice and wearable technology. Today, operators use tablet and computer interfaces to access guest information — from reservation times, to whether or not they’re celebrating a special occasion or an allergy. However, by harnessing new voice technology, SevenRooms users will, instead, be able to voice queries like “Alexa, who’s at Table 12?” to find out robust data on the guest — learning that it’s a birthday party for a regular diner whose favorite dessert is the vegan chocolate mousse.

This enables the in-service team to create a new guest touchpoint that will boost loyalty — having the GM touch the table to deliver birthday wishes, and offering a complimentary dessert — all without having to visit the host stand to find out the information. This seamless personalization experience will only continue to grow as the status quo for guests across the hospitality industry. 

Will super-personalized menus really become the norm for restaurants? Come here Montaniel speak at Customize on February 27 to get his take — use code SPOON15 for 15 percent off tickets!

Burger Wars: Beyond Nutrition Idealism and Junk-Science Rhetoric, the Benefits of Choosing Plant-Based are Clear

Reports from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization, and others emphasize the critical role of plant-based diets in creating a sustainable food future for all. Plant-based diets are also key for human nutrition, highlighted in diet guidelines the world over including US, Canada, and Brazil. Yet livestock remains essential to around one billion of the world’s indigent and the global demand for meat and dairy is expected to increase by 70% by 2050.

Meat production and consumption habits must shift, and solutions are sorely needed to feed the appetite for meat in the US and abroad. 

Enter plant-based burgers, which exploded onto the food scene in the 2010s. While eaters love them, questions followed: Are they healthier? More sustainable? And are they even “real food?”

Opinions are heated, but what does the science show? 

A Brave New Burger that’s Just Plain Better

Forget bland veggies burgers of yore that only appealed to die-hard vegetarians. Today’s food technology methods have brought consumers a beefy patty that sizzles—and they’re a game-changer.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods lead the plant-based burger market, and are quite similar in nutrient content and ingredients. A key difference is the use of genetic engineering, used in Impossible to create its umami punch from soy leghemoglobin. Not surprisingly, Impossible eaters care not at all about the tech that made it tasty—nor should they, given the copious evidence of its safety. (Beyond, conversely, boasts they’re “non-GMO.”) Major food companies also offer their own plant-based burgers using a variety of techniques and ingredients, now available in supermarkets alongside Beyond and Impossible.

Critics questioned wondered whether plant-based burgers would take off; the marketplace already offers myriad vegetarian choices, after all. Yet contemporary consumers are increasingly seeking ecoconscious options that supplant meat, while delivering the pleasure of eating meat—at least, some of the time. Ninety percent of plant-based meat and dairy consumers are omnivores, in fact, and Beyond reports that more than 70 percent of its consumers are meat-eaters seeking a more sustainable option. Importantly, Beyond and Impossible burgers are found on restaurant and fast food menus, a good thing since 49% of eaters globally dine at restaurants at least weekly, and most choose fast food fare.

Public health and environmental benefits of plant-based burgers are plentiful. Research funded by Beyond Meat and conducted by independent scientists at the University of Michigan found that its burger used 99 percent less water, 93 percent less land, and 46 percent less energy and produced 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to a beef burger; similar results were found in a study of the Impossible Burger. While no peer-reviewed studies are yet available, a significant body of evidence—like this report of 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90 percent of all that is eaten—shows significantly higher environmental impacts of meat production on land, water, and air compared to plants. While grass-fed beef can be more sustainable, it’s complicated—and hardly the panacea supporters claim it to be.

And don’t forget about antibiotic resistance, among the biggest threats to global health driven largely by misuse of medicines in livestock production.

Whatever the individual motivation to select a plant-based burger, the secret sauce is clear: When food tech delivers taste and convenience, health and sustainability win.

Burger Bloviating: Push Back on Plant-Based Meat

As with many food tech innovations, some folks in nutrition and activist circles began disparaging plant burgers as yet another ultra-processed food that consumers don’t need. However, there is considerable variation in nutritional quality across the four-category NOVA classification (unprocessed and minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed, ultra-processed). And numerous studies—including a report from several professional nutrition and food tech organizations—show that (ultra-) processed foods like bread and canned goods are nutritionally beneficial; it’s the whole diet that matters.

Plus, beef burgers don’t grow on trees; the industry employs an extensive set of ingredients consumers simply choose not to consider. A wide range of additives and preservatives and food processing methods were needed to get that cow ground up onto your bun, for instance, alongside atrocious conditions in industrial animal farming systems. And were you aware that meatpacking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world? The reality is that getting a burger to your table made from animals involves far more processing than one made with plants, facts its polystyrene package doesn’t provide.

But is plant-based meat “real food?” The concept was popularized by journalist Michael Pollan, whose other pithy yet patronizing advice includes “eat plants, not food made in plants.” Food writer Mark Bittman recently opined, “[w]e have to determine whether they’re actually ‘food,’ likening plant-based burgers to Cheetos. (Seriously?) Other foodies jumped on the bandwagon, creating nutrition confusion by preaching that meat from animals is inherently superior simply because it’s from an animal. 

At the same time, some health professionals return to the dog-tired diet advice that consumers need to eat more vegetables and fruits, like fresh peas instead of burgers made from pea protein. Similarly, an ivory-tower academic called plant-based burgers “transitional” en route to a whole foods diet, ignoring evidence that burgers can be part of a healthy diet, in moderation—and are integral to American traditions.

Viewpoints like these reflect a lack of compassion for the realities most people face in just trying to get a meal on the table. They also undermine how difficult it is to change the way we eat, They also discount the vibrant role cuisine plays in culture and disregard the power of technology to meet food needs healthfully and sustainably.

For a Brighter Food Future, Vote With Your Fork

Addressing today’s complex food challenges requires all the tools we have to curb climate change, address unsustainable and unjust practices in agriculture, and reduce diet-related chronic diseases.  Though novel food technologies will always have haters, it’s a brave new world with a new generation of eaters. Millennials and Gen Z are highly motivated by health and sustainability—and both are far more accepting of food technology than previous generations. Scientific innovations like plant-based burgers will always play a role in shaping human diets, as they always have—and often for the better.

But let’s not forget that a burger is a burger is a burger—and it’s especially tasty with all the fixin’s. (And fries. Obviously.) Most of us in high-income nations who strive to manage weight, stave off disease, and live longer are better off eating a vibrant salad loaded in fresh veggies, beans, and whole grains rather than a plant-based burger. At least, most of the time.

But you already know that, right?

So when that craving hits, grab a plant-based burger, and enjoy. Voting with your fork is a delicious way to support technologies that will help move forward the food revolution necessary to create a healthy and sustainable food future for all.

P.K. Newby, ScD, MPH, MS, is a nutrition scientist and author whose newest book is Food and Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know. Learn more about her at pknewby.com.