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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Ecoinno Raises $6M for Compostable Food Packaging Made of Sugar Cane and Bamboo

Ecoinno, a Hong Kong-based company making sustainable packaging from plant fibers, has raised $6 million in Series A1 funding from Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs and Alibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund (h/t South China Morning Post). This brings the startup’s total funding to $8.8 million.

Founded in 2015, Ecoinno uses a patented technology to make a sustainable packaging material out of pulp from bamboo and sugar cane. Called green composite material (GCM), the product is compostable and will decompose in 75 days.

Thus far, GCM has been trialed chiefly in CPG applications like coffee capsules, as well as single-use takeaway food containers. South China Morning Post reports that it’s first customer will be an undisclosed Hong Kong airline… once the coronavirus pandemic passes and flights to and from Hong Kong resume in full. The airline will use Ecoinno’s biodegradable food and drink containers to serve passengers.

Ecoinno will use its new funding to scale up production of GCM and expand R&D for more applications of its biodegradable packaging. It’s also building a fully automated factory in Tai Po with robotic assembly lines.

Since most of us are relying on takeaway and delivery to get our food these days, packaging is definitely top of mind. Even before COVID, fast food chains like Taco Bell and Starbucks had outlined ambitious plans to cut packaging waste and switch to recyclable or compostable options.

But not all compostable packaging is actually, well, compostable. Some contain so-called “forever” chemicals which are harmful to humans and never break down. Sweetgreen and Chipotle have both taken big steps in 2020 to transition to truly compostable containers, though it’s tricky to find biodegradable food packaging that’s strong enough to hold food, especially liquid, without breaking. Ecoinno’s GCM is made of 100 percent plant fibers, so no pesky forever chemicals.

Of course, the GCM hasn’t been put to the test yet. But considering we’ll probably see more to-go orders for a long time yet, even after restaurants reopen dining rooms, now is certainly an opportune time to invest in green packaging innovation.

Lunch Meat and Waffle Makers? NPD’s Susan Schwallie on How COVID-19 is Transforming our Dining Habits

The coronavirus pandemic has upended almost every aspect of our life, and eating habits are certainly no exception. What, where, and how we’re making and consuming our food has transformed dramatically in the past eight weeks alone.

At today’s virtual event Changing Food Habits in the Era of COVID-19, Susan Schwallie of market research firm NPD Group dug into the data on how the pandemic is shifting the way that we eat. Some you might be able to guess (more carbs and online grocery), but NPD’s numbers give some surprising insight into where and what we’re eating right now — especially at home. Here are a few of the biggest shifts she’s seen:

More Eating at Home
Unsurprisingly, as restaurant dining rooms around the country shuttered in March and consumers began working from home, people started to eat more at home. Schwallie noted that there was about a 6 percent lift in the number of meals consumers ate at home this April, compared to the same time period last year.

That might not seem like a lot. But according to Schwallie, “these are actually massive numbers.” Consumers already ate about 80 percent of their meals at home, a carryover from the shift away from restaurants after the 2008 recession, so that additional six percent equates to millions of meals.

The Return of the Sandwich
Not only are people eating more at home, what they’re eating is also shifting because of the pandemic. Schwallie noted that consumers are cooking in big batches, relying on leftovers, and buying private label and less expensive brands to make their dollars go further. As she pointed out, these shifts are pretty similar to what happened in the wake of the 2008 Recession — only now, disruptions in the supply chain are causing temporary shortages of products like flour, yeast, and pasta.

The Recession also saw the rise of brown bag lunches — something that’s not exactly relevant now. In fact, Schwallie noted that lunch is the meal experiencing the biggest shift lately, as office workers no longer pick up food to-go from restaurants. “It’s the return of the sandwich,” she said.

In fact, the food with the biggest spike in at-home consumption since the pandemic began? Lunch meat. (The beverage with the biggest spike is — you guessed it — wine.)

Source: Susan Schwallie, NPD Group

The Rise of Niche Appliances (and Carbs)
With more people cooking at home, it’s no surprise that we’re relying more heavily on kitchen appliances. But the type of appliances may be surprising. Schwallie said that in the week ending March 7 — around the time that people were realizing they might be at home a lot over the coming months — there was double-digit growth in sales of niche food and beverage appliances like soda makers, grills, pasta machines, and pizza ovens.

She noted that “carb-related categories” also experienced an uptick in home usage: waffle makers, air fryers, rice cookers, bread makers, etc. One obvious reason is that consumers are turning to comfort food right now. Schwallie also pointed out that as people get into cooking ruts, they might dust off specialized appliances to spice up their meal routine.

Switching to Online and Digital
“COVID has been an accelerator for everything online and digital,” Schwallie stated towards the end of the event. That’s certainly true for the food sector. She noted that third-party grocery delivery experienced a nearly 300 percent increase in sales in April alone.

As we’ve covered pretty extensively here on The Spoon, restaurants are also making rapid pivots to go digital. Schwallie said that online ordering for takeaway orders from restaurants is on the rise, as are ghost kitchens built to fulfill said orders.

Source: Susan Schwallie, NPD Group

What’s Next?
So which of these trends will stick around once shelter in place orders lift and we’re able to return to restaurants? Schwallie named ghost kitchens and online grocery orders as some of the technology that will carry over into the post-COVID world, for sure. Baking bread and using our waffle makers, though? Those trends might not have the same staying power.

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Next Thursday we’ll be back with a virtual event on The Future of Kitchen Design in a Post-COVID World, with Johnny Grey. Sign up — and check out our schedule of upcoming online events — here.

You can watch today’s event in full below:

Changing Consumer Food Habits in the COVID-19 Era

Vejo Review: The Pod-based Connected Blender Falls Short on Taste and Value

During quarantine, with most of us turning to comfort food and relying on shelf-stable ingredients, it can be hard to eat all your fruits and vegetables. Which is why I was intrigued by Vejo, a blender and pod system that claims to make getting those recommended daily nutrients easier. So I took them up on their offer to try sample their product.

Founded in 2015, Vejo is a connected portable blender. It pairs with the company’s biodegradable pods, which are filled with freeze-dried fruits and vegetables and come in varieties like pre- and post-workout, detox, and sleep enhancement. Just add water, insert a pod, twist on the cap, and the blender will whir up a nutritious drink in 30 seconds.

I got the starter kit, which costs $130 and includes the blender and 8 Vejo drink pods. Additional pods can be purchased a la carte or as a subscription and equal out to roughly $4 per serving. There’s also an app which you can use to reorder pods and set reminders to make your drink, which I declined to download.

The first thing I noticed when I opened up my Vejo box was ‘dang, this is heavy.’ The Vejo blender — which looks like a silicone-coated thermos — was in a padded box, swaddled like an iPad. The pods all came in a separate box, alongside which there was a charger pod, charging cord, and a brush for cleaning. I’m guessing there was so much packaging to make you feel like you’re getting a luxury good — which, considering its high price point, makes some sense. But I felt super wasteful tossing it into my recycling bin later.

All the packaging for the Vejo [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Ready for some healthy smoothie blends, I opened up the instruction manual to see that… I had to charge the blender for a minimum of two hours. It’s nice that the Vejo came with its own charger, but I hate having yet another piece of hardware to lose. And it was annoying to have to wait two hours to charge something up when I was ready to try it out right then and there.

Finally, two hours later, I decided to give the Vejo a go with a Clean Greens drink. Per the instructions, I filled the blender up to the fill line inside with cold water, peeled the top off the pod, and popped it into the device upside-down. Then I screwed on the top tightly until it began to buzz. Thirty seconds later, after the buzzing stopped, I took out the pod and composted it (the biodegradable pods are a nice touch, despite all the other packaging).

The pod is in — ready to blend. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

The smoothie was… fine. It definitely tasted healthy, which is to say it wasn’t very delicious — but it did include spinach, cucumber, and sea buckthorn, all of which are good for you. My bigger quarrel is that the finished drink was tiny. The finished product barely took up half of the glass I use for my morning smoothie. And since most of the pods instruct you to fill the blender with water, this drink would definitely not keep me full. I tried three other drinks and, while some of the sweeter ones like Pina Berry tasted better, none left me wanting to make them again.

The price — pods equate out to be about $4 per serving — is certainly cheaper than buying a smoothie out or even using a service like Daily Harvest, whose frozen, pre-portioned smoothie cups run about $7 each. But Daily Harvest’s blends are a lot more robust — and taste a lot better, too. Plus there’s something to be said about eating real fruit, even if it’s frozen, instead of powder mixed with water.

You can also just use a regular old blender (gasp!) and put your own frozen fruit in, which makes a drink that’s both tastier and more customizeable. For customers looking for a blender of the future, may I suggest the cordless, silent appliance from Millo? True, it doesn’t have the pre-mixed pods, but do consumers really want to be locked in, especially to something that doesn’t taste good?

Vejo’s finished Clean Greens drink. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Vejo also offers a high-end personalization service called Vejo+ which makes individualized pod blends to best fit a consumers’ biology. The company sends one of its phlebotomists to Vejo+ clients to do a blood draw, which they analyze, along with weight measurements, and formulate pods to help the clients reach their health goals. That fits right into the broader biomarker-based customization trend that’s being built by Genopalate, Viome, Sun Genomics and others.

Vejo+ costs $1,500 for three months, which is way over my price range — and about triple the price of other personalized nutrition services. However, in my opinion it’s much more useful, and unique, than Vejo’s current service.

Interest around Vejo+ aside, I found that regular old Vejo fell short. Considering we’re all trying to eat more vegetables but restrict our trips to the grocery store, I can see Vejo’s appeal. Especially if you’re an elite athlete or need a reliable way to ingest copious amounts of produce and vitamins. But for me, what Vejo offered in pure health just didn’t make up for its poor taste and bulkiness.

I guess I’ll have to get my fruits and vegetables from regular old fruits and vegetables.

Recipes for Relief Sells Professional Chef’s Recipes to Quarantined Home Cooks

Though quarantine is forcing most of us to become more dedicated home cooks, few are making fancy, restaurant-worthy dishes every night. But that might change soon.

Recipes for Relief is a website where famous chefs and mixologists post recipes for meals and drinks. Each recipe features a title, the name of the chef who created it, and a short description. You can choose to purchase the recipe for $2, $5, or $10. All of the funds go directly back to the chefs or mixologists. 

The initiative grew out of meez, a recipe management tool that allows professional chefs and mixologists to digitize their recipes, make edits, scale it up/down to feed various amounts of diners, and share them with team members. Meez is currently in beta testing mode and was preparing to launch back when quarantine forced restaurants to shut their dining rooms. Since then, meez has pivoted to share the recipes with folks that are outside the professional kitchen — home cooks.

Recipes for Relief kicked off in mid-April and currently includes around 80 recipes from 20 chefs. I connected with Francine Lee, who does business development for meez, via phone to learn more about why the company decided to start Recipes for Relief. “Other than takeout and delivery, plus government aid, there’s no way to generate revenue for restaurants right now,” Lee told me. “We thought, ‘What can we do?'”

As a quarantined person who loves to cook, of course I had to give Recipes for Relief a try. I added two recipes to my cart that looked both delicious and achievable: Miso Biscotti and Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. Within 24 hours I got an email with a link to my meez account, which had the two recipes plus a dozen bonus ones. From my initial perusing, the recipes all seemed relatively easy to make and featured ingredients that the average person could actually find at a store.

Lee told me the company has also worked with the chefs to edit the recipes to make them doable for non-professionals — using more basic techniques, ubiquitous appliances, etc. “There’s also a lot of cool tips and tricks that happen in a professional kitchen that could be insightful for a home cook,” she told me. Recipes for Relief is also gathering data on what types of recipes people are buying most to curate their new offerings.

I was hesitant about the portion sizes of the recipes. Chefs obviously work on a much larger scale than home cooks. But meez has solved this problem by offering capabilities to scale the recipes (1/2x, 2x, 4x, etc) to accommodate any number of people. You can also manually enter the amount of any ingredient you have (e.g., 1 cup of cider vinegar) and all the other ingredients will adjust accordingly. You can even ask chefs about ingredient swaps in the comments. 

According to Lee, the conversions are actually one of the key selling points for both meez and Recipes for Relief. That could be especially useful in our quarantine kitchens, when we’re forced to work with what we have more than ever before. 

Recipes for Relief’s interface still needs some polishing. There were several grammatical errors and some of the instructions lacked detail. I’d also like allergy and dietary restrictions listed (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free) clearly on the recipes. If meez decides to add a permanent tool targeting home cooks, not restauranteurs, these changes could make it a lot more useful.

As someone who’s worked in a restaurant and knows how complicated recipes not developed for home chefs can be, I’d normally be skeptical of tackling a restaurant recipe at home. But now, with time on my hands and a hankering for a physical project, there’s no better time to try my hand at a complicated recipe — especially if those recipes are also helping to support restaurants.

Japanese Startup Base Food to Debut High-Nutrition Bread in U.S.

Bread seems to be the unofficial food of quarantine. No wonder — it’s comforting, it’s affordable, and it’s a soothing home project to tackle, if you’re into that sort of thing.

But much as we love bread, we know that eating it all day, every day is probably not the healthiest decision in the world. A Japanese startup called Base Food is bringing a more nutritionally appealing bread offering to the U.S.

Founded in 2016, Base Food uses nutrient-dense ingredients like whole grain flour, seaweed, and flaxseed to develop healthier versions of staple foods. Starting today, the company’s second product, Base Bread, will be available direct-to-consumer in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Nevada and Colorado.

It will come in just one big 72-gram roll, which will cost $3.33 each or $2.99 each if you sign up for a monthly subscription. The bread will come frozen, which is why the company is only able to ship within a 2-day radius of their Reno, Nevada manufacturing facility. Frozen food typically equates to high shipping costs, but when I spoke to Base Food’s COO Michael Rosenzweig last week said they have yet to finalize their fees. 

Photo: Base Bread

Base Food already sells two products — Base Noodles and Base Bread — in its native Japan, and the noodles are already available in the same seven U.S. states which can purchase the bread. Down the road, Rosenzweig said that the company is looking to get into foodservice retail channels, specifically through corporate cafeterias.

Another selling point is Base Bread’s shelf life. Rosenzweig told me that the bread will last a year in the freezer. We’ve in the midst of a pandemic that leads to both panic shopping and a fear of the grocery store, so Base Food’s nutritional profile and long life are both timely selling points. Then again, $3.33 is expensive for a single-serve roll of bread when you can buy a hefty loaf of artisan sourdough from your local bakery for $6 or $7 bucks — or just make your own.

I actually got to sample Base Bread at SKS Japan in August 2019. It was soft and squishy with a malty sweetness — sort of like a honey whole wheat bread. We also got to taste Base Noodles at the SKS 2019 Future Food competition in October, and they were tasty with a flavor akin to a nutty soba noodle.

As someone who loves carbs more than anything else in this world, but is trying to hang onto some semblance of healthy eating during quarantine, Base Bread offers an appealing option. At least until I smother it with butter.

New Version of the Kenyon City Grill Lets you Grill Indoors While Sheltering in Place

Perhaps during this time of lockdown, you have perfected your sourdough starter and are looking for a new, appropriately social distanced cooking hobby. With the warmer weather, maybe its time to up your grill game!

But Chris, you protest, I live in an apartment with no balcony or otherwise small domicile with no room for a bbq!

Fear not, cooped up reader, there is a grill for you and it’s getting an updated look. Kenyon Grills makes the indoor/outdoor City Grill, an electric device that allows you grill up meat and veggies from the comfort of your counter. On April 21, its newest grill will be available to buy.

The new City Grill features a more polished look but retains the same functionality of previous models. It’s a smokeless and flameless grill with a 1,300-watt element that heats up to 600 degrees in seven minutes. It has a removable non-stick grate for cleaning, and an optional lid for more oven-like cooking, and an optional griddle plate for who want to make pancakes and bacon. All of this will set you back $475, and the device will be shipping then as well, so it’s not just pre-order.

We haven’t used the City Grill here at The Spoon, so we don’t know about any issues such as hot spots or ease of use. But as the weather turns nicer and the timeline for staying stuck indoors is still in question, maybe apartment dwellers will warm up to the idea of indoor grilling.

The City Grill certainly isn’t the only indoor grill. The Cinder uses sous vide-style precision (without the water bath) for cooking meats, though that company’s web site says that the device is currently sold out.

If you do pick up a City Grill, be sure to drop us a line and tell us whether it’s hot or not.

GrapeStars Lets Celebrities Sell Booze to You Through Social Media

Have you ever wanted to buy gin endorsed by Ryan Reynolds? Or a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc curated by Sarah Jessica Parker? Now’s your chance. GrapeStars, the online marketplace for celebrity-endorsed brands of booze, is live to make sure you never have to go without a glass of wine supported by a famous person, even in the time of COVID-19.

Based in Miami, GrapeStars had its soft launch this week. Initially they’ll ship to 45 states in the U.S. The company has plans for a formal launch in mid-May 2020 with a portfolio of 1,495 products from 203 celebrities.

Here’s how it works: consumers can either purchase directly through the GrapeStars app, which currently works on iPhones or Google Play, or they can click on links embedded on celebrity’s social media profiles to be redirected to their GrapeStars store. From there they select their star-supported booze of choice, which is shipped to their door. Cost depends on weight, distance, and timing (e.g. overnight, 2 day, etc), and GrapeStars pockets 15 percent of each sale.

According to an email conversation with a GrapeStars rep, the startup recently closed a seed round, raising $3.7 million with a mix of convertible debentures and equities. The company will launch a Republic Crowdfunding Campaign to raise an additional $1 million sometime in the next few weeks.

This concept is obviously on the sillier side, but GrapeStars may actually hitting the market at an ideal time. Since everything is stressful right now and meditation apps can only do so much, sales of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. rose 55 percent in the week ending March 21, according to Nielsen data. Since bars are no longer to sell you the good stuff, people are turning to grocery stores and e-commerce to get their booze fix. Consequently, online alcohol delivery services like Drizly and Minibar are seeing a huge spike in sales. Wine subscription services, like Winc and Vivino, are also seeing rapid increases in sales and higher ticket sizes.

Plus, since everyone is turning to social media to feel connected amidst social distancing, celebrities may find themselves with a captive audience that’s bored enough to, say, order specialty booze endorsed by their favorite movie star.

Is GrapeStars going to solve any of the very significant challenges that COVID-19 is imposing on the food system? Absolutely not. But is it fun, entertaining, and a relevant service in our new Netflix-fueled normal? You bet.

COVID-19 Summit: Coronavirus Could Actually Help us Reduce Food Waste (in Some Areas)

Unpopped popcorn kernels from movie theaters. Pre-wrapped cheese plates for airline passengers. These are just a few of the unexpected food resources that, due to social distancing recommendations, are going to waste during the coronavirus pandemic.

True, reducing food waste might not be one of the top-of-mind priorities right now for many of us, including airlines and movie theaters. But as Dana Gunders, Executive Director of ReFed, pointed out during yesterday’s COVID-19 Virtual Strategy Summit, as the coronavirus shakes up the food system from top to bottom, our food waste patterns are shifting too. “There’s enormous volatility in the system right now,” she said.

As we shutter restaurants, Gunders explained that we’ve cut off the supply chain to half of the food system. With that outlet closed, farms, processors, and distributors that typically work with foodservice are eyeing the grocery market and trying to establish new sales channels. Gunders walked us through how each sector of the food ecosystem is experiencing change — and what that means for food waste.

Farms
Farms, many of which rely on restaurant partners to sell their goods, are trying to pivot to find new retail channels. “But it’s not that instant,” Gunders said. She explained that instead, millions of pounds of green beans, tomatoes, and cabbage are getting tilled under because farmers can’t find outlets for them. So until farmers are able to forge new partnerships for e-commerce and D2C delivery, farm waste will increase. 

Processors and Manufacturers
With retail shopping on the rise, Gunders said that processors and manufacturers, such as CPG brands, are seeing up to triple the typical demand. But they’re also trying to navigate social distancing regulations and employee illnesses, which negatively affects their production capacity. This is bad news for upcyclers — companies that make goods out of traditional waste products, like spent grain from breweries — who are suddenly having difficulty sourcing their raw materials. 

Photo: ReFed

Distributors
When foodservice entities are forced to shut down and cancel their orders, distributors are the ones stuck with extra product. Distributors are seeking new retail channels to find an outlet for these leftover foods — but Gunders pointed out that the food is not often packaged for retail sales (e.g. the aforementioned popcorn kernels and cheese trays). 

Grocery and Retail
If you read The Spoon on the reg, or have gone shopping for toilet paper over the last month, you know that grocery stores and retailers have been experiencing a huge boom. At the same time, grocery stores are having difficulty forecasting how much to stock, since demand is so volatile right now. And as Gunders pointed out, volatility leads to challenges in purchasing, which could actually lead to more food waste on the grocery level. 

Restaurants and Foodservice
As we know, restaurants and foodservice establishments have been one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic. Forced closures over the past few weeks led to an initial spike in donations to food banks as restaurants tried to avoid throwing away food — the donations were too much for the system to handle in some cases, said Gunders. But as restaurants stay closed, these donations are now dropping off. There are also challenges around logistics; transporting food donations the last mile can be tricky when restaurants have laid off employees and volunteerism is down.

Consumer
One of Gunders’ biggest takeaways from the summit is that COVID-19 is forcing us all to be a lot more conscious about what food we’re buying and how we’re using it. When going to the grocery store means standing in line for an hour, you’re forced to be more strategic about how to use up food you already have at home — and that means less food waste. At the same time, Gunders pointed out that hoarding behavior at the grocery store can lead to more food waste when people discover they didn’t actually need that 6-pack of brie cheese wheels.

As more people cook at home, we’re also gaining kitchen skills. These could serve us going forward; consumers will learn how to freeze, preserve, and make use of their food, instead of just throwing it away. Gunders also said that people might begin to eat food that’s past its “sell by” date, which is notorious for being confusing and overly conservative. It’s also an opportunity for the adoption of smart kitchen tech which helps use up food, like IoT-connected containers or meal planning resources.

The majority of food waste right now happens within the home. If we start being more conscious about our food, and how we consume and preserve it, the COVID-19 outbreak could actually be a significant opportunity to cut food waste. But only if we all do our part.

You can watch the full session with Dana Gunders below or check it out on Crowdcast.

The Spoon COVID-19 Summit: Dana Gunders on COVID-19's Impact on Food Waste.

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.

I Visited the Canlis Seattle Pop-Up and Honestly I Feel Conflicted

Even before Seattle, along with many other regions, announced the forced closure of restaurants and bars, one of the city’s most well-known establishments was already a few steps ahead.

Canlis, a James Beard Award-winning restaurant known for its high-end food and even higher-end prices, announced last week, before the mandated restaurant closures, that it would be shuttering its dining room and transitioning to a to-go-only menu. Beginning today Canlis is offering takeout-only breakfast via The Bagel Shed from 8am-11am; pickup lunch via Drive on Thru from 11am-6pm; and a “Family Meal” delivery on weekday evenings.

Since I live only a few miles from Canlis I decided to swing by this morning to see how the acclaimed restaurant is navigating this transition. My first inkling that I might have gotten more than I bargained for is when I arrived just after 8am to see the cars backed up for blocks, all idling as they waited for the doors to open. Thinking walk-up might be easier (and more environmentally friendly) I parked nearby and walked up to the restaurant, where I was greeted with a very long line of individuals, all drawn to Canlis to get their bagels and see what all the fuss is about.

The line waiting to get their bagels at Canlis’ Bagel Shop. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

In a time when we’re all supposed to be social distancing and keeping six feet apart, it was a little unnerving to see so many people out of the house and waiting so close together in a line (though, admittedly, I was one of them). At first people did keep a solid amount of space between each group, but as more folks arrived the line squished. However, we were outside, so maybe people were more willing to take a risk in the fresh air.

I got in line around 8:30am and reached the front to place my order in 45 minutes. That’s a lot of time to take off of work just to grab a bagel sandwich. From the people I spoke with, everyone who was waiting for breakfast was working from home and looking for a) an excuse to get out of the house, and b) an opportunity to try food from Canlis, a dining experience that’s typically beyond their budget.

That said, Canlis’ Bagel Shop is not cheap. The menu is also pretty limited. You have the option of buying half a dozen bagels and one of three schmears, or getting a breakfast sandwich. You can’t get an individual bagel with schmear, butter, etc. Since there’s only one of me I opted for the breakfast sandwich (no sausage). That came out to just under $9, which has an automatic tip built in.

When I was in line I chatted with a Canlis staff member who told me that the day before, when they launched the Drive-Thru Only lunch option, they’d sold 1,000 burgers. He expected they would sell just as many for the rest of the pop-up.

The bagel sandwich from Canlis’ pop-up [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

So how was the bagel? Honestly… just fine. As someone who lived in New York I’ll admit I’m a bit of a bagel snob, but if I’m shelling out almost $9 for a breakfast sandwich I had to wait 45 minutes in the cold for from a world-renowned restaurant I’m expecting my mind to be blown. The egg was perfectly cooked (look at that yolk ooze) and the American-style cheese melted perfectly. The bagel itself had a pleasant chew but was very pale on the outside — it lacked that mahogany, crackly exterior of a well-cooked bagel. The everything topping was also quite sparse.

I left Canlis at 9:15am, bagel in hand, just as the staff had just announced that the Bagel Shop had sold out. It was meant to last until 11am. Canlis may be a well-oiled machine when it comes to innovative dining or excellent service, but it seems like even they are not immune to the difficulties of pivoting over to takeout- and delivery-only. And if that’s true, how are restaurants with fewer resources supposed to navigate this tough time?

Cars lined up to pick up their to-go bagels. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Overall, my visit to the Canlis Bagel Shop pop-up was a pleasant excuse to leave my house and support a local restaurant. But I don’t think that Canlis is the restaurant I should be choosing to support. All restaurants, bars, and cafés are struggling as coronavirus restrictions force them to pivot to takeout or delivery-only. Smaller establishments might not have the capacity to make that shift and be forced to shut down altogether. Those are the places that need my dollars. Not Canlis.

It’s hard to fault Canlis. Like anywhere else, the restaurant is just trying to figure out creative ways to stay alive and keep its staff employed. But with such a strong reputation and storied legacy, Canlis is at far less risk of going under than, say, my neighborhood coffee shop. It’s frustrating to see so many folks flocking to buy overpriced takeaway meals (and wait for them) when some of my favorite local spots might not be able to weather the storm.

Next time, I’ll choose to support a restaurant that needs my patronage a little bit more. And doesn’t require me to stand outside for 45 minutes in the cold, and potentially risk contaminating or catching something from someone standing nearby.

If you’re looking to do the same, consider checking which of your favorite restaurants are offering takeout, or even try to buy a gift card to keep them afloat through this tough time. We’ve got this.

I Tried Hungryroot, the Healthy, 10-Minute Meal Kit. And it Actually Delivered

Whenever I get a pitch in my inbox asking me to sample a new product, my first reaction is usually skepticism. Could this cricket bar really be that good? Is it actually feasible that this pill will help me avoid a hangover? Will this meal kit really make me eat healthier in less time than other meal kits, or just cooking for myself?

That last pitch came from Hungryroot, the grocery-slash-meal-kit hybrid delivery service aimed at millennials trying to eat better. And the answer, much to my surprise, was yes. Hungryroot actually did make good on its promise: to provide simple, healthy recipes that can be prepared in under ten minutes.

How it works

On its website Hungryroot refers to itself not as a meal kit or a grocery delivery service, but a sort of hybrid of the two. The ingredients included are a mixture of known brands, like Beyond Meat sausages or Banza chickpea pasta, as well as Hungryroot-made offerings, including a range of sauces and pre-cooked grains. To get started you go onto HungryRoot’s site and create an account. Then you input any dietary restrictions (vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, etc.). You then choose your subscription plan, which is anywhere from 3-6 two-serving meals per week, plus snacks. I selected the smallest option, 3-6 meals, and chose a vegetarian meal plan.

A few days later a box arrived with 11 ingredients meant to create three plant-based meals: a Pasta (Banza chickpea pasta, HungryRoot Cashew Cheddar, baby broccoli), a Market Plate (shaved brussels, pre-cooked grain mix, and Beyond Meat sausage), and a Warm Bowl (HungryRoot lemongrass tofu, snap peas, and Lotus Foods brown rice ramen). There was also a tub each of Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Black Bean Brownie Batter, which were gluten-free, vegan, and surprisingly delicious. I know, I’m as shocked as you are.

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My HungryRoot recipes [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

The Good

One of Hungryroot’s main selling points is the speed and ease with which you can prepare the meals. And, at least from my experience, they really deliver. The recipes I tried consisted of only three ingredients each, all of which were pre-prepped (the brussels sprouts were shredded, tofu nuggets pre-cooked, etc.). All I had to do was some light vegetable chopping, boil some water, sauté, and mix. Even if you have very, very few kitchen skills — and the bare minimum of appliances (read: pressure cookers) — you’d be able to nail these recipes. You don’t even need a microwave.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, the meals were meant to be ready in 10 minutes and… they actually were! Some even took less time than that. In the past when I’ve tried meal kits, the dishes often end up taking much more time and effort than their glossy recipe cards promise, so it was nice to be eating something warm and filling and full of vegetables mere minutes after I pulled the ingredients out of the fridge. All of the meals also had enough leftover for me to take them into lunch the next day.

A HungryRoot Pasta meal, with cashew cheddar sauce. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

The Bad

There’s always a catch, and for Hungryroot that catch is its cost. Smaller deliveries, which include groceries to make 3-4 two-serving meals plus snacks, cost $69 per week. Medium deliveries (4-5 two-serving meals plus snacks) cost $99 per week, and large deliveries (5-6 two-serving meals plus snacks) are $129 per week. Shipping is free for all orders and you can pause your subscription at any time.

[Update: A representative from Hungryroot emailed me to note that the company has just rolled out a new food profile survey that allows them to design custom pricing plans based on family size, personal health goals, etc. Most plans range from $60 to $100 per week. Orders over $70 will receive free shipping.]

Hungryroot updates its offerings every Thursday, so there are always fresh options to choose from on their site, and deliveries happen weekly.

Cost-wise, Hungryroot’s service shakes out to $8-$12 per meal, depending on which service you choose. The pricing is in line with other meal kits on the market right now, like Blue Apron and Purple Carrot. HungryRoot meals also have the added benefit of taking less time than other meal kit competitors and requiring less elbow grease and fewer dishes. However, $70 will buy me groceries for 2-3 weeks’ worth of meals, so it felt indulgent to spend it on a single week’s worth of ingredients, even if they do save me a few minutes in the kitchen.

Hungryroot’s Market Bowl prepped and ready to eat. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

When talking about food delivery of any kind, it’s required that we wag our fingers at the amount of packaging they use. Hungryroot did indeed come in a large box lined in foil insulation with ice packs, but the box and foil were home recyclable, as were the drained ice packs. At least they claimed. Regardless, I didn’t have to suffer the guilt that comes with shoving a bunch of bulky packaging into my garbage can, knowing it would end up in a landfill somewhere.

Is Hungryroot Worth It?

So do I recommend Hungryroot? Surprising no one more than myself, I actually do. For consumers that want to prioritize healthy eating and don’t mind paying for it, but are tired of prepackaged $15 takeaway salads, Hungryroot makes a lot of sense. In that way it’s similar to Daily Harvest, the frozen, pre-prepped smoothie and microwaveable meal service. Hungryroot requires more work than Daily Harvest, but it also has a bigger and tastier payout.

In the end, I think that Hungryroot is one of the rare direct-to-consumer meal companies to actually deliver on its promise of healthy, easy, plant-based meals. The question is whether there are enough of those consumers out there to save Hungryroot from the struggles that are affecting other meal kit and prepared food delivery companies.

Why a Blue Apron Sale is a Good Idea, and Who Might Buy It

Meal kit company Blue Apron said on its Q4 earnings call today that it was “evaluating a broad range of strategic options” to revive its struggling business — including a sale of the company or its assets.

To say the least, the company’s Q4 earnings were not good: sales have dropped more than 30 percent over the last quarter and the company posted a loss of $1.66 per share, both of which were bigger dips than expected.

Sales aren’t the only way forward for Blue Apron. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is also considering raising more money, as well as a merger with other meal kit companies.

But for my money, Blue Apron’s best option would be to sell, sell, sell. Blue Apron has been hustling hard to claw itself out of its downward spiral with little to no success. The company halted its partnership with Walmart-owned Jet.com in August. Deals with Beyond Meat and Weight Watchers to make specialized kits haven’t pulled up dragging sales, either. And just last week the company rolled out its new Meal Prep Kits aimed at aspirational, Instagram-savvy millennials.

However, none of those initiatives could solve the two of the big reasons that consumers didn’t stick with Blue Apron meal kits: time and convenience. Even with the simple recipes and pre-prepped ingredients, meal kits still take time to make — and they’re not always markedly cheaper than just ordering food delivery, which is more convenient than having to cook at all (plus no dishes). Some customers also chafe at being locked into subscription models.

These challenges aren’t unique to Blue Apron. Competitors like Hello Fresh, Purple Carrot and Marley Spoon are also trying to figure out how to attract customers and, most importantly, keep them loyal to their brands. But that’s just it — there are so, so many players in the meal kit game, likely due to its relatively low barrier to entry — and they’re all competing for the 93 million Americans who, according to NPD, have stated that they would like to try meal kits. Other players include deep-pocketed retailers like Kroger (which sells Home Chef meal kits) and Albertsons, which are rolling out their own in-store meal kits, and even CPG companies like Tyson.

In short, the competition is just too fierce, the margins are too thin, and the market’s not getting any bigger. Blue Apron has been struggling ever since its dismal IPO in 2017, and at this point it seems like no amount of corporate brainstorming or brand partnerships will save it.

In this author’s opinion, it’s time to sell.

So who would step up and buy Blue Apron? My colleague Chris laid out a comprehensive list of potential buyers in December of 2018, and I think it still holds true. The biggest contenders? Retailers who don’t already have their own meal kit service (hi, Walmart!), CPG companies, other meal kit companies, and even dark horses like Uber. Or maybe private equity groups would just acquire Blue Apron and sell it for parts.

Despite its troubles, Blue Apron has significant assets to offer. According to its latest quarterly report, the meal kit company reported $454.9 million in net revenue in 2019 with thousands of orders per month. It also has a nationwide logistics network and supply chain, which is one of the trickiest parts of meal kits. Not to mention years of customer data related to what food people are buying, and where they’re buying it.

All of that could make Blue Apron an attractive purchase, especially at a low price point. Maybe by the next earning call we’ll have a better idea on whether Blue Apron will continue to try and turn the tides, or if it’s going to cut and run.