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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Low Tech

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.

Test
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.

Will Blue Apron’s New Meal Prep Kits Help The Company Get Out of Its Rut?

Beleaguered meal kit company Blue Apron is making yet another attempt to boost declining sales with a new service: meal prep kits.

The new kits come with everything you need to prepare four meals for two people (so eight meals in total). It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to make the components of all the meals, which are meant to be packed away into containers to be reheated or eaten chilled throughout the week.

Blue Apron has four prep kit options: Signature, Carb Conscious, Pescetarian and Multi-Cooker. They shake out to around $72 per box, or $8.99 per serving. The kits don’t come with containers, and the website notes that you’ll need 16 storage vessels to hold your food and sauces (eight large, eight small).

The prep kits are already available to people in select states on the East Coast with a planned delivery date for February 24. Blue Apron will expand their availability nationwide later this year.

Blue Apron’s meal prep kits

You have to give Blue Apron kudos — it’s experimented tirelessly to come up with ways to revitalize its struggling business. So far the company has teamed up with Beyond Meat and Weight Watchers, and last year it even started offering same-day delivery. So far, none of these have done too much to jump start sales for Blue Apron, which reported a 35 percent slump in Q3 of 2019.

So could these meal prep kits finally be a win for the company? I actually think it has a better chance than, say, incorporating Beyond Meat into their menus. Meal prepping is a growing trend and it’s definitely more convenient to get all the ingredients to make four different meals send right to your door.

But even with the prep kits, Blue Apron will still face two big issues: inconvenience and price. Setting aside two full hours to prep four days’ worth of meals may be a smart time investment, but it’s still kind of a long time — especially for those who aren’t very cooking-savvy. And what if you end up going out for lunch or don’t want to reheat that salmon you cooked four days ago? The prepped meals will also cost around $8 per serving, which is not markedly less than grabbing a sandwich or deli salad.

Long story short, while the meal prep kits are an interesting bid, I don’t think they’re enough to entice new consumers to try Blue Apron — or keep them coming back. Then again, 93 million Americans are meal kit curious, so there’s definitely a market out there. If they want to tap into those potential customers, I think Blue Apron would be better off following in the footsteps of other meal kit companies and selling its kits (meal prep or otherwise) in retail, instead.

Customize Q&A: Mintel’s Global Food Analyst on the Potential and Pitfalls of Personalized Food

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some sort of all-knowing oracle that would give insight into current food trends and how they’ll play out? That’s sort of what Mintel‘s Global Food Analyst Melanie Bartelme does.

That’s why we’re so amped to have Bartelme joining us at Customize, our food personalization summit coming up next month in New York City. She’ll share a birds-eye view of the impact of personalization throughout the world of food — and predict how the trend will continue to shape the way we eat in the future.

In short, you’ll want to hear her in person at Customize (grab your tickets here before they run out!). Since February 27th can’t come soon enough, here’s a Q&A to give you sneak peek at what Bartelme will be giving insight on next month in the Big Apple:

Tell us a bit about what Mintel does in the food and bev space. 
Mintel provides insight into the food and beverage industry, helping our clients understand what consumers want, and why. We track trends and innovation in products, technology and consumer demands to ensure companies can deliver what will resonate with today’s shoppers.

Give us a snapshot into the growth of the food personalization trend. Why do you think it’s becoming so popular right now?
Mintel has been tracking personalization in food for some time now. We identified its potential in our 2016 trend [report] Diet by DNA, and it’s only been evolving since then.

Technological advances are enabling consumers to learn more about themselves than ever before, from wearables like Fitbits to DNA tests that give consumers an unprecedented look at their individual makeup. There’s a lot of confusion from consumers on what is healthy and how much of any one nutrient they need, and this specific information is appealing because it puts that control in consumers’ hands. 

What’s the biggest challenge facing companies trying to tap into consumer demand for personalization?
The flip side to the availability of this kind of individual information will be targeting those consumers. Right now, we can segment consumers by their “tribes,” such as vegan or paleo, but what will happen when each person understands they need slightly different things?

Plus, even if companies can target those consumers, consumers are grappling with privacy concerns in sharing data, so companies will be challenged to ensure that the benefits they can offer consumers in personalization outweigh the fears consumers have about sharing that data.

This is, though, also an opportunity for companies: while the prices of DNA kits are coming down, and further innovation will make these more accessible, not everyone is going to be able to truly eat this way. Nor will they want to: food is more than meeting your nutritional goals, and flavor and enjoyment are a huge advantage that food and beverage companies can offer consumers.

What do you think personalized food or drink will look like 5 years down the road?
In five years, I think we’ll see a blending of food tech with traditional eating that will create a more savvy consumer. We’ve already seen consumers demanding more transparency and traceability from their foods, and that will not go away. Personalization technology will enable consumers to know so much more about the foods they’re consuming and make smarter decisions about what they can and cannot eat. For some consumers, this may mean a return to foods they had written off, like gluten.

While there will be a group of consumers who live and breathe by the recommendations they receive from technology, a majority of consumers will be just beginning to experiment with these tools. Food and beverage companies will be challenged to provide as much information as possible about their products to help all consumers create healthy, balanced diets, whether or not they are using their DNA to do so.

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Come see Melanie speak to the future of personalization at Customize on February 27th in NYC! Spoon readers can use code SPOON15 to get 15% off tickets here.

Food & Drink Pods Were Everywhere at CES, but Do Consumers Want Them?

If you were seeking out food tech at CES last week (and believe me, we were), you might have noticed an awful lot of one thing: pods. I was surprised by how many companies I saw demo-ing pod-based food or beverage system. Here are just a few:

Fresco’s olive oil press

Fresco
Tucked into the Italy pavilion at Eureka Park I stumbled across Fresco, the maker of a “Keurig of Olive Oil.” Insert frozen pods of olive oil into the EVA device (which is about the size of a French Press), press a button, and in five minutes you can collect your cold-pressed olive oil. You can select different varietals of olive oil and even choose infused flavors, like chili or basil.

When I saw this I instantly flashed back to the Juicero debacle — do you really need a device to thaw pods of frozen olive oil? According to the reps at the booth, though, you kind of do. The EVA heats olive oil to its ideal temperature, between 20 to 25 °C (77 °F), where you can taste all of its flavors.

The machine costs €79 ($87) and each frozen pod is around €1 ($1.11). For now only Italians can order Fresco, but the company is trying to move into the U.S. While Italian cucinares (cooks) might shell out extra euros to get optimally extracted olive oil, I’m not sure American home cooks will have the same level of devotion. Especially when they could just buy fancy olive oil from their local co-op or farmers market.

CES 2020: N2FALLS' portable nitro coffee

N2FALLS
You’ve probably heard of (or tasted) coffee pods, but nitro cold brew is a new entrant to the pod-based caffeine space. Korean company N2FALLS makes small cylindrical pods which, when inserted into the partner drink lid over a glass of water, expels compressed nitrogen-infused coffee concentrate. Voila — a nitro cold brew. Or if you do it over milk, a nitro latté! The company also makes pods for tea, juice and even booze-free wine.

Coffee prices vary by quantity but average to about $3 per capsule. For now N2FALLS is only available in Korea, but the company is in the midst of planning a U.S. expansion. Initially they’ll sell their pods in brick & mortar shops (the rep I spoke to named Amazon Go as a target) before selling online.

Tigoût
Argentinian startup Tigoût is a pod-based machine that bakes up wee single-serve desserts (think: Belgian chocolate cake or a white chocolate blondie). Insert a pre-prepped frozen pod (or two) into the machine, press start, and in a couple of minutes you’ll have a piping-hot sweet treat. Tigoût has a connected app so you can monitor your bake remotely and reorder capsules as needed.

The device itself costs $400 and each pod is $1.50. Right now there are 12 options, including six savory offerings. Tigoût’s founder and CEO Rodrigo Córdoba, who showed me the machine on the CES show floor, plans to launch the company officially in December of this year.

CES 2020: A Demo of Drinkworks, the Pod-based Cocktail Robot

Drinkworks + Bartesian
Adventurous CES goers could sample the hard stuff thanks to a few pod-based machines. Drinkworks and Bartesian are both cocktail-mixing robots which rely on flavor capsules to make classic drinks.

Drinkworks, which is the result of a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch, is a countertop appliance which turns pods into cocktails, ciders, and even beers. Just pop a capsule — which already contains alcohol — into the machine, press a button, and out comes your drink of choice. You can see it make me a Moscow Mule at CES in the video above (which, yes, I drank at 10am cause Vegas). Drinkworks is available in select states for $299 and the pods cost around $3.99 each, depending on the drink.

Like Drinkworks, Bartesian is also a pod-based cocktail robot. It uses capsules filled with juice, bitters and other mixers. However, unlike Drinkworks, however, Bartesian users have to provide the spirits themselves — which allows for more customization but also adds an extra step (and expense) to the process. Bartesian devices are currently available at retailers around the country (and online) for $349.99.

Pod people?
Clearly food & bev companies have seen the success of Keurig and Nespresso and decided that pods = the future. And there’s some validity to that. Pods offer near-instant gratification (assuming you remember to reorder them) and a high level of consistency. They also give consumers the option to switch things up according to their mood — if you want a hazelnut espresso one day and a vanilla one the next, no problemo — and provide hardware makers recurring revenues.

But while pods do allow some level of wiggle room, their very nature means that they still end up trapping consumers. You may be able to choose the flavor of your cold brew/dessert/cocktail pod, but you’re reliant on the pod itself to get the finished product — and that means you’re beholden to a specific appliance manufacturer. Consumers can chafe against being locked into food ecosystems. Pods also don’t give you wiggle room to tweak a recipe — for example, if you like a slightly less boozy cocktail or a sweeter cold brew.

There’s also the negative environmental aspect to consider. While some pods are technically recyclable, most end up in landfills. That could become a bigger issue as consumers begin to prioritize sustainability more and more.

Despite their obvious convenience, will the cost of pods — both literal and environmental — keep consumers away? Clearly a bunch of companies at CES don’t think so. But I’m not so sure that the pod-volution of food and drink will take off — especially for more niche products, like olive oil.

Instead, I think we’ll see a growth of smart devices like the Picobrew, which can work with the company’s Picopacks or let consumers add their own ingredients. Even Keurig is getting on-board. You can buy the company’s proprietary pods, but many machines also let you buy reusable pods and add your own coffee for more of a customizable and waste-free twist. The DIY aspect still keeps consumers within the hardware device’s ecosystem, but allows them more flexibility (and sustainability). That’s the type of tech I’d like to see more of at CES 2021.

DishDivvy Partners with DoorDash to Deliver Home-Cooked Meals

Today DishDivvy, an online marketplace for home-cooked meals, officially announced its integration with DoorDash to facilitate food deliveries. Previously, hungry folks who had purchased a meal from a home cook over DishDivvy’s platform had to go and pick up their homemade lasagna/spanikopita/pad thai themselves. Now they have the option to pay a mileage-based delivery fee to have it delivered directly to their door.

DishDivvy may have just officially announced the news, but CEO Ani Torosyan wrote to me today that the startup had been making deliveries with DoorDash since 2019. “We held off on announcing because we wanted to test the integration and really understand delivery when it comes to home kitchen operations,” she wrote. Since then she said that they have iterated on their integration, but wouldn’t reveal exact details.

The official news comes just a couple weeks after DishDivvy announced it would be expanding from its home state of California into Utah. Torosyan said that they hadn’t tested DoorDash delivery in all of Utah yet, but that as of now there is some coverage in the state. She added that third-party delivery of home-cooked food is completely legal in both California and Utah.

DoorDash’s costs for the home-cooked food are a bit pricey: $6 for delivery within a 3-mile radius. That might seem excessive when you could just zip over and pick it up for free. However, adding the delivery option allows DoorDash to reach a wider audience: those extremely strapped for time, people without access to a car, anyone who is mobility-challenged, or doesn’t want to leave the house, etc. etc.

It may seem like a relatively small step, but integrating with delivery shows that DishDivvy is serious about making the cottage food marketplace a legitimate food option available to all — not just a niche audience. Well, at least in those states that allow the sale of home-cooked food.

DishDivvy to Expand Homemade Food Marketplace to Utah

Talented cooking hobbyists of Utah, you’ve got a new potential side hustle. Yesterday DishDivvy, a marketplace which connects home cooks with hungry neighbors, announced that it had begun operations across Utah.

DishDivvy is a mobile app that lets preapproved home cooks sell food to local consumers. The startup helps home cooks get certified and onboarded onto their platform. They also handle all ordering and payment internally, and can even help arrange for home delivery. Utah will be the second territory for Glendale, CA-based DishDivvy, the first being its home state of California.

DishDivvy wasn’t the first company to try and create a cottage food marketplace. Josephine was an early entrant in the food sharing economy, similarly connecting home cooks with hungry consumers. Due to regulatory issues they were forced to suspend operations at the end of 2017. However, with the passage of California law AB-626 (which was pushed forward by Josephine’s team), DishDivvy was able to commence operations in California at the end of 2018.

Utah has just passed a similar law with H.B. 181, The Home Consumption and Homemade Food Act. Under the law, home cooks in Utah are “exempt from any state, county, or city licensing, permitting, certification, inspection, packaging, and labeling requirements,” provided they comply with certain requirements set in the law. Therefore Utah residents, like Californians, are now able to sell homemade food directly from their home — as long as they have the proper permits to do so and follow some basic rules (food must be for home consumption, sold directly to consumer, etc).

We at the Spoon have been intrigued by the idea of a home cook marketplace for awhile. It’s an interesting way to give people a supplementary revenue source, keep money within a community, and connect neighbors, all while cutting down on food waste. That’s why we named DishDivvy one of our FoodTech 25 for 2019.

Last June, when Mike Wolf wrote about AB 626, he noted that “California often leads the country when it comes to forward-leaning legislation” and that the new law “could open the door for nationwide legalization and give a framework for home food entrepreneurs.” It seems like California has indeed opened that door for Utah — and I’m guessing we’ll see some more states pass laws to welcome cottage food industry in 2020.

Enrichables Powdered Protein and Kale Packets Let You Make Any Meal “Healthier”

If I had my druthers, I would eat mac & cheese for dinner several times a week. However, since I’m adult and know that’s not exactly a healthy dietary choice, I usually opt for a more balanced meal.

But what if I could health-ify my mac & cheese? That’s the promise that offered by Pampered Chef, a kitchen equipment and dry goods company owned by Berkshire Hathaway, with its new Enrichables line. Enrichables are packets of nutrient-dense powders meat to be added to your normal meals, from smoothies to soups to dips, to make them healthier.

The line’s first two flavors, Pea Protein and Kale & Fiber, launched in October of this year. According to Sandy Wolner, Pampered Chef’s in-house food and trend innovator, the company decided to start with these two products because they’re universally appealing. “Right now, everyone is trying to get more protein into their diet,” she told me over the phone last week. “And everyone knows that kale is a very nutritious vegetable.” 

The pea protein packet contains 10 g of pea protein, and the Kale & Fiber pack has 2 cups of kale, which contains vitamins A, C, and K, as well as 8 grams of chicory root fiber. And that’s it. I like that the packets are made of super-simple, transparent ingredients, unlike lots of other meal supplements and protein powders. The Enrichables packets are also vegan and free from soy, gluten, and nuts.

Left: Enrichables Pea Protein. Right: Enrichables Kale & Fiber. (Photo: Catherine Lamb)

Pampered Chef sent me some Enrichables so I could try them for myself. The first thing I noticed after opening up the box was the size of the packets themselves. I imagined they would be a little bigger than a sugar packet, maybe the size of a tea bag. However, the Enrichables packs are about 5-inches by 4-inches — significantly larger than I’d expected. In fact, they were a little too large to fit into my pocket or slip into my outer backpack pocket, which made keeping them with me on-the-go slightly inconvenient.

Reading the back of the packets, I realized that Enrichables aren’t single-serve. Each one is meant to be incorporated into a recipe that feeds four. That might work well if you’re a parent trying to sneak some fiber and protein into your family dinner, but as someone who mainly cooks just for herself, it was slighly awkward to keep these partially-used packets around my kitchen or office kitchen.

So how did it taste? On the whole, not bad. In fact, both powders chiefly tasted like nothing — and that’s a good thing.

I tried them stirred into a plain lentil soup — one-fourth of a packet in each serving. The Kale & Fiber pack turned my soup vaguely green but didn’t really affect the flavor, which was nice. Similarly the Pea Protein didn’t taste like much and didn’t have the bitterness that sometimes goes along with pea protein. However, it did thicken my soup so much that it became a paste, which was slightly unappetizing. That could be an issue if I was adding the Pea Protein powder to smoothies or other liquids.

Left: Enrichables Kale & Fiber. Right: Enrichalbes Pea Protein (Photo: Catherine Lamb)

That hiccup aside, my lunch tasted good. I’m not sure how much of a difference 2.5 grams of protein powder and a half-cup of kale, the equivalent of one-fourth of each packet, will really make in my overall health. It could’ve just been in my head, but I did finish my lunch feeling uncharacteristically virtuous and full.

Placebo or no, I think Enrichables concept is an interesting way to tap into a few food trends we’ve been seeing here at the Spoon. First, it fits into the move towards so-called “clean label” products with shorter, more transparent ingredient lists. Enrichables is also taking advantage of growing consumer demand for protein, specifically plant-based protein. Finally, Enrichables plays into the overarching trend for mealtime convenience. Want more fiber in your meal? Just sprinkle on this powder and you’re set in an instant.

As for me, I think I’ll use the rest of my Enrichables packet on some mac & cheese for dinner tonight. Hey, it’s healthy!

Report: Impossible Whopper Boosts Burger King Sales, Will Popeyes Embrace Plant-Based Meat?

Yesterday Restaurant Brands International (RBI), owner of fast-food chains Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Horton’s, announced its Q3 2019 Earnings Results.

The report showed that Burger King’s sales increased roughly 15 percent globally for the quarter. In the U.S., the launch of the Impossible Whopper drove 5% comparable sales growth, which Jose Cil, CEO of RBI, noted was the “strongest level since 2015.”

This isn’t exactly surprising. Impossible Whopper sales reportedly boosted traffic by over 18 percent to the BK in St. Louis which first tested the plant-based burger. Reports show, that the alt-meat burger is also leading to higher ticket sales and attracting more millennials and lapsed visitors (like The Spoon’s Chris Albrecht) to the fast-food giant. The RBI Earnings Results seems to indicate that this boost in traffic/ticket amount has continued as the Impossible Whopper rolled out to all Burger Kings nationwide.

Not all was rosy in the report, though. Tim Horton’s had what Cil called “a challenging quarter,” reporting only 0.1 percent growth compared to 2.8 percent growth in the same quarter a year earlier. This comes at the same time that the Canadian fast-food chain nixed Beyond Meat products from its menu, except in Ontario and British Columbia, just months after adding the plant-based meat to 4,000 of its restaurants.

These two facts might have nothing to do with each other. However, the report shows a rapid downturn for Tim Horton’s after the chain had a surprisingly strong Q2, in which its success was attributed, at least in part, to its adoption of Beyond Meat patties. Tim Horton’s rolled out the plant-based meat nationwide in July (that is, during Q3), so maybe consumers across Canada didn’t flock to the Beyond Meat offerings in the same way they did in the initial test markets?

Interestingly, Popeyes had one of its best quarters in nearly two decades, thanks to the viral popularity of its chicken sandwich. Next up, RBI might well continue its history of experimenting with alternative protein and launch a plant-based chicken sandwich. But it better hurry if it doesn’t want KFC or Chick-fil-A to beat it to the punch.

ARK Reusables Launches Kickstarter to Replace All The Food Takeout Containers in Your Life

I’m a cheapskate and hate food waste, so whenever I can’t finish my food at a restaurant — no matter how little is left — I ask to get it boxed up to take home. The next day I usually end up eating the rest of it for lunch and throwing away the container it came in.

I’m not the only one. Forty percent of trashed plastic is single-use packaging like baggies, straws, and, of course, takeaway food boxes. The vast majority of it ends up in landfills or clogging up the oceans.

ARK Reusables’ founding team saw our rampant use of single-use takeout and delivery containers and decided to try and make a better alternative. The startup, which is part of Dutch company Ozarka but operates out of Seattle, makes reusable silicone containers in a variety of sizes designed specifically to be used by consumers to hold their restaurant takeaway meals. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday with a $40,000 goal.

ARK has a few value adds that distinguish it from regular tupperware: the containers squish to pack flat, so they can easily fit in consumers’ bags, and also have spill-proof lids. Unlike more flimsy containers, they can go in the microwave, dishwasher, and even the oven. The company is working to develop a way to fully recycle the silicone containers.

The company plans to initially sell directly to consumers, who can use their ARK containers to take away food from salad bars, fast-casual restaurants and more. Down the road, ARK wants to branch into the B2B realm and sell directly to restaurants, replacing their current to-go containers.

For now, Early Bird Kickstarter prices begin at $22 for a single 750-ml reusable container with an option to add on a container carrying case and set of stainless steel cutlery for an additional fee. That’s not cheap, especially if you’re prone to losing your reusable containers (guilty). Which means that, at least initially, ARK will have to rely on more eco-conscious consumers willing pay more for the environmentally friendly option.

ARK Reusable containers also have a few touches that make them specifically geared towards takeaway restaurant food. Their sizes match the standard serving sizes at most restaurants, and they even come marked with fill volumes so servers at places like Chipotle or Sweetgreen can know exactly how much food they’re dishing out when consumers bring in their ARK container.

ARK isn’t the only one trying to cut down on our rampant use of single-use plastic food containers. Zume Inc. recently acquired an eco-friendly packaging system that will be used by Zume Pizza and other restaurants the company works with. Other retailers and food companies are also targeting the consumer, exploring reusable aluminum and glass containers to hold their food products. However, ARK’s products are more versatile, designed to be used for on-the-go meals at salad bars and fancy restaurants alike.

ARK’S containers are set to ship in May of 2020. As with any Kickstarter venture, it’s good to approach it with a healthy amount of skepticism about whether you’ll see the product in the time promised — if at all. However, ARK Reusables’ parent company, Ozarka, already successfully manufactures food-safe reusable containers, so it seems likely ARK will follow through on its production plans.

A bigger issue could be getting restaurants to accept the containers themselves. California recently passed legislation that lets restaurants more easily accept consumers’ reusable containers. However, the law hasn’t spread to other states yet, so ARK’s customers could potentially run into issues if restaurants refuse to accept the silicone containers for health code reasons, or just because they’re not sure how to use them.

If the California law spreads, however, or if people just get more accustomed to the idea of diners bringing in their own containers to take home food, ARK Reusables could be a slam-drunk way to keep more plastic out of the oceans. And more food in your belly.