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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Keurig is Beta Testing Compostable Pods as Partner CoffeeB Blows Past 400 Thousand Customers

It was a year ago that Keurig announced it had begun working with CoffeeB to create its next-generation compostable coffee pod. The new pod, a puck-shaped consumable called the K-Round, features a fully compostable, plant-based container and was introduced alongside the company’s next-generation single-serve coffee brewer, the Alta.

So when the company announced last week that both the K-Rounds and the Alta brewer are currently undergoing beta testing in consumer homes, I was intrigued, as it looks like we may finally be inching closer to a post-plastic future in the world of single-use coffee. According to Keurig Dr Pepper, they are leveraging insights gathered during consumer testing to optimize the unboxing experience, brewer performance, and the taste and aroma of the beverages produced.

Keurig said it has launched operations at a new, proprietary pilot manufacturing line at its R&D center in Burlington, Massachusetts, where it’s producing the initial batches of K-Round pods for beta testing. This facility will serve as the foundation for refining the manufacturing process as the company scales toward mass production. Keurig also noted it has broken ground on a new roasting and production facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The company provided updates on the Alta’s variable pressure brewing technology, which allows for adjustments in brewing pressure to create different types of barista-quality coffee—including a golden, velvety crema (finally giving them the ability to rival Nespresso’s centrifuge-derived crema). Keurig says four varieties of K-Rounds have been developed and are currently undergoing testing, with plans to expand the selection in the coming months.

The company also disclosed it is undergoing third-party testing to certify that its K-Round pods are compostable in both industrial and home settings. They say they are on track to achieve certification ahead of the broader product launch, aligning with their goal to make 100% of their packaging recyclable or compostable by 2025 (and to further distance themselves from past criticism over unfulfilled sustainability claims).

While Keurig’s progress on a sustainable pod system validates CoffeeB’s technology (Keurig’s system incorporates CoffeeB’s tech along with some of its proprietary IP), the Swiss-based division of Delica AG has been experiencing rapid growth on its own, doubling the number of brewing systems in the field from 200,000 in September 2023 to 400,000 by early 2024.

The Food & Retail AI Rollup Continues as Crisp Buys Shelf Engine

Crisp, a New York-based retail data company, has acquired Seattle-based startup Shelf Engine. Founded in 2016 by Stefan Kalb and Bede Jordan, Shelf Engine specializes in using machine learning to optimize ordering processes for perishable goods, with the goal of reducing costs and minimizing food waste. The platform is now in use across more than 7,000 stores. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Shelf Engine was one of the earliest adopters of AI technology in food retail aimed at reducing waste and optimizing fresh food ordering. Kalb, who launched a food distribution business at 23 and holds degrees in actuarial science and economics, developed the idea during a 2014 ski trip with his friend and engineer Bede Jordan, a former Microsoft HoloLens developer. The pair questioned why food industry processes and systems remained outdated:

“Could we create a platform that enables retailers to buy food and eliminate significant waste? Could we create a platform that eliminates redundant busywork between vendors and retailers? Could we create a more perfect marketplace?”

These questions led Kalb and Jordan to develop a product designed to drive the food industry towards greater efficiency through technology.

Kalb reflected on the deal on LinkedIn:

“What started as a side project with my good friend Bede turned into a platform that’s now in over 7,000 stores across the U.S., helping reduce millions of pounds of food waste. It’s been eight years of wild highs, humbling challenges, and so much growth.”

Crisp plans to integrate Shelf Engine’s advanced algorithms into its commerce platform. The company believes the integration will help its retailer customers optimize in-stock inventory, improve shelf management, and drive revenue in an increasingly margin-sensitive retail environment.​

“Joining forces with Crisp allows us to scale our proven technology and deliver greater value to retailers and their supplier partners,” said Kalb. “Together, we will set a new standard in forecasting and inventory management, helping our customers thrive even in challenging market conditions.”​

This news is yet another in a series of acquisition announcements for early pioneers who are building technology leveraging AI to optimize different parts of the food value chain. Earlier this month AI Palette was gobbled up by trend forecaster Global Data, and before that Spoonshot was acquired by Target. Like other buyers in these deals, Crisp provides predictive intelligence software and services and is buying Shelf Engine to improve their AI insights capabilities.

Unlike these previous deals, Crisp and Shelf Engine focus more on retail and supply chain commerce optimization, which is one of the areas that is seeing the greatest leaps forward in productivity and cost-reduction. My guess is Afresh, which is similar to Shelf Engine and remains independent following its $115 million in series B funding in 2022, may also be one of the next companies gobbled up as bigger software and supply chain players look to add AI capabilities to their products.

How Tariffs Are Impacting Canadian Food Companies (and What They’re Doing About It)

Last week, I caught up with Dana McCauley, CEO of the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), to discuss some of the challenges facing Canadian food manufacturers amidst the abrupt and surprisingly hostile stance taken by the Trump administration towards our northern neighbors.

CFIN is a national organization dedicated to helping Canadian food and beverage businesses enhance productivity, competitiveness, and economic potential through innovation and technology adoption, and in her position as president of the organization, McCauley had a bird’s eye view on how the Canadian food companies are navigating considerable uncertainty due to shifts in trade policies, tariffs, and antagonistic rhetoric from the U.S. administration

We discussed the disruption caused by sudden policy reversals on trade agreements previously established between Canada and the U.S., and what the imposition of tariffs has meant to Canadian food companies. According to McCauley, the uncertainty forces Canadian food companies to spend extensive resources on scenario planning, detracting from productivity and innovation. McCauley pointed out that these issues are magnified in the food business compared to other industries because of the food’s unique constraints compared to other sectors, such as limited shelf life.

Another struggle for Canadian food manufacturers under the new reality is figuring out how to move forward in a business that often involves complex products that historically have integrated cross-border ingredient lists. McCauley shared the example of organic dairy products, which traditionally have included American-sourced dairy components for value-added products. McCauley said that rising tariffs and trade barriers now render these business models economically unsustainable, prompting businesses to rethink their strategies drastically.

And then there’s the hostile rhetoric from an administration of a country that Canadians have long-seen as their biggest ally. McCauley has said that the result of this rhetoric has been a strong push among consumers to “buy Canadian”. The shift to Canadian and drop American products has been swift and one has to wonder about the long-term damage that Trump is doing to the American brand in Canada and elsewhere.

I asked McCauley how CFIN is supporting Canadian companies given all the sudden changes, and she said that CFIN is actively supporting Canadian food businesses through this volatile period by advocating for enhanced domestic innovation and accelerated regulatory approvals for low-risk food technologies. She emphasized the urgency for Canadian food manufacturers to diversify markets, embrace domestic technological solutions, and leverage Canada’s extensive international trade agreements to navigate ongoing trade uncertainties effectively.

We talk about lots more, so you won’t want to miss our conversation. You can listen to my full conversation below or on The Spoon Podcast.

How Tariffs Are Impacting The Canadian Food Industry

Bridge Appliances Deploys Egg-Making Robot at First Customer

Five years ago, the cofounders behind Bridge Appliances stood in line at a busy breakfast cafe. As minutes ticked by, frustration turned into inspiration. They wondered: What if the preparation of eggs could be automated? That simple question led to the creation of OMM, a countertop egg-making robot. Now, half a decade later, the Bridge team is back in a coffee shop, deploying their robot for their very first commercial customer, Beantrust Coffeebar in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Bridge cofounder Connor White recently described spending the past two months embedded at Beantrust, collaborating closely with owner Erik Modahl and his team. According to White, working alongside baristas, listening to customers, and absorbing the café’s unique culture and operational flow allowed Bridge to tailor OMM’s integration precisely to Beantrust’s specific needs.

As I wrote last year, OMM cooks two eggs in roughly two minutes, enabling Beantrust to serve around 60 eggs an hour. White notes they’ve already seen promising results, with the new sandwich lineup boosting average ticket values by 15%. Currently, one in five customers chooses to add a freshly made sandwich to their coffee order (and that number continues to climb).

This marks a significant milestone for Bridge, which raised $2 million in seed funding from Steve Papa, one of Toast’s earliest investors, in 2021. Moving forward, Bridge is likely to see more growth among small coffee shops or similar establishments that lack full kitchens or grill cooks but still wish to offer breakfast. However, they will need to raise considerably more funding to scale effectively, or they could be a potential attractive acquisition candidate for a company such as Middleby.

Soul to Table: Chef Ryan Lacy Talks With Thom Curry About How He Built Temecula Olive Oil Company

On this debut episode of “Soul to Table,” Chef Ryan Lacy sits down with Thom Curry, co-founder of Temecula Olive Oil Company, to talk about Thom’s journey that began 22 years ago when he and his wife decided to transition from wine to olive oil production.

Ryan joins Thom on location at his picturesque 26-acre property in Awanga, California, where Thom talks about key moments in their journey—such as Nancy’s decision to open one of the nation’s first olive oil tasting rooms—a move Thom initially doubted. Despite challenging beginnings in a remote location, their dedication paid off as consumers sought out their unique, high-quality olive oils.

Thom talks about the biodiversity of the farm, which features over 32 Mediterranean olive varieties alongside herbs and fruits, and his embrace of regenerative farming practices, including using livestock for land maintenance and recycling olive by-products as compost or even fuel.

Thom also shares how he developed California’s first mobile olive oil mill and discusses his company’s educational initiatives, including collaborations with local schools to promote regenerative farming and sustainable agriculture.

Make sure to watch the video below to see some great shots of Thom and Nancy’s farm, and subscribe to the podcast!

From Desert to Oasis

The Spoon Discusses The Current State of AI Workflows With AI for Humans’ Gavin Purcell

In this latest edition of the Spoon Full of AI Podcast – the podcast where I talk to leaders who are using AI to transform their business (in food and beyond), I catch up with AI for Humans host Gavin Purcell to discuss the rapid advancements and complexities emerging in artificial intelligence. We talk about Google’s new Studio AI platform and its potential as an all-in-one solution for content creation, and we both have reservations about Google’s use of an older image generation model (Gemini 2), highlighting its limitations compared to newer versions like Gemini 3.

AI Studios? with Gavin Purcell

Gavin talked about the transformative shift from traditional file-based computing to generative AI, as noted in Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s recent keynote. He make a great point talking about how this will be difficult for mainstream adoption, where users expect simplicity akin to social media sharing, yet AI tools remain complex and imperfect.

We both talk about our frustrations with current AI workflows, where we compared the cumbersome nature of local models like Comfy UI to more streamlined platforms such as Ideogram and MiniMax. In the end, we both want a unified, user-friendly AI platform but recognize that technical and creative challenges remain significant hurdles.

We also discuss who we predict will be winners in the AI platform space (no spoilers!), so make sure you listen to see who we pick!

You can watch the full video above or click play below, or find this podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts.

SKS Returns in 2025 With Global Virtual Summit

The Smart Kitchen Summit, the pioneering executive summit focused on the digital transformation of the food world, is excited to announce its return in 2025 with a brand-new format. This year, SKS is going fully virtual, offering an interactive experience over two weeks in July 2025 with 1-2 hours of daily programming and sessions.

A New Format for a New Era

“We’re excited to bring SKS to a global audience in 2025,” said Michael Wolf, SKS founder and publisher of The Spoon. “The reality is 2025 is a year of great change and uncertainty. Brands and professionals are looking for ways to navigate and collaborate over this rapidly shifting terrain, so we decided it was more important than ever to expand our reach via a virtual event.”

For two weeks, SKS 2025 will feature up to two hours of daily programming, including thought-provoking discussions, product showcases, and deep dives into the most significant trends shaping the future of food and cooking. This approach allows attendees to engage with the content at their own pace and fosters meaningful conversations and networking opportunities at SKS 2025, all while continuing to build their own companies.

Themes for 2025

SKS 2025 will focus on the most critical topics driving the innovation-driven transformation of how we shop, cook, and consume food. Some of the key themes and questions to be explored include:

  • The Future of Cooking – How is technology reshaping the way we prepare and experience food at home and in professional kitchens?
  • AI & Food – The impact of artificial intelligence on food innovation, personalization, and efficiency.
  • Personalized Nutrition – How data and technology are driving customized food solutions for better health and wellness.
  • Electrification & Sustainability – The role of electrification in the kitchen and its impact on energy efficiency and sustainability.

What to Expect

  • Live Presentations & Panel Discussions – Engage with industry pioneers, tech disruptors, and thought leaders.
  • On-Demand Access – Catch up on any missed sessions with full access to recorded content.
  • Community & Networking – Connect with professionals in food, tech, and investment through our dedicated online platform.
  • Exclusive Product Showcases – Discover the latest advancements in kitchen appliances, AI-driven food systems, and next-gen culinary experiences.

Join Us

Registration for SKS 2025 is now open! Whether you’re an industry professional, startup founder, investor, or food tech enthusiast, SKS 2025 is your chance to be part of the conversation shaping the future of food.

For those interested in speaking at SKS 2025 can apply here. If you are interested in sponsorships, let us know and we’ll be in touch!

Dispatches from Future Food Tech 2025: After the Alt-Protein Boom, a New Realism Takes Hold

Last week, I headed down to San Francisco to check out the Future Food Tech conference, one of the leading gatherings in food innovation, where investors, startups, and big food brands come together to share ideas, commiserate, and network.

I attended this year’s event to gauge the current state of future food and assess if the industry had rebounded from last year’s somewhat somber mood, marked by cash-strapped startups—primarily in the alt-protein space—focusing on extending their financial runways amid a venture investment “winter.”

The good news: the overall mood is improving despite a rapidly shifting regulatory and governmental landscape, particularly in the U.S. Also, the industry has pivoted, in a fairly significant way, away from a pretty substantial over-indexing on alt-proteins as the key investment focus.

Below are my key takeaways, featuring some quotes from some of the experts who were at the show.

Dialed Down Alt-Proteins and More Discriminating Investors

First off, let’s get something straight: Alt protein is still important and on everyone’s mind at FFT and across the future food industry, but it’s just not the singular dominating focus anymore. Investors and entrepreneurs appear increasingly aware of the substantial regulatory, economic, scaling, and consumer adoption hurdles that many alt-protein products face.

At the same, many of the big investment funds and venture investors who got pulled into food tech during the bubble in 2019 to 2022 have pulled away from the space. While it means less investment dollars to fund, say, a pilot plant for a cultivated meat company that may be years away from coming to market, it also means fewer investment dollars are chasing me-too business plans.

“Everybody outside this sector was excited about Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat and thought all this stuff was going to change the game,” said Brian Frank, founder of FTW Ventures. “When all of us that were rationalists were going, ‘No, guys, it’s food. It is this.’ And so we’re coming back to this, and a lot of the tourist investors are leaving.”

Differentiated Players in Cultivated Meat Keep Pushing Boulder Up the Hill

Despite these challenges, some companies continue to talk up their advances in cultivated meat. One such company was Forsea, a company specializing in making cultivated unagi.

After signing the standard legal disclaimer waiving future litigation rights (typical at cultivated meat tastings—one investor told me he’s signed about twenty-five of them), I sampled Forsea’s cultivated unagi. It was good! The taste was pretty spot on, and the mouthfeel was about 90% there.

Another company that was pretty visible at FFT last week was Mission Barns, which had just received its ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA for its cultivated pork fat and was inviting people to try it out at tastings. While I wasn’t added to their tasting invite list, attendees who I spoke to who sampled their meatballs spoke highly of them.

Meeting the MAHA Moment: A Focus on Better Health Outcomes Becomes Primary Driver

It shouldn’t be overly surprising that the event’s focus has shifted from sustainability alone toward creating better, healthier food inputs. This adjustment reflects broader regulatory and business climates in the U.S., where food companies are adapting to an FDA and USDA potentially influenced by the likes of RFK Jr.

This new direction acknowledges the increasingly challenging regulatory environment for cultivated meat—now banned in states like Florida—while recognizing heightened consumer and governmental interest in clean labels and nutrition-focused, less futuristic food categories.

One company that aligns well with this trend is Borealis. Founder Reza Soltanzadeh emphasized the concept of “stealth health”—enhancing familiar foods with added nutritional value, like with their protein-rich pastas.

“Changing consumer behavior, like ordering a plant-based Big Mac at McDonald’s, is incredibly challenging,” Soltanzadeh explained. “But stealth health means your child shouldn’t even notice a difference from their regular ramen.”

AI is Tablestakes Now, But Beware the AI-Washing

Artificial intelligence was everywhere, both in on-stage panels and in hallway side conversations. Longtime pioneers in the space held court in packed rooms while new startups tried to talk up their AI bona fides.

As someone who created the first dedicated event a couple of years ago to explore how AI will change food, I’m not surprised at just how fast it has permeated the entire consciousness of the food industry executive class. After all, most of us, just being a person living in society, find it nearly impossible to get away from the AI-is-changing-everything conversation.

Still, the sheer amount of AI-food conversation was perhaps even more than I expected, and I imagine the heads of many in attendance were probably spinning as they tried to determine what exactly is a true innovation in food AI and what is simply a form of AI-washing.

I interviewed Matias Muchnick, CEO of NotCo, who warned startups against overstating their AI expertise: “Ultimately, claiming AI capabilities you don’t genuinely possess is a short-lived lie. Like greenwashing, AI-washing will eventually catch up with you.”

That said, it’s still exciting to see the potential. AI applications demonstrated at Future Food-Tech ranged from toxin detection to personalized nutritional recommendations.

As Megan Thomas, podcaster and future food consultant wrote: “Distinguishing meaningful innovations from hype remains a challenge, but the real-world applications of AI in food—from health to supply chains—are undeniably compelling.”

Fiber is Having Its Moment as GLP-1s Grips The Food Industry

Outside of AI everywhere, the most interesting trend to me was the pervasiveness of the impact that GLP-1s is having on both startup investment and overall focus in the space.

Peter Bodenheimer, venture partner at PeakBridge, wrote that “fiber is everywhere and continues to have its moment, with startups focused on new functional elements, improved formats, and data-driven discovery.”

What’s interesting is the divergence in conversation that is happening societally and within the food space. Ozempic and other GLP-1s have become household names and a part of the larger cultural conversation as folks on social media try to guess which celebrity on the red carpet is taking GLP-1s, the food industry is moving beyond last year’s initial panic to proactively optimize products for GLP-1 compatibility.

A wave of startups, including One.Bio, SuperGut, and Carbiotix, have emerged, offering platforms enabling CPG brands to enhance their fiber content and position products as GLP-1-friendly alternatives to pharmaceutical interventions.

I spoke with Carbiotix chairman Kristofer Cook, who described the company’s efforts in helping major brands integrate gut-healthy fiber through on-premise food side-stream upcycling. This two-birds-one-stone approach sounded like a pretty nifty trick, particularly for those brands who didn’t want to become reliant on startup’s nutraceutical to fortify their food.

Companies using their platform are “extracting more value from a side stream, which is typically set the way for animal feed,” said Cook. “They’re making their products healthier. And they’re able to market themselves as being more sustainable as well.”

Looking Forward

The bottom line is it seemed like, despite the shifting terrain underfoot from a regulatory standpoint and the continued fundraising headwinds, that food startups are finding their way. Those remaining in ths space are becoming increasingly pragmatic about the realities of innovation adoption, investment sustainability, and regulatory navigation. The exuberance over cultivated protei has been tempered by a clear-eyed recognition of consumer behavior, economic constraints, and the long-term role of health-centric innovation.

Looking forward, if this year’s FFT is any indication, it seems food tech innovation is now being defined more by clear-eyed realism, a focus on finding practical food-driven health interventions, and an embrace around accelerating innovation through the use of technologies like AI.

Less Robots, More Meat: Chipotle Founder’s Big Pivot

Just over a year ago, Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle, opened Kernel in New York City—a vegan restaurant concept featuring a large robotic arm in the kitchen to assist in food preparation.

Given Ells’s pedigree, Kernel received significant attention from news outlets, with many speculating whether it represented the beginning of widespread robotics adoption in restaurants.

However, this speculation was short-lived. A year later, Kernel closed, replaced by a sandwich shop serving roast beef and other traditional sandwich staples—essentially, more meat and fewer robots.

This pivot marks a notable shift for Ells, who just last fall described his automation-heavy restaurant as “the future for the restaurant industry.” Yet by December, Ells had expressed frustration and was already planning a reboot. The revamped concept, now called Counter Service, completely changes the original premise.

Why did Ells shift from viewing robotics as central to restaurants to abandoning the idea entirely within a year? Company COO Tom Cortese, who spoke at The Spoon’s CES Food Tech conference in January, outlined some challenges in an interview with Expedite:

The logistics of installing and maintaining a highly sensitive robot are considerable, Cortese says. Employees need to be properly trained to interact with it, and it introduces a whole new set of safety rules beyond those of a typical restaurant kitchen. Then there’s the challenge of New York real estate:

“The subsurface of some of these floors were built in 1910… now I’m bolting a sensitive piece of robotics to it, and the floor shifts over time. That really messes up a lot of things,” he says.

While Cortese didn’t explicitly mention it, another potential issue was likely the restaurant’s overtly robotic appearance. Ells himself admitted as much in a Gizmodo interview, noting he might have gone “a bit cold” with the initial concept and suggested a need to “warm things up” in future iterations. Evidently, that meant removing the giant Kuka robotic arm.

Ultimately, outside novelty concepts such as Cafe X’s robotic coffee shop, consumers appear uncomfortable with prominent industrial robotic arms dominating open kitchens in casual dining settings. Such robots seem jarring compared to purpose-built food-making robots like Sweetgreen’s Infinite Kitchen or Picnic’s pizza robot.

Ells’s decision to introduce meat to the menu also reflects broader market realities. Despite a decade-long focus on vegan and alternative proteins in food innovation, the majority of Americans remain meat-eaters. While restaurants benefit from offering vegan options, exclusively vegan establishments currently face challenges in attracting broader audiences.

By removing robots and incorporating meat into the menu, Ells is pivoting towards a more traditional concept and betting that the success of his new venture is determined by something the pioneering founder knows something about: the quality of the food itself.

Smart Tea Infuser Teforia Comes Back From the Dead Seven Years After Shutting Down

When it comes to zombies, you never know when they’ll spring back to life.

As we learned this past month, the same goes for zombie products. Teforia, the eponymous smart tea infuser that vanished when the company abruptly shut down in the fall of 2017, is back after nearly a decade. A New Jersey-based tea company named Adagio Teas has apparently acquired the assets and is now selling Teforia tea infusers on its website.

In its announcement, Adagio referenced the financial problems that led to Teforia’s closure but mistakenly got the timeline wrong. The release states that Teforia originally launched in 2018, when it actually shut down the year before:

“Originally launched in 2018 to widespread acclaim, Teforia was discontinued due to financial constraints, leaving a devoted community of tea drinkers longing for its return. Now, Adagio Teas is bringing this beloved innovation back, combining cutting-edge technology with the artistry of fine tea.”

“We recognized the deep passion that tea drinkers had for Teforia and its ability to elevate the tea experience,” said Michael Cramer, CEO of Adagio Teas. “As a company dedicated to providing the highest-quality loose-leaf teas, we saw an incredible opportunity to bring Teforia back and reintroduce a smarter, more intuitive way to enjoy tea.”

At the time of its original release, Teforia attracted attention because its creators claimed it could personalize each brew with precise amounts of caffeine, antioxidants, and other elements. Additionally, the hardware had a distinctive and appealing design that stood out in the tea world.

Unfortunately, the product never gained widespread popularity, likely due to its initial $1,500 price tag. While the newly re-released version is significantly more affordable at $500, many potential buyers might still question why they would invest in what remains a premium-priced tea brewer, especially when established brands like Breville offer comparable “smart” tea brewers for roughly half that price.

I’m curious to see if Teforia can succeed on its second attempt. The tea and technology landscape in 2025 is vastly different from a decade ago, with many tech-powered tea infusers available. However, backed by a reputable tea company, perhaps Teforia stands a better chance this time around.

Matias Muchnick Reflects on Being Ten Years Early to the Food AI Party

Back in 2015, when Mattias Muchnick was contemplating the vision for his new company, he imagined building an AI-powered engine that would help big FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brands bring products to market faster.

While Muchnick was excited about AI’s potential to transform the food industry, few food executives at the time shared his enthusiasm. Back then, only large tech companies like IBM had experimented with artificial intelligence—such as using Watson’s mainframe-powered AI for food recipe development—but most food industry leaders didn’t view AI as an essential or even necessary tool for creating new products.

Fast forward to 2025, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a food executive who doesn’t recognize AI as strategically critical. This shift undoubtedly explains why Muchnick and his team attracted a packed room last week at Future Food Tech, filled with journalists, investors, startup founders, and major food brands eager to learn about the company’s early success and leadership in food AI.

During the session, Muchnick and his team highlighted their platform’s success (seven out of twenty top FMCG companies have already collaborated with NotCo), discussed the growing trend of food tech startups pivoting toward AI, and shared insights into future developments. Intrigued by the presentation, I decided to follow up with Muchnick afterward to explore these topics further.

In our subsequent interview, I asked Muchnick about the key lessons he’s learned over the past decade, his perspective—as a longtime pioneer in food AI—on the rise of ‘AI-washing,’ and what innovations he’s most excited about moving forward.

You can watch the full interview below:

The Spoon Interviews - Matias Muchnick



Marine Biologics Debuts SuperCrudes, the ‘World’s First Programmable Biomass’

This week at Future Food Tech, Marine Biologics will showcase its technology—a platform that digitally maps the biochemistry of seaweed and its properties – which the company claims has created what is the world’s first programmable biomass.

According to the company, its proprietary cheminformatics platform, MacroLink, maps the molecular compositions of seaweed and stabilizes them into customizable, liquid-based macroalgae solutions called SuperCrudes. SuperCrudes, which are liquefied blends derived from seaweed harvested from specific geographic locations, are analyzed to document their mineral, protein, and carbohydrate compositions. This process allows Marine Biologics to benchmark each product similarly to how oil refineries grade petroleum based on extraction origin.

The company was founded by former crypto industry executive Patrick Griffin, who told Wired he transitioned from crypto to building a platform that could digitally understand seaweed after a surfing accident caused him to reevaluate his priorities.

Ironically, the accident reignited his enthusiasm for the ocean. Griffin recognized a gap in the climate resiliency market concerning fundamental building materials. Even if all other global climate resiliency efforts—such as vehicle electrification and renewable energy investments—were successful, products would still be largely built upon plastics or other petroleum-based materials.

“The chemicals and materials that we use today are, by and large, built on petroleum,” Griffin says. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle you’ll really have to chip away at to make a significant impact.”

Griffin believes his company can substantially reduce the costs and variability traditionally associated with bio-based sourcing by standardizing seaweed extracts into reliable and predictable ingredients.

The broader macro-trend of computational biology is one we’ve been following closely here at The Spoon. Examples include using AI to accelerate pathways toward gene-edited seafood or tracking startups like Shiru, which aim to build food input discovery engines by mapping food’s biological building blocks. Marine Biologics’ technology is particularly intriguing because it closely connects to a specific natural biomass that has previously struggled to gain traction in consumer products—both food and otherwise—due to limited understanding and internal expertise within larger CPG brands.

With this coming-out party for its Macrolink platform, the California-based startup is hoping to change all that, at the same time becoming both a formulation platform as well as a provider of inputs (SuperCrudes) to CPG brands looking for more sustainable inputs.