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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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The Guide to Grilling & BBQ Tech at CES 2024

While grilled food may not be ranked as highly as ice cream in our best-things-in-life lists , it’s not far behind. So it’s no surprise that we’re finding lots of technology to help us make us better backyard BBQ maestros at CES.

CES is starting today, and we’ve already stumbled across a number of cool grill and BBQ tech products at the press events we’ve attended.

Here’s what we’ve found so far:

Seer Grill

Seer Grills is not your typical-looking grill, as it holds the proteins (or veggies or whatever you’re grilling) vertically and cooks at a really high temperature using infrared heat. According to SEERGRILLS CEO Suraj Sudera, the AI works through a combination of sensor data, cook preferences inputted by the user, and intelligence built into the software around different food types.

“The device will capture the starting temperature of, say, chicken breast and adjust the cooking in line with the preferences you’ve inputted in the device,” said Sudera. “Whether it’s a three-inch or five-inch chicken breast, it doesn’t matter. It will be whatever adjustments it needs, just like your cruise control on your car will adjust to keep you at the preferred speed.”

The hardware itself is somewhat unique compared to other infrared grills on the market in that it cooks meat vertically. The user puts the meat in a holder, which will sense the temperature and thickness of the meat. Once inserted, both sides are cooked simultaneously using infrared heat, powered by propane, which SEERGRILLS says can reach 1652ºF. According to the company, the grill can cook three ribeyes in one minute and fifty seconds, six burgers in a minute and thirty seconds, and four chicken breasts in two minutes and thirty seconds.

A Look at the Perfecta AI-Powered Grill at CES 2024

GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker

The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker makes its debut at CES this year. For those who follow GE closely, you’ll probably know this is the grown-up, ready-for-mass-market version of the Arden smoker developed by GE Appliances’ incubation factory, FirstBuild. It’s not all that surprising this GE Appliances wanted to graduate this baby to the big time since, well, it’s a pretty great idea. I mean, an indoor smoker just kind of speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

The device has impressive specs, including its active smoke filtration technology, five adjustable smoke settings that let you control the smoke levels to dial in preferred flavors, and six preset food settings that turnkey smoking for brisket, pork ribs, pork butt, chicken wings, chicken breast and salmon.

The device has a fairly small footprint, but doesn’t sacrifice on cavity size as it can handle three racks of baby back ribs, a brisket, up to 40 chicken wings or a 14-pound pork butt.

GE Profile Indoor Smoker at CES 2024

Current Backyard Electric Grill

Startup Current Backyard debuted its first product at CES, the Current Backyard Electric Grill. The product, which they claim is the world’s largest consumer backyard grill, will be available in early February at the company’s website and this spring at retailers such as Best Buy, Ace Hardware and Williams Sonoma, with the base model going for $899.

The specs are impressive:

  • Company claims 150 degrees hotter than the leading gas grill brand
  • 700 max temperature for the ultimate searing experience
  • Full Wi-Fi connectivity & proprietary app
  • Dual-zone control
  • SmartClean auto-clean feature
  • 4x more energy efficient than the standard gas grill

Current Backyard Electric Grill CES 2024

Weber Summit Smart Grill

The newest entrant from the one of the biggest names of outdoor grilling is the Weber Smart Grill. The Smart Grill is the BBQ brand’s first with an infrared broiler for searing, and includes a big touch screen all sorts of digital controls to help make cooking easier. Not surprisingly, the grill is pricey, starting at $3,800.

Weber Grills Summit & Searwood first look at CES 2024

The CES 2024 Food Tech Exhibit Walk-Around Guide

Welcome to the CES 2024 Food Tech Walk-Around Guide!

If you’re at CES (or even if you’re not) and want to check out all the cool new food tech products on display this week, this is your go-to guide.

Not only have we scoured the CES exhibitor guide, company websites, and all the press releases that have hit our inbox, but we’re also walking the show floor here in Vegas to bring you all the food tech news coming out of Vegas this week.

You can use the handy table below to read a description of what each is showing off at CES, as well as find a link that shows a map with the location of each company’s booth. The embedded airtable guide is also sortable, and you can pop out each company to get more information about them.

We’ll be keeping this list updated. If you don’t see your company on here (and you have a product to show), drop us a line.

CES 2024: Sevvy Smart Cooker Cooks Food By Sending Electric Currents Through Food

I don’t know about you, but when I bake anything, we’re talking about 25-30 minutes in an oven. But if you’re using a new technology debuting at CES from a startup called Sevvy, that time drops to just four minutes.

How does it work? According to the company, their technology utilizes “integral heating” through electrical currents. This means a combination of Pulsed Electric Field-based and Ohmic heating technology to enable quick food preparation at low temperatures. These currents pass through the food, simultaneously delivering the same amount of heat throughout the entire dish, which, according to Sevvy, drastically reduces cooking and baking times.

I personally verified that the company’s blueberry muffins, which company CEO Kamiel de Leur says took just four minutes to make, were just as tasty and as those made using traditional oven heating. But de Leur says it’s not just faster cooking times that sets their technology apart. Because Sevvy reduces the need for cooking and baking fats by up to 50% and decreases salt and sugar usage, de Leur says their technology is also healthier.

The company has six issued patents for the electric current-based cooking technology, which de Leur hopes to license to strategic partners, including home appliance manufacturers and makers of professional cooking equipment.

You can watch my full interview with de Leur below:

Sevvy Shows Off Pulsed Electric Field-based and Ohmic Heating in Sevvy Smart Cooker at CES 2024

Watch The ColdSnap Countertop Ice Cream Appliance In Action at CES 2024

It goes without saying that everyone likes ice cream, and that was never more apparent than at last night’s CES Unveiled press event.

The first thing I saw when I walked into the crowded room was a huge crowd of journalists lining up to get a serving of ice cream (another truism is journalists like free food). The ColdSnap machines were cranking away as ColdSnap workers – including ColdSnap CEO Matthew Fonte – handed over cups to attendees.

Last fall, ColdSnap expanded its production facility in the Boston suburb of Billerica, adding 20,000 square feet with an additional 24,000 square feet of space leased across the street. Now, as they look to scale, they’ve added automation equipment and project they will be able to manufacture 30 million pods per year.

Part of what makes ColdSnap intriguing is its ability to make instant ice cream from room temperature, shelf-stable liquid. As Fonte told me last year, a product like this could be potentially transformative for markets where cold chain storage is not widely available or cost-prohibitive.

“China’s ice cream market is as large as the United States, but they have 25% the amount of refrigeration per capita that we do here in the States,” Fonte said. “If you could circumvent the cold supply chain and give them shelf-stable pods, they can freeze their ice cream on demand, they can reach the masses there and grow that market four times.”

You can a peek of the ColdSnap in action below.

ChefPaw to Show Off Home Pet Food Maker at CES 2024

While most kitchen tech gadgets at CES this week are for preparing sustenance for two-legged creatures, ChefPaw is explicitly designed to create homemade food for our furry friends.

ChefPaw, which is a creation from the founders of pet health products company Innovet, is essentially something akin to a Thermomix for dog food. The product, for which the company has filed a provisional patent, features a large mixing bowl and a mixing blade, allows pet owners to mix raw ingredients like vegetables and meat. Users follow their own chosen recipes (or recipes provided by ChefPaw), and the device will cook up to six pounds of homemade dog food in about 40 minutes.

You can see the ChefPaw in action below:

If you want to buy a ChefPaw, you will have to be committed to the idea of homemade pet food because it isn’t cheap. The ChefPaw will set you back $639 plus tax and shipping, which isn’t exactly as spendy as a Thermomix, but it’s more than twice as much as a low-end Thermomix clone and 4-5 times that of an Instant Pot, another popular home appliance for making pet food.

But who knows? My guess is there is probably a market for dedicated pet enthusiasts who will spare no expense for their pet on a dedicated pet food maker. If you’re at CES and want to check out the ChefPaw, you can find it in Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo starting January 9th.

GreenSwapp Shows Off Tech to Display Carbon Impact Data on Retail Shelf Price Labels at CES 2024

Imagine walking down a shopping aisle, where alongside the price of each product is a score indicating its carbon impact. That’s the world that Dutch startup GreenSwapp hopes to usher in beginning next week at CES, where it will show how its AI-powered product carbon tracker works with electronic shelf labels and Point Of Sale (POS) systems.

The demo will be showcased at a mini supermarket installation within the company’s CES booth. There, attendees will witness the future of sustainable retail—a future where price tags display cost and climate ratings. The company hopes that the score will guide consumers in making eco-friendlier choices and serve as a nudge towards a more sustainable lifestyle. At the checkout counter, the receipt shows the purchase’s collective carbon impact (using an A-F grade scale) compared to the average shopper.

The company has already integrated its GreenSwapp AI carbon tracker with the leading online grocer in the Netherlands. They have completed a pilot for the technology with Ahold, the Netherlands’ largest retail group. The company is hoping to enter the US retail market in 2024.

The push for climate impact data for retail purchases has started to gain more traction in Europe, it may take a while before US retailers jump on board. That said, progressive states like California, which just pushed new climate emission reporting requirements into place last fall, could move in this direction much quicker.

In some ways, the push for more data on climate impact on consumer purchases is reminiscent of the move to add nutritional information to restaurant menus over the past decade. However, just as more nutrition data hasn’t necessarily changed consumer eating behavior, it remains to be seen just how motivated consumers are to change their behavior, particularly if they don’t perceive it as having an immediate impact on their lives (which, unfortunately, is how many US consumers view the somewhat more esoteric nature of climate impact data).

If you’d like to check out the GreenSwapp future store concept at CES, you can find them in Eureka Park in the Venetian Expo area at booth 61440.

CES 2024: Revolution Unveils the Macrowave, a Smart Oven That Combines Infrared & Microwave Heating

Revolution Cooking, a startup best known for its high-end touchscreen toaster, is showing it’s not a one-trick pony next week at CES with the reveal of its newest appliance, the Macrowave.

According to Revolution, the Macrowave is a smart oven that combines the same patented InstaGLO infrared heating technology it’s become known for with its toaster lineup with microwave heating. Add in convection/air frying capabilities and some interesting, innovative oven features, and the Macrowave looks like a compelling new entry to the countertop kitchen tech space.

The way it works is the electromagnetic radiation from the appliance’s built-in microwave heats the inside of the food, while the InstaGLO infrared heating crisps and heats the outside of the food. From the sound of it, that combination could provide a better answer for microwaved frozen foods like pizza or frozen burritos, which are often served molten-hot in the middle and soggy or even cold on the outside.

The video below shows how the Macrowave will result in faster and more even cooking for frozen food like pizza, proteins like chicken wings, and veggies.

Say Hello to The Macrowave

While the Macrowave isn’t the first product to combine air frying with microwave technology, it’s one of the few that use infrared heating combined with microwave and air frying. Other manufacturers like LG have combined infrared with microwave technology, but these products lacked the smart cooking algorithms and precision heating detection.

And it’s these smart cooking programs that differentiate the Macrowave from previous entries. The programs, which allow the user to choose a food item like pizza, fries or hot pockets, optimize the right combination of infrared, microwave, and convention air for each item.

The oven also allows you to combine cooking steps manually using the Micro+Bake and Micro+Air Fry modes. Add in an internal temperature probe for precision heating, and the Macrowave looks like it does present a fairly unique set of capabilities compared to anything we’ve seen on the market.

No word yet on pricing for the Macrowave, but we’ll keep you updated when we find out.

The Macrowave will make its first appearance at CES’s Unveiled event, the press event two days before the show opens.

Where Food Comes From Acquires Upcycled Certification Program From Upcycled Food Association

Third-party verifier of food production practices Where Food Comes From, Inc. (WFCF) announced today it had acquired the Upcycled Certified Program from the Upcycled Food Association.

The Upcycled Food Association launched its certification program in early 2021, becoming, at the time, the first certification program for the nascent upcycled food industry. Since then, 93 companies have obtained Upcycled Certified status for over 480 products, according to the Upcycled Food Association. The group claims it has helped divert an average of 390,000 tons of food waste annually.

WFCF makes sense as a natural home for the Upcycled certification program given the company’s focus on with food industry verification. The company manages verification programs for organic foods, non-GMO foods, and the humane treatment of animals among others. And now with the acquisition of the UPFA’s verification program, they add a fairly fast-growing new category to their stable.

As for the Upcycled Food Association’s future, the non-profit group looks to continue to facilitate the growth of the industry even as it exits the verification business.

“The Upcycled Food Association is looking forward to ongoing collaboration to effectively serve the broader food waste reduction community and to ensuring that upcycled food companies have the resources they need to develop and bring to market new upcycled food products,” wrote the Upcycled Food Association CEO Angie Crone on her Linkedin.

Yo-Kai to Debut Boba Making Robot at CES 2024

In less than two weeks, Yo-Kai Express, a company that’s become synonymous with hot ramen-making robots, will show it has a sweet side with the debut of a boba-making robot at CES in Las Vegas.

Yo-Kai CEO Andy Lin told The Spoon that the company’s new robotic boba maker will be the first boba-bot that incorporates a cooking pot inside the appliance, enabling it to cook boba tapioca pearls as well as other toppings. According to Lin, the machine’s built-in cooking capability will allow it to be more than just a boba-maker, enabling it to create a variety of different hot and cold beverages and meals ranging from instant oatmeal to protein shakes to soups and coffees.

The first machine will be shipped to Netflix’s headquarters in Los Gatos, California. After that, Lin says that distribution will be a phased release with around ten boba-bots shipped to other corporate headquarters in the Bay Area. Another shipment in March will put the Yo-Kai boba machine at college campuses and other locations, and starting in June, the Yo-Kai boba-bot will be widely available to individual operators who want to operate a Yo-Kai.

And it’s with this wider availability that Yo-Kai will begin a new expansion approach that will extend beyond its current operating model. Lin says that in 2024, the company plans to phase its expansion model into one utilizing a partner model where individual operators will pay an initial startup fee to Yo-Kai, and from there, they will be able to take ownership of the boba and begin operating it. Lin says that the model, which is “franchise-like”, will offer new operators a choice of up to 1,500 different locations that Yo-Kai has helped find through a new strategic partnership with a large real estate management company.

“Usually, if a partner wants to open a boba store, they need to find a location by themselves,” said Lin. “But we don’t need them to find a location; we can actually provide a location to them. So it will be a one-stop-shop: Go to the website, select the region you want to have the machine, and we will work together with them.”

While the Yo-Kai boba-bot certainly isn’t the first automated boba-making machine, no other company has had much success in expanding beyond initial pilots and trials. Bobacino, which debuted in 2020, saw its CEO depart last month, and it’s not clear if the company is still operational. Cloutea, which debuted its boba robot at CES 2023, opened a store in Las Vegas this past April but has not expanded beyond a single location.

The new Yo-Kai boba robot will debut at CES, which starts on January 9th and runs through January 12th. The new boba bot will be featured in the food tech area on the show floor in the Venetian Expo Hall at CES.

Stay tuned to The Spoon for more food tech coverage at CES over the next two weeks.

Talking Underground Delivery With Pipedream’s Garrett McCurrach

Food delivery through underground tubes?

Sounds crazy, but it’s already happening today, and Pipedream’s Garrett McCurrach thinks it just may be the future of delivery.

We catch up with Garrett just over a week after they announced their first pilot in the Atlanta suburbs, where they have built a system that delivers food and other items underground for nearly a mile.

During this podcast, we talk about how Garrett came up with the idea, what it was like to showcase the system to Jeff Bezos, how the company is working with fast-food restaurants to rethink drive-thru pickup, and what he sees for the future of underground delivery.

Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just click play below.

 

As New Zealand’s PieBot Dishes Out Meat Pies to Hungry Tradies, Founders Eye Eventual US Expansion

Like many New Zealanders, Sasha Mates left work almost every day to grab a meat pie at the local bakery. In fact, he and his coworker Vincent Wong made the trip so often that his bosses at My Auto Shop, a startup that provides an online marketplace for auto mechanics, wondered where he and his mate headed every day for lunch.

That’s when he and Wong wondered if they could find a way to bring the pies to work using technology. They had stumbled upon a Yo-Kai hot ramen vending machine while visiting San Francisco and wondered if they could use automation to sell hot food that resonated in the New Zealand market.

“We were like, ‘Hey, why don’t we bring the pies to work?'” Mates told The Spoon.

And so that’s what they did, and soon after they built a prototype for a machine that served hot meat pies, they realized the product, called the PieBot, could be the start of a new company. Mates and Wong, who both previously worked on software development for My Auto Shop, had been batting around the idea of launching their own startup. With their first product idea fully formed, they decided to make the move.

They placed the first PieBot prototype at a construction site. For Mates and Wong, the location made sense because while meat pies are a lunch staple for many in New Zealand, trade workers (called tradies in New Zealand) are exceptionally devoted to the food.

“I know pies are probably a foreign concept in the States, but in New Zealand, it’s really what you could say New Zealand is built on: a pie and a Coke,” said Mates. “And tradies live and breathe pies.”

The machine is loaded up every morning with fresh-cooked pies that are kept warm until they are purchased over the next couple of hours. Leftover pies are taken out, and the machine is replenished with fresh pies the next morning.

In a sense, the PieBot is closer to something akin to a Byte Technology smart fridge than a Yo-Kai machine, only instead of holding refrigerated food items, the food is kept warm and needs to be replenished daily. And it’s this hot food replenishment, which Mates describes as the “hot food supply chain,” that’s the startup’s biggest challenge and focus for product development as the PieBot evolves.

According to Mates, they plan to continue to evolve the machine and hope to enter the US market at some point, even as they work on expanding their presence in New Zealand. Mates says the machine can be used to store and serve up other types of fresh, warm food, and they hope to work with companies in the US to experiment with new kinds of food.

“We see the PieBot as a step into the robotics game, and then ultimately can provide robotic solutions to companies in the States.”

GE Appliances Partners With Kroger for Shoppable Recipes on Wi-Fi Connected Ovens

This week, GE Appliances (GEA) announced it has released a new software update that enables customers with GEA’s Wi-Fi-connected stoves to add items to their Kroger shopping carts through featured shoppable recipes on their wall ovens and slide-in ranges.

According to the announcement, the new partnership, which was distributed via an over-the-air update to what GEA says is 150 thousand appliances (which is, interestingly, a smaller number given to us when the company announced its ‘turkey mode’ software update in 2021), will enable customers to find a select set of curated recipes (13 recipes at release) from Kroger and select CPG brands (including King Arthur Baking). Once a customer chooses a recipe, the recipes will suggest what GEA calls precision cooking modes, which track cooking progress, modify temperatures and adjust cook times.

In addition to the guided cooking features built into the recipes. they also allow for some clickable commerce. GE Appliance users can click to view the list of ingredients and instructions within the recipe and, with an additional click, add all the recipe’s ingredients to their Kroger cart. GEA says customers can connect their GE appliance app to their Kroger account via a QR code scan setup.

This announcement from GE Appliances comes after the company announced an integration with Google Cloud’s Vertex generative AI integration with their cooking app earlier this year, which the company calls Flavorly. According to GE Appliances spokesperson Shawn Stover, the Flavorly AI integration enables customers to input items in their refrigerator, and the app will generate three suggested recipes to build around the ingredients.