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Food Tech Weekend Podcast: Talking Food Robots With Clayton Wood

Our guest this week on our weekly food tech news wrapup is Clayton Wood, the CEO of pizza robot startup Picnic. We talk about the latest food tech news and hear Clayton’s view on where things are going in the world of food robots.

Here are the stories we discuss on this week’s show:

We also put Clayton on the food robot hot seat, asking him:

  • How would you assess the food robot marketplace in 2022?
  • Will we see some consolidation in certain areas of food robotics in 2023?
  • Predictions for the 2023 food robot market.

You can listen to this week’s pod by clicking the player below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy!

Forum3 Announces $10M Seed Round On Heels of Launch of Starbucks’ Web3 Loyalty Beta

Today Forum3, a Seattle-based startup that helps companies build Web3-enabled loyalty programs, has announced it has raised a $10 million seed funding round. The company, co-founded by former Starbucks loyalty lead Adam Brotman and Seattle-based VC and ex-Microsoft exec Andy Sack, raised funding from Decasonic and included participation by Bloccelerate, Liberty City Ventures, and Arca, along with strategic investments from Polygon Ventures and Valor Siren Ventures.

The news comes a day after Starbucks launched the beta for Odyssey, the Web3-powered component of the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program. Odyssey allows members to gain benefits through playing games and participating in activities called Journeys. When they complete Journeys, members will earn points and get NFTs (called Journey Stamps) that give them access to exclusive benefits. In addition, members can purchase limited edition NFTs, which will provide them with additional Odyssey points and unique artwork. Some benefits that Odyssey members will have access to include exclusive events and early access to merchandise.

With the Starbucks deal, Forum3 co-CEO Brotman continues his long relationship with his former employer and fully embraces what has become his passion in Web3. Before founding Forum3, the coffee giant’s former Chief Digital Officer was hand-picked to be the CEO of Brightloom, a company that was re-spun as a digital loyalty platform company with a cash infusion from Starbucks. Over the past year plus, however, Brotman had made clear he was all-in on Web3, doing the rounds on podcasts, advising Starbucks on its entry into Web3, and forming a Web3 consultancy at Brightloom before starting his new company.

And to be honest, what Forum3 is now doing sounds a lot like what Brotman had started to build at Brightloom. Earlier this year, Brightloom had begun to put together its entry into the Web3 advisory services business but delayed the announcement until last month. According to Brightloom and Brotman’s Linkedin, he is still part-time chairman at Brightloom, or at least was until this week. My guess is Brotman saw the opportunity to leverage his relationship with Starbucks and make their interest in building a Web3 loyalty program the launch point for a new startup.

Interestingly, this news comes a week after Brightloom launched a new Web3 spinout called Thred, which calls itself a search and discovery platform for NFTs. Thred is led by Ben Straley, former president and chief product officer of Brightloom.

These moves come when NFTs and the broader Web3 space have come down to earth during a general crypto downturn. Despite all of the recent pessimism, it appears that investors still have an appetite for new loyalty and discovery platforms built on top of blockchain technology.

Motif and Impossible Patent Fight Continues as Europe Revokes Key Impossible Patent

Motif Foodworks announced today it has filed four additional challenges to U.S. patents held by Impossible Foods, pointing to a recent preliminary decision by the European Patent Office (EPO) to revoke a key European patent of Impossible’s.

According to Motif, the EPO recently revoked Impossible patent No. 2,943,072 B1 (‘072), which centers around making meat alternatives utilizing heme protein, sugars and sulfur compounds. In its release, Motif said they concurred with the EPO’s conclusion that the innovation claimed by Impossible is “obvious”, since these innovations have been used in the creation of food “for decades”.

“We agree with the European Patent Office’s ruling that Impossible’s patent is obvious and look at it as a win for the industry – and a sign of things to come,” said Michael Leonard, CEO of Motif FoodWorks.

For its part, Impossible has told The Spoon that the decision by the EPO is a temporary one and they are appealing it, and for the time being, the patent remains fully enforceable.

“We’re optimistic that the Boards of Appeal will review and overturn this decision,” said an Impossible spokesperson. 

The patent fight between the two companies started last March when Impossible sued Motif for violating an Impossible patent (No. 10,863,761). Impossible’s lawsuit claimed that Motif has been able to gain an understanding of its process through information in the public domain, which then helped it develop its HEMAMI protein. The lawsuit also calls out Motif and parent company Ginkgo’s claims that its novel protein can essentially replace Impossible’s proprietary heme.

Motif fought back, filing a petition with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) to invalidate Impossible’s patent at the center of the lawsuit against them. The petition, known in legalese as an “inter partes review” (“IPR”), could allow Motif to ask a panel of judges from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to review the Impossible Foods’ patent for to beef replicas.

Impossible has since added four additional patents related to plant-based meat formulations to its lawsuit and, in light of the EPO decision, Motif is now challenging these patents (US11,224,241, US11,013,250, US10,039,306, and US9,943,096). All four of these patents relate to the creation of flavors and aromas in alt meat that contains heme protein, sugars, and sulfur compounds.

Motif might have an uphill battle on its hands, especially given the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled in October that Motif’s challenge to Impossible’s patent at the center of the original lawsuit is invalid, writing Motif “has not shown a reasonable likelihood that it will prevail in showing that at least one of the challenged claims is unpatentable” and declining to review the case.

“Motif has tried repeatedly to avoid accountability for its theft by attempting to have Impossible’s lawsuit dismissed, delayed, and petitioning for our patent to be reviewed and revoked,” said an Impossible spokesperson. “Both the District Court and the Patent Office have rejected Motif’s requests. The case is proceeding, and Motif can no longer skirt accountability for its theft of our technology. We remain wholly confident in our position and are confident that Motif will be held accountable.”

The battle has serious implications for both companies. Impossible has pointed to its proprietary heme product as the secret to much of its success in achieving a realistic plant-based alternative to animal meat. Meanwhile, Motif hopes to offer its Hemami product to plant-based meat makers to help them create make products that could rival Impossible’s in terms of realistic taste and aroma.

The IP wars for future food are only going to continue heat up as we see increased competition in the market.

Israel’s Brevel and Vgarden Team Up to Add Taste to the Alt.Cheese Market

Vegans would agree that cheese is one of the more difficult foods to put aside when entering the plant-based world. A decade ago, vegan cheese options were lacking, and even though the choices have skyrocketed, finding a smoked gouda cheddar. Mozzarella, or provolone’s taste closely approximates its dairy counterpart, has been challenging. Yes, some smaller artisan brands do a respectable job, but finding a creamy, melty vegan cheese that nails taste and texture is a tall order.

Israel-based Brevel is teaming up with plant-based food manufacturer Vgarden to tackle the cheese challenge head-on. In a press release ballyhooing the new partnership, the companies believe the combination of Brevel’s algae-based microprotein and Vgarden’s production exercise will yield a top-notch product.

In an interview with The Spoon, Eyal  Adut, Chief of Marketing and Business Development at Vgarden, and Yonatan Golan, Co-founder and CEO at Brevel, discussed how the two companies would change the face of non-dairy cheese.

What protein is Vgarden using now, and how will Brevel’s algae-based alternative change the product?

Adut: Currently, Vgarden’s meat and fish alternatives contain high levels of pea or wheat protein. The challenge with these widely used plant-based proteins is in mild-tasting products such as cheese when a certain aftertaste is notable in these products when using those proteins. This fact, combined with Vgarden’s cheeses being allergens free (our products do not contain nuts, oats, soy, etc..), creates the situation that most of our plant-based cheeses are high in calcium, fiber and other nutrients yet contain no protein.   We   have   successfully developed cheddar and parmesan cheese with 10% pea protein, which was possible due to the relatively strong flavor of these cheeses

Vgarden intends that all of our cheeses will contain plant-based proteins, and that is why Brevel’s protein,  being taste and color neutral,   can provide us with the required solution for mild-tasting cheeses.

Golan: In terms of functionality – Brevel tries to be as inert as possible – increasing the protein of Vgarden’s cheeses without changing taste, color, or texture. Brevel has been described as a “ghost protein” – it increases protein content without noticing it is there

Will Brevel’s product be used for more than cheese, given Vgarden’s product line?

Adut: Vgarden is constantly researching novel ingredients and will continue to use other plant-based proteins for its meat and fish alternatives, as these serve different purposes, such as texture. The main challenges for novel ingredients in the plant-based industry remain taste, cost, and scale. As more consumers demand solutions for highly nutritious products, we are working with the industry to scale up novel ingredients. Vgarden’s goal is to provide healthy plant-based foods at price parity with the   animal-based   alternative, and   that   is   what   will   drive gardens ingredients choices in the future

Any chance of moving into the B2C space?

Adut: Vgarden has been active in the Israeli B2C space for nearly a decade under the Mahu Mashu™   brand, and its products are being sold in most retail stores in Australia under other brands (powered by Vgarden). Vgarden recently announced its joint venture with Cale  &   Daughters and established garden Australia, which will manufacture locally-made products for retail and food service in Australia. We are aiming to occupy any white spaces in the worldwide market with the right partners on board

What specific cheeses will Vgarden make? More of its hard cheeses and soft cheeses?   Are there certain cheeses better suited for Brevel’s protein?

Adut: That is something Vgarden is exploring and researching. The Brevel protein shows promising qualities, and we hope to incorporate it in all of our cheeses. Vgarden has developed prototypes of mozzarella and cheddar with previous versions of Brevel’s protein, which taste groups received very well.

How will you enter the U.S. market? Any chance for direct-to-consumer?

Adut: Vgarden recently announced it had formed a presence in the U.S.; Vgarden carried out thorough research of the plant-based market in the U.S. and developed its penetration strategy.   Vgarden is   currently under negotiations with some of the leading sales and distribution companies in the U.S. food sector to be able to provide for any future and current demand for Vgarden’s plant-based offerings

Food Tech Friday Podcast: Farmbots, Smart Mixers and Cocaine Bear

We’re ramping our Friday food tech casual news podcast back up again, and on this week’s episode, Mike and Carlos talk about some of the stories that caught their attention this week:

You can listen to the conversation below, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Join us next week on The Spoon’s Crowdcast channel to see the live recording. 

GE Appliances Debuts Voice-Controlled Smart Mixer That Detects Texture and Viscosity

GE Appliances just dropped an interesting new appliance: a smart stand mixer with built-in scale, app control for guided recipes, and voice control through Alexa and Google Home.

The Profile Smart Mixer is, as far as I can tell, the first Wi-Fi controlled smart mixer on the market, which is quite a feat in itself, given the sheer number of connected appliances that have debuted over the past decade.

The mixer has many interesting features, including a scale and voice control, but its the device’s ‘auto-sense’ technology that intrigues me the most. The auto-sense feature monitors changes in texture and viscosity through motor torque feedback optimizes performance, and will automatically shut off the mixer when it determines the mixing is complete.

GE Profile Smart Mixer with Auto Sense

The mixer has an app and utilizes guided recipes, enabling users to follow the instructions around ingredients and send mix commands from the app itself. For someone who often cooks using YouTube videos or new recipes discovered online, I’d appreciate the ability to send commands to my mixer from a phone. Unfortunately, I often find a device’s app recipe libraries lacking, so hopefully the new mixer will eventually enable the import of recipes found online (something companies like Fresco, a GE Appliances partner, enable through their platform).

The new appliance has built-in Wi-Fi, using the company’s Profile Connect+ software platform to enable connectivity to the cloud and field-deliverable software updates. GE Appliances has been perhaps the most active in promoting its field upgrades. I expect they’ll do the same with their new smart mixer by delivering new features or seasonal capabilities.

GE Appliances’ new mixer is an interesting addition to the mixer market, one that KitchenAid and Cuisinart currently dominate. However, while GE Appliances has had products in the market, they’ve been priced much lower than the new smart mixer (which retails for thousand bucks), often below $200. It will be interesting to see if Whirlpool/KitchenAid respond to GE Appliance’s new entrant by bringing their own smart mixer to market.

Monarch Launches Production of Electric, Driver-Optional Tractor

Monarch, a California-based maker of autonomous electric tractors, announced it had launched production of its first model, the MK-V. The first models of the MK-V, a driver-optional, all-electric tractor, will be going to Constellation Brands, a large wine and spirits producer. According to Monarch, the first six MK-Vs off the production line are heading to Constellation.

MK-V Tractor Launch Video - "The Future of Farming" | Monarch Tractor

The MK-V reaches the production stage after four years of development. Monarch rolled outs its alpha-model tractor in 2019 and the beta model in 2020. After creating a pilot model and testing it at various farms around the US over the past year, the company will begin shipping the MK-V by the middle of next year. A 2023 MK-V will cost $68 thousand minus tax, extras, and a subscription service.

Each MK-V uses six NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX chips to power its AI. The NVIDIA Jetson AI platform enables the tractor to operate in a field with only machine vision in situations where GPS is not available. Each MK-V has two 3D cameras and six normal cameras, and the machine can run models for multiple farming tasks when paired with different implements.

The operator can run a fleet of Monarchs using interactive automation features, including Shadow mode, where a Monarch follows a worker on the job. The MK-V can act as a tractor or utility vehicle as well as a generator in the field.

While the MK-V is still early in a nascent autonomous tractor market, Monarch is far from alone. John Deere and Yanmar are also building autonomous tractors, while Ztractor has been shipping its electric-powered Bearcub24 since 2019. Others, like the Netherlands’ Agxeed, have three Agbot models.

But with the MK-V, Monarch looks to have the first driver-optional electric tractor. The timing is good, as the MK-V comes at a time when the overall robot-powered ag market is heating up. According to Statista, the total automated tractor market is expected to reach $2.3 billion.

Figure: Global Revenue Forecast, Autonomous Tractors (US$M). Source: Statista

While the future looks bright for autonomous farming, that doesn’t mean most large farmers will embrace robotic fleets immediately. Instead, the integration will happen slowly over time, first with mixed fleets, as farmers adapt processes around seeding, weeding, and harvesting to utilize automation. Building skills for automated farming will also take time, which makes the idea of having a driver-optional tractor like the MK-V attractive.

Perhaps the most significant barrier to robotic farming is cost. The $68 thousand price tag of the MK-V is 2-3 times that of a conventional driver-only gas-powered tractor, so bringing on new tractors will require significant capital outlays for farmers, many of which operate on lean margins.

Perfect Day is Building an AWS for Precision Fermentation

Back when Amazon was still just an e-commerce company, founder Jeff Bezos became so frustrated that every project took so long to get going that he asked his then-chief of staff, Andy Jassy, to investigate. What Jassy found is that everyone was spending all their time reinventing wheels:

“…(Jassy) found a running complaint. The executive team expected a project to take three months, but it was taking three months just to build the database, compute or storage component. Everyone was building their own resources for an individual project, with no thought to scale or reuse.

The internal teams at Amazon required a set of common infrastructure services everyone could access without reinventing the wheel every time, and that’s precisely what Amazon set out to build — and that’s when they began to realize they might have something bigger.

That something bigger eventually became AWS, which Jassy visualized as something he called the Internet OS, where the company would provide all the necessary ingredients for an Internet company to run a successful business.

While both Bezos and Jassy were visionaries to realize they could offer Amazon’s industry-leading Internet infrastructure as a platform to help Internet companies could build products, no one – not even Bezos or Jassy – could have predicted the company’s cloud services would eventually become a $46 billion annual business.

Since then, we’ve seen the infrastructure-as-a-service playbook applied to new verticals, from delivery to food service production. But when it comes to building the future of food, we’ve yet to see any companies create a full-stack production platform for alt protein.

Enter Perfect Day. The company, which has made a name for itself with its pioneering precision-fermentation derived animal-identical proteins, has begun to put together the pieces to help create essentially what is an AWS for alt-protein, particularly precision fermentation.

The latest move in the company’s evolution towards becoming a full-stack microbial fermentation services company is its acquisition of Sterling Biotech Limited (SBL), an India-based biomanufacturing services company that currently serves the pharmaceutical and food industries. According to the announcement, the acquisition will double the company’s production capability by adding four high-value assets. These manufacturing facilities include fermenters that provide precision fermentation capabilities, which Perfect Day will use to expand its precision fermentation capabilities while continuing to service existing SBL customers.

This news comes just a couple of months after Perfect Day announced the formalization of their enterprise services business, which the company is calling nth, under which it plans to offer expertise and technology services to partners developing food and other products that utilize precision fermentation-derived inputs. According to Perfect Day, the company worked for two years to develop the nth services business, building out its scale-up production, IP licensing, strain engineering services, and other precision fermentation solutions.

nth is the only enterprise biology company in the world that offers end-to-end expertise and services from the earliest stages of molecular development to commercial-scale manufacturing, and the many steps in between.

While Perfect Day has a lead in creating an alternative protein services platform, they aren’t the only ones trying to become an essential partner for others. For example, Gingko and its Motif subsidiary are working to build an ingredient platform business, and BioBrew is offering scaled manufacturing services to companies like Clara. Others, like Pow, provide scale-up services and infrastructure to companies in the early stages of product development. But none of these have the depth of services that Perfect Day has, at least now.

There’s been much conversation as of late around how companies in alternative protein will scale their products to make them more affordable and plentiful enough to make a dent in traditional animal agriculture. Perfect Day’s answer this to make their processes, technology, and production infrastructure available to others, so these early-stage companies don’t spin their wheels trying to recreate the wheel.

Here’s Your 2022 Kitchen Tech Black Friday Deals

If you’re shopping for the kitchen tech nerd in your life (or if you’re one yourself), you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a list of the cooking and kitchen-tech-related Black Friday deals we’ve found. If you spotted a good deal we don’t have listed, drop us a line or put it in the comments.

GoSun Solar Powered Cooking (and Chilling) Appliances

The company that put solar-powered cooking on the map has expanded into everything from fridges to water systems is putting everything on sale (except the camper) this Black Friday. You can find a solar-powered cooler, the Chillest, half-off at $449 today, and you can pick up a portable solar oven for $79.

The Suvie 3.0 Kitchen Robot

Suvie recently debuted their third-generation cooking appliance, and now you can pick it up for half-off today. You can buy the Suvie multi-chamber cooking robot for $399 or the robot/starch cooker package for $799.

BEERMKR

One of the few smart home brew systems still chugging along nowadays, and you can pick one up for a BEERMKR for 150 dollars off. The machine makes a 12-pack’s worth of beer in about a week with their easy-to-use MKRKITs, one of which the company will throw in if you pick up a machine for Black Friday.

Chime Chai Brewing System

If you really like chai tea, you might want to take advantage of the 25% off Black Friday deal on the Chime chai brewing system. The Chime capsule-based brewing system brings a high degree of customizability around strength, milk ratio, and spices. Just note it uses a proprietary capsule you need to order from Chime.

CKBK Cookbook Subscription

If you are shopping for the cookbook fan on your list (which is you, isn’t it?), you might want to take advantage of CKBK’s half-off sale on their cookbook subscription services, which gives the subscriber full access to hundreds of cookbooks and over 100,000 recipes.

Anova Precision Oven

If you’ve been eyeing Anova’s precision oven for a while, now’s a good chance to swoop in and get one for 30% off the popular steam oven. There are lots of other deals to be found on Anova’s website, including 40% off the Anova Precision Cooker and 36% off the Cooker Nano.

Brava Cook With Light Oven

A couple of years after getting acquired by Middleby, the Brava’s cook-by-light technology is still pretty differentiated. If you want to get access to a Brava for a slight discount, you can buy one now for $100 bucks off at Brava’s website.

Reusable Takeout Containers Gain Traction at Universities, But What About Restaurants?

Like everywhere else, colleges saw a jump in takeout food and delivery during the pandemic as students avoided the dining hall amidst stringent social distancing rules at the height of COVID. However, even as things normalize, on-the-go food options put into place during the pandemic remain popular due to the convenience they afford busy college students, resulting in a lot of single-use containers making their way toward landfills.

But the good news is that a growing number of schools are trying to find more sustainable options, including reusable containers. One such school is Texas State University, which has partnered with food service management provider Chartwells to deploy a container system built by reusable container startup Ozzi according to an announcement sent to The Spoon.

According to the announcement, Texas State has over two thousand reusable containers in circulation. The way it works is students pay $6 for an O2GO container, get their food to go, and, when they are done, students can return rinsed containers at a student dining center, where they are given tokens for returned containers. Tokens can be traded in for clean containers when the student returns to get more food.

OZZI has been at it for a while, deploying its reusable container system to universities across the country. They even have a kiosk that handles the return of the containers – each of which can be used up to 300 times – and give students credit for the return. You can see how the system works in the video below:

PlanetOZZI - O2GO & Machine Demo with CEO

While systems like that from OZZI have been rolling out at places like Texas State, UC Berkeley, and Cornell over the past few years, we’ve seen comparably less action in reusable containers for restaurants. However, some companies are working on the challenge, including a startup called DeliverZero, which has been getting restaurants to deploy their reusable container system around New York City. As of early this year, the company has convinced 150 New York City area restaurants to come on board and has also signed Doordash and Caviar to trials.

Despite DeliverZero’s early success, there are several challenges in getting restaurants to adopt reusable containers compared to university diners. Unlike university dining halls, restaurant to-go customers aren’t dining at the same place on a daily or weekly basis, which makes it hard for them to return the containers. They also aren’t likely to have their daily meals charged to the same dining services account every day, which makes it hard to create a financial reimbursement system to incentivize diners to use a container system. Finally, restaurant owners have a thousand battles to fight every day to maintain profitability, and maintaining a reusable container system is probably far down the list.

Despite this, a growing number of consumers are becoming mindful of the packaging waste steam they are contributing to through food delivery and innovations to support reusable containers at restaurants. One such system is being created by Perks99, an Ontario-based company working on a reusable container system built around their food drop-off lockers tailored toward office workers. The company will work with office managers to deploy the drop-off lockers in lobbies and give workers the option to subscribe to a certain number of meals per month.

Ultimately, the success of Perks99, DeliverZero, GoBox, or individual chains like Chop’d, who have deployed reusable container programs, will be up to the diners and the delivery infrastructure providers. As more students exposed to systems like OZZI exit university and enter the workforce, there’s a good chance these student-turned-employees may opt into reusable container systems for employees. Let’s hope more third-party delivery providers like DoorDash and UberEats continue to experiment here, and maybe we’ll get something resembling the adoption rate we’re starting to see at universities.

High Tech Farmer AppHarvest is Rapidly Running Out of Money

Kentucky-based controlled environmental agriculture company AppHarvest has warned in its latest financial report that it only has enough capital to continue operations into the first quarter of 2023.

According to its quarterly report filed on November 7th, the company says there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern unless it can raise additional outside capital.

As of September 30, 2022, we had $36.2 million of cash on hand, and an accumulated deficit of $270.6 million. In October 2022, we entered into a $30.0 million note and loan agreement with Mastronardi Produce-USA, Inc. (“Mastronardi USA”) and received $15.0 million upon execution. In November 2022, we initiated a third restructuring plan to further reduce operating costs and our losses. Despite these actions, management believes there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and absent additional sources of financing, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will only allow us to continue our planned operations into the first quarter of 2023

According to a story in the Kentucky Herald-Leader, the company needs $85 to $95 million in cash to fund operations for the next 12 months. That’s a lot of new capital in a market where raising new money has become increasingly difficult.

AppHarvest is looking at a few strategic options, including selling Berea farm to its primary distribution partner  Mastronardi Produce Limited (the same company it borrowed funding from to launch the first 5 acres this past month). They are also talking with potential acquirers according to AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb.

“There are large conglomerates in auto manufacturing,” Webb told the Lexington Herald Leader. “I mean, look at GM, for example, and all the different auto brands inside of GM. So yeah, we’re actively having conversations with CEOs, with investors, with partners, with anyone who wants to partner with us here in Kentucky and to help make our mission succeed.”

The company’s current situation is a far cry from its early days when it was seen as one of the brightest lights of the CEA farming world. And while the company’s massive capital needs show a potential downside of building automated indoor farms – especially compared with more traditional farms that take significantly less capital to build and run – it’s worth pointing out other high-tech indoor farmers like AeroFarms and Bowery are continuing to thrive and find new partners.

As we wrote a couple weeks ago, the company’s new farm in Berea is impressive to watch in action and will no doubt produce a whole bunch of salad kits once the full 15 acres is operational. Let’s just hope the company can survive long enough to see it come to fruition.

Restaurant Tech News Pod: Web3 Restaurants, Sweetgreen Robots, Subway Smart Fridge

Last week I caught up with Expedite’s Kristen Hawley to talk about some of the recent happenings in the world of restaurant tech.

Some of the stories we talked about on this episode include:

And more! You can listen to the podcast below or find it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.