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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Podcasts

SideChef’s Kevin Yu Eyes Next Phase of Growth After Raising a $6 Million Series B

I first encountered SideChef’s CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At the time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded just a couple of months prior, and I was beginning to explore kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.

In November, Yu traveled to Seattle to participate in the inaugural Summit and subsequently became a regular attendee at SKS events. After some time had passed since our last catch-up, I invited Yu onto the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and inquire about his vision for its future.

I first encountered SideChef’s CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At the time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded just a couple of months prior, and I was beginning to explore kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.

In November, Yu traveled to Seattle to participate in the inaugural Summit and subsequently became a regular attendee at SKS events. After some time had passed since our last catch-up, I invited Yu onto the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and inquire about his vision for its future.

Originally, SideChef was a recipe app designed to assist users with cooking. In those initial years, SideChef and similar companies like Innit and Drop/Fresco concentrated on connecting various appliances and developing a tech-driven guidance system for kitchen use.

“We started as just a recipe app to teach a person how to cook,” said Yu. “But then that grew out, and it was like, ‘Hey, wait for a second’, we can help you with not just how to cook, but we can also help you with meal planning, we can help you get your groceries, we can connect that into a smart kitchen device and make that automatic as well, too.”

As SideChef formed partnerships with appliance brands, retailers and CPG brands also expressed interest in connecting and digitizing the shopping experience. This interest intensified with the onset of the pandemic. Consequently, Yu and SideChef focused on shoppable recipes, as it was a more straightforward revenue generation method.

“I think shoppable recipes themselves are just the tip of the iceberg,” Yu commented. “We sent out over 3 million online orders to our retail partners last year through this experience.”

The company plans to use its new funding to leverage the infrastructure it has developed over the past decade. Image recognition technology is one area that could help them do this, as it has potential applications across the entire food ecosystem, from inventory management to automating cooking settings on smart kitchen appliances.

“We believe image recognition is a catalyst-type technology that we hope to continuously build upon the partnerships that we have,” Yu stated.

I’ve been somewhat down on the smart kitchen recently, as it seems companies—especially big brands—have not been innovative. When I asked Yu his thoughts about this, he acknowledged the issue but attributed it to a normal stage in market evolution.

“I think part of the plateau you’ve observed is because some companies, after taking their first swing, have felt that it’s not worth it to try again right now,” said Yu. “Maybe they don’t want to be the leader in this area. Or maybe they don’t have a confident route or sometimes even a confident group to be able to leave those charges internally.”

Despite the obstacles encountered by some players in the smart kitchen industry, Yu remains optimistic about the future of smart kitchen innovation.

“This is about unlocking the value and entering the next chapter, which is where most of this additional investment funding will be directed,” Yu said.

You can hear my full conversation with Yu below.

Podcast: How the DeSci Movement Will Change The World of Food

Do you know what DeSci is?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t, especially if, like me, food is your primary focus.

A16Z’s publication Future describes DeSci as a movement in which “a growing number of scientists and entrepreneurs are leveraging blockchain tools, including smart contracts and tokens, in an attempt to improve modern science. Collectively, their work has become known as the decentralized science movement, or DeSci.”

Dr. Jocelynn Pearl

If you haven’t heard of DeSci by now, the reason is that while the trend’s caught the attention of the biotech and research funding worlds, it hasn’t entirely made its way into the future food conversation just yet. 

But it’s only a matter of time, so I figure there’s no better time to learn than now. To help us do that, I invited Dr. Jocelynn Pearl, a biotech scientist, entrepreneur, podcaster, and DeSci expert, onto the podcast. 

In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Pearl and I discuss the following:

  • What is DeSci?
  • How DeSci is changing the insular and outdated world of research publishing
  • The benefits of using Web3 tools like DAOs, blockchain, and NFTs in science research
  • Why DeSci hasn’t yet reached the future food industry just yet and why that may soon change
  • What the future of science research may look like with these types of tools

If you’d like to hear more from Jocelynn, you can find her podcast, the Lady Scientist Podcast, and read some of her writing on her website.

As mentioned in the episode, we are having an event next week on the state of food robotics, and we’d love for you to join us. So get your free ticket here. 

You can listen to the podcast by clicking play below or at the usual podcast spaces such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Podcast: How Will We Feed Astronauts in Deep Space?

Up until now, every morsel of food an astronaut eats in space was created and packaged here on earth. However, as we embark on a new era of long-term space flight, NASA and other space agencies realize that will need to change. 

As the Senior Project Manager for Space Crop Production and Exploration Food Systems for NASA, Ralph Fritsche has been thinking about this problem for the past decade. Ralph and his team work every to try and figure out how exactly they can provide sustenance to space travelers for multi-year space missions that are out of reach of re-supply from the space shuttles they rely on today.

In other words, they are trying to figure out how to feed humans on a mission to Mars.

In this podcast, we talk about the evolution of the NASA space food program, how they are discovering new ideas for possibly feeding space travelers, and the timeline for sending systems up in space to feed astronauts as they embark on multiyear missions to the far reaches of the galaxy.

If you’re a space nerd like me, then this is the podcast for you. Just click below or find this and other Spoon podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast: 3D Printed Meat, Drone Delivery and Spy Balloons

This week’s guest for Food Tech Friday is long-time food tech entrepreneur and investor Peter Bodenheimer. Peter talks about his role at cultivated meat startup Steakholder Foods and what he’s building at Super Kingdom.

Peter joins Carlos and Mike to talk about the food tech news of the week, including:

And, of course, because how could we not, Chinese spy balloons

As always, you can get the Spoon podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts, or you can also just click play below!

Podcast: The Bloomberg Alt-Meat Hullabaloo With Rachel Konrad

In this week’s episode, we catch up with Rachel Konrad, a former journalist who spent the last decade-plus working for Tesla, Impossible Foods, and now the Production Board.

Rachel joins Mike and Carlos Rodela to talk about her background, the recent controversy surrounding Bloomberg’s article declaring plant-based meat a fad, and how she helped Impossible bring food tech to CES in 2019 with the launch of the Impossible 2.0 burger.

Podcast: A Look Back at The Year in Food Tech With S2G’s Tonya BakritzesPodcast:

It’s almost the end of 2022 and so we decided to catch up with S2G Managing Director Tonya Bakritzes.

In this podcast we talk about:

-The impact of inflation and global macroenvironmental headwinds on the food tech landscape

-The plant-based meat sales slowdown and what it means for the space over the long-term.

-Some areas to look forward to in 2023

We’ll be talking about a lot of these same topics at CES in January at the CES Food Tech Conference and we hope to see you there!

You can find out more about S2G here.

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

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!

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. 

The Secret to Scaling a Plant-Based Meat Startup With Nowadays’ Max Elder

In his previous life, Max Elder worked as a futurist, where he helped food brands develop strategies for the future.

One of his primary motivations in this work was the belief he could help steer these brands away from animal agriculture and toward a future centered around more humane and sustainable foods. Over time, however, Elder realized that to have a meaningful impact, he’d have to create his own product.

“I always thought that I could sneak into the boardroom and try to shift the Titanic,” Elder said. “That was meaningful work, but it’s quite hard to do. Structural sort of incentives aren’t aligned in these kinds of companies. And Titanics sink. That’s the story, right?”

So in late 2020, Elder left his job as a futurist and created a plant-based meat company. With Nowadays, Elder envisions a future where he can have a bigger impact by scaling meat utilizing production techniques perfected for traditional animal agriculture.

“To truly scale these products efficiently so that the category can realize its potential, we have to think more creatively about our manufacturing process, our finishing process, and partnering with existing players across the meat value chain,” Elder said.

He sees many plant-based meat startups trying to create entirely new ways to make their products when, in truth, many existing processes built for the world of animal agriculture work and are already highly scalable.

“A lot of work is being done to recreate wheels,” Elder said. “And the (existing) wheels are cheap, ubiquitous, and super efficient. They’re just pumping out conventional protein that isn’t as good for people or the planet.”

So while Titantics may sink, Elder thinks he has created a way to leverage much of the existing know-how from the old world to lift the tide of alternative proteins by making them more efficient and affordable.

“As a founder, Nowadays is my version of a speedboat. Hopefully, one that we can grow to have impact.”

Elder was this week’s guest on The Spoon podcast, where we talked about his transition from strategist to entreprenuer, and Elder put his futurist hat back on to look at where things are going in the world of alternative protein.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking play below or get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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.

Podcast: The State of Alt-Protein With Po Bronson

When I asked Po Bronson whether people know him more from his past as an author or by his current gig as a venture capitalist, I was surprised by his answer (though I probably shouldn’t have been).

“Everybody comes to me as Po Bronson, the author,” he told me on this week’s Spoon podcast.

Ok, sure, he was one of the go-to writers documenting the first Internet boom and later became a NY Times best-selling author of career advice and parenting books. Still, I figured that by now, almost two decades after the dotcom crash and with Bronson leading one of the food tech industry’s most well-known early-stage funds, things might have changed.

Apparently not.

“I had a call about a year and a half ago, and someone said, ‘I saw your name on the Zoom invite – Are there two Po Bronsons in the world?’ She’s like, ‘I’ve read your books.’ She nearly started crying.”

I’ve read his books as well, and while I didn’t start crying, I did have a great time talking with Po about what the heck is going on in the world of alternative protein. We talked about the struggles of companies like Beyond, how he thinks they will shake out going forward, and what he’s excited about in future food and beyond.

So what gets Bronson excited nowadays? In short, proteins that aren’t necessarily at the ‘center of the plate.’

“We have companies like Voyage Foods and California Cultured, doing chocolate and doing coffee and doing peanut butter more sustainably. There are so many products in the stores that we can reinvent and do better.”

Po had many other great insights, so you’ll want to listen to the full podcast by clicking below or finding it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And, if you want to meet Po in person, he’ll be speaking at The Spoon’s Food Tech Conference at CES!

Podcast: Navigating The World of Patents As a Food Tech Startup

Like many fast-growing industries, the world of food tech relies heavily on intellectual property.

No matter if your startup is building alternative proteins, cooking technology, automation, or some other food tech product, chances are its future success will depend on its IP. But if you’re like me, you find navigating the world of patents confusing. So, I figured why not bring an expert on the podcast to help me (and you) better understand how to navigate the world of patents?

On this episode of the Spoon Podcast, Anas Alfarra joins us to talk food tech and patents. Anas managed IP for one of the world’s biggest industrial equipment makers, has secured his own patent for a food cooking system, and advises startups on how to manage their IP.

  • Topics discussed on this podcast include:
  • What are the different types of patents?
  • What is a provisional patent?
  • How to understand patent strategies of large companies like Amazon and Microsoft
  • The process of applying for a patent
  • And much more!

If you are at all interested in intellectual property and have questions about how to manage it for your food tech startup, this is a must-listen!

You can click play below or find The Spoon podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.