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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Delivery & Commerce

7-Eleven & Nuro Launch California’s First Autonomous Delivery Service

7-Eleven announced today they are launching an autonomous delivery pilot program in Mountain View, California, in partnership with autonomous delivery tech startup Nuro.

While the Golden State has been a hotbed of activity for autonomous delivery for sidewalk bots, California has trailed Texas in the rollout of autonomous on-street deliveries. All that changes today with the launch of the Nuro pilot, which will be the first commercial autonomous delivery service in the state of California. The path for the program was paved late last year when Nuro received the first-ever Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Permit from the California DMV.

As with other Nuro rollouts, the 7-Eleven deployment will eventually use both the company’s proprietary R2 robot and Toyota Prius’s equipped with Nuro’s self-driving hardware and software. However, according to the announcement, the pilot will begin with outfitted Priuses that include a human driver in the driver’s seat. These “autonomous vehicle operators” will monitor the technology and ensure an optimal delivery experience, but will not bring the delivery to the door of the customer so as to make the service feel as ‘human-free’ as possible. Eventually, the two companies plan to introduce the Nuro R2 bots (without human drivers) into the pilot.

Customers in the Mountain View area who want to try out the service can start by placing an order with the 7-Eleven 7NOW app. After choosing autonomous delivery, customers should see a Nuro-powered Prius pulling up with their Slurpee and cheese dog order within 30 minutes. The service will be available to those nearby the 7-Eleven at 1905 Latham Street in Mountain View. Deliveries will be available from 8AM–9PM, seven days a week.

You can watch a video of how the 7-Eleven/Nuro pilot service below:

7 Eleven and Nuro Pilot Autonomous Delivery in California

Walmart’s Had a Big Month When it Comes to Autonomous Robot Delivery

It’s bragging time in Bentonville.

That’s because America’s biggest grocery retailer recently achieved two big milestones in autonomous delivery.

The first milestone is on the autonomous middle-mile front where Walmart and partner Gatik announced they had initiated daily driverless-truck delivery in Walmart’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart had started working with the maker of middle-mile autonomous box trucks in 2019 and by last December, the two received approval from the Arkansas State Highway Commission to remove drivers from the vehicles. In August, the two started trialing autonomous delivery runs between Walmart dark stores and local markets. And last week, the companies announced they are doing multiple driver-less truck runs per day, seven days a week.

The Gatik Autonomous Delivery Vehicle Delivering Products for Walmart

The other big autonomous delivery news for Walmart is the launch of the company’s drone delivery service.

This week the retailer’s drone partner Zipline announced the two had launched a drone delivery service in the northwestern Arkansas of Pea Ridge. Zipline’s technology utilizes a 25-foot take-off and landing platform which is located directly behind the Walmart Neighborhood Market location in Pea Ridge. There, a Walmart employee hands a package to a Zipline employee, who will then load the package into the belly of the drone for delivery. Once the drone reaches the delivery destination, the package is dropped over its target, where it will float down to earth thanks to an attached biodegradable parachute. The service area is within a 50-mile radius of the store.

The launch of drone delivery has been a long time in the making for Walmart. The company first started testing drones way back in 2015 and, ever since that time, has been running pilots and inking partnerships. In the meantime, Walmart’s competitors have been investigating drone delivery, which is perhaps why the giant retailer has picked up the pace over the past year.

Zipline Partners With Walmart on Commercial Drone Delivery

So Walmart appears to be making headway in drones and autonomous middle mile delivery, but what about road or sidewalk delivery to consumers? The last time we heard of Walmart making any moves in that space was when the company trialed with Nuro and Udelv in 2019, but they’ve been relatively quiet on that front. And as for sidewalk bots, the company hasn’t really shown any interest publicly, but that’s not to say they aren’t talking to folks.

Starbucks and Amazon Combine Forces to Create a Cashierless Coffee Shop

Wonder Twin powers, activate: Form of a cashierless coffee shop.

That’s right, today two Seattle-based giants, Starbucks and Amazon, announced they’ve combined their formidable superpowers to create a cashierless coffee shop. The new shop, called Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go, debuts today in New York City.

The new Pickup store uses Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, a system that features a variety of cutting-edge tech like computer vision and IoT sensors, as well as Amazon’s bio-authentication hand-scanning technology, Amazon One.

Here’s how it works: Customers order through the Starbucks app and can check order status on a digital screen. When it’s ready, coffee is picked up directly from the barista. The Pickup store also includes a mini-Go store stocked with snack and lunch items, as well as a lounge area. Access to both the store and the lounge is enabled through a one-time code from the Amazon Go app, a credit card swipe, or checking in via Amazon One’s hand-ID system. Once authenticated, customers can drop items from the store into their cart and will be charged once they leave.

The lounge is slightly different from the usual Starbucks store format in that it features individual work cubbies alongside the standard tables and chairs. Each cubby is equipped with USB ports and power outlets.

According to a company spokesperson, the two companies plan to open two additional Pickups over the next year, with the second one slated to open in the New York Times building. Beyond that, the company isn’t saying, but given Starbucks’ focus on upgrading their formats to enable quicker service and less overall contact post-pandemic, my guess is that if the initial stores work well, the Pickup format will become a go-to for Starbucks moving forward.

You can see the store in the B-roll provided by Starbucks below:

Starbucks Pickup Store, Featuring Amazon Just Walk Out Technology

Tired of Cold Take Out? SavrPak Believes It Has The Answer With New Packaging Prototype

Although everyone seems divided in these tumultuous times, there are still a few things in this world we all can agree on: Jeopardy won’t be as good without Alex Trebek, Facebook is evil, and cold food sucks.

While we can’t do too much about the first two, the final one might be a solvable problem, at least according to SavrPak. That’s because the company has debuted a new delivery packaging prototype that it claims will keep food at a safe temperature.

This is important because once food drops below 140o F, bacteria forms on the food’s surface. Unfortunately, that doesn’t take long for food packaged up in the typical foam or molded pulp packaging.

According to SavrPak, the company’s new packaging prototype can keep food at 140o or above for more than 20 minutes. While the typical wait for food ordered via a delivery service like DoorDash is about 40 minutes, a good chunk of that time is waiting in the prep queue and the actual making of the food, and 20 minute time window is about the average time it takes for a food package to arrive at the customer’s door once it’s picked up by the delivery driver.

And not only is hot food safer, but it also tastes better. And while there have been research projects on everything from using exhaust fumes of delivery vehicles to using inductive heating and chemicals as ways to keep food warm in transit, the beauty of SavrPak’s approach is its simplicity. SavrPak new prototype uses a small plant-based patch that is placed in the food packaging that extracts moisture and keeps the food warm. The packaging is insulated, and the combined impact is warmer (and less soggy food).

The soggy-free food part is no surprise for those familiar with SavrPak’s history. The company was originally called Soggy Food Sucks after Bill Birgen developed a patch to keep the lunches he made to take to work at his day job as an aerospace engineer from getting soggy. After patenting the technology and debuting it at The Smart Kitchen Summit’s Startup Showcase in 2018, companies from around the world began to contact Birgen. Last year, the company rebranded to SavrPak, and Mark Cuban even decided to invest after co-CEO Greg Maselli sent him a cold email.

I asked Birgen how it feels to create successor technologies and see the company grow beyond that original concept he came up with for your work lunch?

“It’s been incredible to see SAVRpak resonate with people and businesses around the world,” said Birgen. “I’m most energized about our plans to help the food industry be more sustainable. We see huge potential in SAVRpak’s ability to extend the shelf life of produce and reduce food waste.”

According to company co-CEO Grant Stafford, the company’s new packaging prototype is being trialed by Kitchen United and a variety of QSRs, and he expects the product to roll out in both the US and Mexico this quarter.

The Culinary NFT Trend Is Just Beginning

If you thought the romance between the culinary world and NFTs was a quick spring fling, I have some news for you: This relationship looks set for the long haul.

The latest evidence of an embrace of non-fungible tokens by restaurants comes in the form of new promotion launches over the past few weeks by both Burger King and Dave & Buster’s.

The Burger King NFT promotion is part of an effort to raise awareness around the company’s Keep It Real campaign, a marketing initiative in which it is eliminating 120 artificial ingredients from its menu. Here’s how the program, which is powered by the Sweet NFT platform, is described in Restaurant Dive:

“Guests can scan a QR code on each Keep It Real Meal box to receive one of three collective NFT game pieces, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. When the full set is collected, guests are programmatically provided a fourth NFT, a reward that could be a 3D digital collectible, free Whopper sandwiches for a year, autographed merchandise or a call with one of the campaign’s celebrity ambassadors.

In short, the burger chain is creating a loyalty program that entices consumers with real-world rewards like burgers. In other words, a modern equivalent of the old McDonald’s Monopoly game, only built on the blockchain.

Much like Burger King’s effort, Dave & Buster’s is an NFT powered loyalty program that promises prizes, even if the odds are longer and prizes are essentially just more game tokens. The program, which also uses Sweet’s NFT platform, offers digital cards and tokens in exchange for tickets won by customers playing games in the restaurant. According to the announcement, each location will offer a unique game card and coin, and the first customer to collect all the locations will win a “1 of 1 Super Master NFT and a $10,000 Dave & Buster’s Power Card.”

Beyond these efforts by the big chains, NFTs are also making their way into higher-end cuisine. In July, chef Marcus Samuelsson turned his chicken recipe into an NFT and threw in the opportunity to eat at the chef’s restaurant. In August, food critic Agnes Chee Yan-Wei announced she’s collaborating with NOIZchain.com to create an NFT marketplace for chefs. And then there’s Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT restaurant, where he plans to offer exclusive membership dining privileges for owners of one of the restaurant’s NFTs.

While much of the early forays into the NFT trend seemed a bit forced, the latest efforts are encouraging for a few reasons:

These NFTs offer real-world rewards, not just digital art. Digital art isn’t a bad thing, but the reality is if NFTs are ever to become mainstream, they need to translate to tangible rewards. Burger King is offering free food, while Buster & Dave’s offers the promise of free gameplay.

The rewards are available to everyone. Sweet, whose NFT platform underlies both Burger King and Dave & Buster’s offerings, call their approach “broad-scale”. What this means is there’s more than just one single copy of a digital asset everyone bids up to the stratosphere, and instead the programs offer rewards that are seemingly within reach and have similar odds to other more traditional game contests.

For those that want it: exclusive real-world experiences. For those who want to pay the price for membership, NFTs can also be a blockchain-powered ticket to exclusive real-world experiences. Vaynerchuk’s NFT restaurant and Chef Samuelsson’s NFT offer tangible but exclusive things high-end foodies would be excited about, like actual food.

So while early efforts to capitalize on NFTs may have been slightly cringe-inducing, the world of food is beginning to fine-tune their crypto offerings into something that real-world consumers might actually want.

Buyk Launches 15 Minute Grocery Delivery in NYC

Buyk, a new ultra-fast grocery delivery startup, launched operations in NYC this week.

The company announced this week that they’d launched delivery in Manhattan. Buyk, which was founded by Rodion Shishkov and Slava Bocharov – the same founding team who started Russian fast-grocery store Samokat – announced early this year that they’d raised $46 million for a US launch.

Buyk’s model utilizes hyperlocal dark stores sprinkled around different neighborhoods to ensure delivery within 15 minutes. Once customers put their order in, items are pulled within 2 minutes and then delivered by bike courier (“buykers”) to the customer within 5-10 minutes.

Buyk’s service is available today in Manhattan, and the company says they plan to expand to all NYC boroughs by the end of the year. In 2022, the company plans to expand to other major US metro areas, including cities in California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

Buyk is just the latest fast-grocery player to launch in via New York. Just this year, we’ve seen JOKR, Gorillas, Fridge No More. Throw in goPuff’s 500 city blitz, and that’s a total of five dark store/fast grocery players to take a bite of the Big Apple in 2021.

With all the new entrants, it will be increasingly tough for these players to make a name for themselves. But a crowded market isn’t always bad; if ultra-fast grocery becomes a strategic must-have that forces bigger players like Walmart, Amazon, or even a 7-11 to look at launching their own offering, chances are one of these companies will become acquisition targets.

Blue Apron Gives Time-Crunched Customers New Option With Heat & Eat Meals

For six months, I was an enthusiastic Blue Apron subscriber.

Each week I’d go on the website, eagerly choose my meals, and then spend an hour or so a couple of nights a week preparing dinner for my family by following Blue Apron’s cook-by-number instruction cards.

I liked it. The food was good, I learned new recipes, and it was fun.

But I still canceled. The reason? Life got busy, and it all seemed like just too much work.

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who doesn’t have 45 minutes a night to cook, which is why Blue Apron is debuting a new line of Heat & Eat meals that subscribers can microwave and have on the table in five minutes.

The company announced that the new ready-to-eat meals are available to most customers this week and will be available nationwide by November 1st.

From the release:

Heat & Eat meals were crafted to seamlessly complement customers’ Blue Apron Signature weekly recipes, providing them with more choice and flexibility in their weekly routine. Whether they are cooking for one, seeking a quick dinner option or an easy weekday lunch, Heat & Eat meals were designed to make meal decisions a bit easier. Heat & Eat meals are based on some of the company’s most ordered and top-rated dishes, and designed to be warmed in a microwave.

The new Heat & Eat meals will also come in single portions, a departure from the company’s traditional 2 or 4 person serving sizes for their cook-from-recipe meals.

It’s no secret that meal kit companies have long struggled with customer churn; just last year, Blue Apron explored strategic options as it ran short on cash due to high churn. However, the company saw an increase in customers in 2020 as people stayed home and cooked more, and early indications are some of the behavior changes may be permanent.

And now, by expanding their menu of options to include ready-to-eat meals (and adding single-serve portions), there’s a good chance the company will be able to reduce churn. I also suspect they’ll widen their addressable market to the time-crunched professional who cooks for themselves (Tovala’s sweet spot).

Had they had ready-to-eat meals when I was a subscriber, I might have stuck around. And who knows? With their expanded meal options, I might have to give them a second chance.

Whole Foods Adds Amazon’s Cashierless Tech

Well, we knew it was only a matter of time before this happened: Today, Whole Foods announced they are adding Amazon’s cashierless technology to two stores in 2022. In the announcement, the retailer says Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology will be an “option” for customers in their Washington, D.C.’s Glover Park and Sherman Oaks, California locations.

Ever since Amazon acquired the iconic retailer who helped pioneer the organic and less-processed focus grocery retail movement, Whole Foods has been cautious about adding touches of Amazon to the in-store experience. Sure, we’ve seen some Whole Food Locations install pick-up lockers, but the online retailer knows as well as anyone their presence can ruffle feathers.

This is probably why Whole Foods is starting slowly with cashierless. The grocer, which only just installed self-checkout in a limited number of locations starting in 2019, will offer the technology at only two locations and, I am sure, will emphasize to long-time customers accustomed to Whole Foods customer service that this latest iteration of the grocery store express aisle only just an option.

The cashierless checkout space has changed quite a bit ever since Amazon debuted its technology at the first Amazon Go in downtown Seattle in January of 2018. Since that time, a whole new cohort of cashierless tech startups has popped up as funding has flooded into the space. Now, with Whole Foods and others helping this technology go mainstream, I don’t see this space slowing down anytime soon.

Los Angeles International Airport Rolls Out NomNom, a Semi-Autonomous Food Delivery Robot

Los Angeles International is not my favorite airport. It’s crowded, has nine (nine!) terminals that take forever to navigate, and traffic blows once you get in your rental car and head to the Sunset Strip.

But all will be forgotten on my next trip through Los Angeles if NomNom, the airport’s new delivery robot, brings me food.

That’s right. LAX announced today it’s launching a pilot program for a 40-pound cargo bot by the name of NomNom. NomNom is a two-wheeled semi-autonomous top-loading delivery bot that moves at 6 miles per hour and uses a human guide to navigate the airport.

NomNom is being rolled out in partnership with AtYourGate, a food delivery service provider for airports that powers the food delivery service at LAX. When a consumer orders food through the airport’s food delivery portal LAX Order Now, guests at eligible terminals will be given an option to have a delivery or an additional fee. In addition, travelers will be given an estimated delivery time to ensure their food gets there before they have to rush off to catch a flight.

The robot, which uses cameras and sensors to follow its handler around the airport, is a gita, the delivery bot designed and built by Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF), a division of Piaggio Group, the maker of the Vespa scooter (could we see a Vespa delivery bot someday?). This is the second US airport to roll out a gita (Philly was first).

Airports have proven to be a favorite testing ground for food robots of all kinds. First, it was coffee bots like Cafe-X and Briggo, then came ramen, and now it looks like delivery bots are rolling in.

You can check out NomNom in the video below.

NomNom the delivery robot at LAX

Gatik Raises $85M Series B, Brings Automated Middle Mile Delivery to Texas

Autonomous middle mile delivery company, Gatik, announced today that it has raised an $85 million Series B round of funding. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, with participation from existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Wittington Ventures, FM Capital, Dynamo Ventures, Trucks VC among others. This brings the total amount raised by Gatik to $114.5 million

Despite its hum-drum name, the middle mile is far from middle of the road. In fact, the middle mile is perhaps one of the more exciting areas in autonomous vehicles right now. For those unfamiliar, the middle mile is the route between two business-to-business locations. Think: a retailers distribution warehouse to one of its store locations. Because the route is fixed, there are fewer variables a self-driving vehicle would encounter (same road, typically the same traffic conditions, etc.).

Because of these route limitations, it can be faster for a autonomous middle mile delivery company like Gatik to get to market. Local regulators don’t have to worry about self-driving cars learning and navigating complex situations and added safety concerns that come with delivering to a neighborhood house. Gatik now operates delivery routes in Toronto, Canada for Loblaws and for Walmart in Louisiana and Arkansas, where its middle mile route is fully driverless.

Along with today’s funding announcement, Gatik also said that it is expanding its operations into Dallas, Texas. Gautam Narang, Co-Founder and CEO of Gatik told me via video chat last week that as part of its move into Dallas, Gatik has signed undisclosed customers, which Gatik will be serving simultaneously, operating its trucks almost around the clock. “[We’ll be] moving goods for customer A during the day and customer B during the night,” Narang said.

The big funding and big move into Texas is the continuation of a big year for Gatik. So far this year the company has introduced an all-electric box truck, received $9 million (CAD) from the Canadian government to help winterize its technology, and partnered with Isuzu to develop autonomous medium-sized delivery trucks.

There isn’t a ton of competition right now in the autonomous middle mile space. Udelv unveiled its Transporter platform in April of this year. Unlike Gatik’s vehicles, which look like regular delivery trucks, Udelv’s Transporters are essentially giant pods, that don’t even have a place for a driver.

Between the investment and customers that Gatik is attracting, and the expanding willingness of local regulators to allow autonomous middle mile delivery, I suspect we’ll be seeing more players enter the space this year.

PepsiCo Bringing SodaStream Professional and Unattended C-Stores to College Campuses

In July of last year, during the first wave of the pandemic, PepsiCo introduced the SodaStream Professional connected sparkling water system for offices. At the time we noted that the machine, which reduces the need for single-use platic bottles was a good idea, but its future seemed questionable given that offices were closed. Even now, more than a year later, it’s unclear when or how workers will return to the office, so like any good company, PepsiCo has adapted, and is now bringing its SodaStream Professional to college campuses.

PepsiCo has installed its SodaStream Professional at William and Mary College and College of the Holy Cross (it’s also installed a machine at Dana Hill High School in Dana Point, California), which dispense customizable carbonated water. Customers can choose from a number of flavors, adjust the fizziness of their drinks and even offer up enhancements like electrolytes and vitamin B.

There is an accompanying QR-coded bottle and mobile app that people can use to control the machine. Users download the app and scan the QR code with their phone. At the machine, they scan the bottle’s QR code which allows users to order via the app, contactlessly dispense the drink, and remember certain flavor/fizziness preferences for future drinks. For those without the QR-coded bottle, the machine works with other vessels, and can be controlled with the on-board touchscreen. Pricing for the drinks is dependent on the arrangement made by the university.

The move to colleges is a smart play by PepsiCo, given the unknown future of office work. Schools have re-opened (fingers crossed) and are once again alive with activity on campuses.

But PepsiCo isn’t stopping with the new beverage station. The company has also launched a branded convenience store at Kansas University that features cashierless technology. The new store is powered by New Stand, and is not as high tech as the computer vision + artificial intelligence-powered Amazon Go, so students can’t just grab what they want and walk out. But it does allow users to scan their items with the New Stand mobile app at checkout.

And if that weren’t enough, during a video chat this week, Greg Herman, Sr. Marketing Director, Beverage Innovation – Foodservice at PepsiCo told me that in addition to these programs, PepsiCo is also still running its robot delivery program that it launched back at the start of 2019. That program used small, rover bots from Robby to carry around snacks and beverages that students could order. Herman didn’t provide too many details on the program, but we haven’t heard much about it since launch, so it’s nice to see it’s still going.

Between these programs, cereal dispensing robot vending machines, and 3D printed plant-based meat, colleges are fast becoming hotbeds of food tech innovation.

Stop & Shop Now Accepting EBT Payments From SNAP Customers Shopping Online

The Stop & Shop grocery chain announced today that its customers on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card when placing orders online for pickup and delivery. The new program extends to all SNAP participants across Stop & Shop’s five state reach – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey as well as delivery customers in New Hampshire.

Customers shopping online will be able to filter searches for SNAP eligible products, and apply their benefits at checkout. However, EBT cards can only be used for SNAP-eligible grocery items, and not for things such as fees, taxes or driver tips.

Adding an EBT payment option is absolutely a good thing to do. Providing greater access to grocery delivery can help alleviate food deserts in certain areas. Instacart has launched EBT payment options with ALDI, Publix, The Save Mart Companies and Price Chopper/Market 32. And last year, Amazon expanded the availability of EBT payments for groceries as well.

The outstanding issue for all of these services, however, is the payment of fees. Stop & Shop, for instance, charges $2.95 for pickup and $9.95 delivery fee for orders less than $100 (orders greater than $100 carry a $6.95 delivery fee). To really help bridge inequality and bring more equity to food availability, it would be nice if big retailers and well-funded delivery services did more to offset the costs of delivery and pickup for customers.