You head to the Spoon every week for the big, juicy food tech stories — ones that cover behind the scenes visits to the Beyond Meat headquarters, fundraises for robot baristas, and next-generation smart ovens.
For the other cool news bits around the web, the ones we don’t write a full post on, there’s the food tech news roundup! Grab yourself some lemonade and read up before you head to your local swimming hole for some weekend adventures.
Catering company Hungry expands into Philadelphia
Hungry, a service which connects chefs with corporate catering clients, announced this week that they had acquired Philadelphia company LocalStove (which offers a similar service) for an undisclosed amount. Hungry already works with 300 companies in the Washington, D.C. area, and will continue with LocalStove’s chef and office clients. This news comes a few weeks after the Virginia-based startup raised $1.5 million — I guess we’re seeing some of the promised expansion efforts already.
Chinova Bioworks raises $2 million for its natural food preservatives
This week food tech company Chinova Bioworks raised a $2 million seed round with participation by AgFunder, DSM Venturing, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and Natural Products Canada. The Canadian startup uses chitosan, a component found in mushrooms, as a natural food preservation agent in an attempt to fight food waste without artificial preservatives. They will use their new funding to scale up production and grow their team.
Doordash launches subscription service for restaurant deliveries
If you live in California, Texas, or the Midwest, you might be able to try out Doordash’s brand new subscription delivery service. Dubbed ‘Dashpass,’ customers in those locations can pay $9.99 to receive free delivery from restaurants in their area — as long as their order is over $15. According to Christopher Payne, COO at DoorDash (catch him at the Smart Kitchen Summit!), the subscription will pay for itself in three orders.
Interestingly, this move came around the same time that UberEats did away with its flat $4.99 delivery fee in favor of a sliding scale based on delivery distance. Which goes to show that the economics of restaurant delivery are clearly changing as demand grows and companies are experimenting to find the pricing sweet spot.
Did we miss any food tech news stories? Don’t keep it to yourself! Tweet us @TheSpoonTech.
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