My fellow food tech enthusiasts: I hope your weekend involves lots of culinary adventures, of both the real and digital worlds. If you happen to be in Southern California, I really hope they involve cooking the newly released Impossible beef product, now selling at Gelson stores. If you were lucky enough grab some, let us know how you cooked it and how it tastes.
In the meantime and before we all sign off for the weekend, here are a few more tidbits of tech news from the food world.
Plant-based food startup Simple Feast raises $33M for sustainable meal delivery
Danish startup Simple Feast, which delivers plant-based meals via subscription to customers in Denmark and Sweden, announced this week it has raised a $33 million Series B round led by 14W. Simple Feast offers sustainably packaged, meat-free meals geared towards those looking for ways to make their eating habits more earth friendly. The company will use the funds to bring its service to the U.S. early next year.
Sharp to launch an Innit-powered smart oven
Appliance-maker Sharp has teamed up with smart kitchen app Innit to release the 78-liter Love2Cook Smart Oven. According to a news announcement on Sharp’s website, the new oven will offer 150-plus auto-cook recipe functions via the Innit integration as well as access to thousands of recipes. Users can also link the oven to Google Home and Alexa devices to access recipe functions via voice control for a more hands-free experience.
The James Beard Foundation gets into virtual reality dining
Ever wonder what a virtual reality dining experience is like? Head over to the James Beard House. The Foundation’s West Village townhouse will soon be the first publicly accessible home for Aerobanquets RMX, a virtual reality dining experience that will feature seven bite-sized courses blending, food, art, and blind eating into a $125-per-person experience. The “event,” which Bloomberg profiled in depth this week, is open to the public starting October 30.
Dunkin’ adds guest ordering to its mobile app
In a bid to compete with Starbucks, McDonald’s, and other java-slinging QSRs, Dunkin’ this week added a guest order feature by expanding its On-The-Go mobile order capabilities to all customers. On-The-Go had previously been available only to DD Perks Rewards members. Any Dunkin’ customer can now select “Guest Order” on the Dunkin’ mobile app, pay for their items, and pick them up at the store or in the drive thru.
Want more food tech? Grab a ticket for The Spoon’s SKS conference this Oct 7–8 in Seattle. See you there!
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