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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Beyond Meat

Will Alterna-Meats Stupefy Smart Ovens?

One of the benefits of using a connected oven like the June is the fact that the built-in HD camera automatically recognizes the food you’re cooking. Throw in a salmon and the June recognizes it, and helps you cook it perfectly. Even if it doesn’t automatically recognize a food, the touchscreen UI is clear enough that it’s easy to navigate homescreen > seafood > salmon in just a few taps.

But when I was making Beyond Burgers the other night, and the June thought they were regular beef burgers, it occurred to me that the coming wave of alternative, plant-based proteins is going to make things more complicated for the June, and any other appliance that either recognizes your food and/or has pre-set cook functions.

Beyond and Impossible burgers look and even “bleed” like beef burgers, which will bring up a couple of issues for smart cooking appliances. First, the device will have to develop new means for detecting what is placed in it. A fake meat patty will look a lot like a traditional one, yet different from other plant-based patties (like a black bean burger) — how important will it be to automatically tell them apart?

Second, not all “veggie” burgers are made the same. There is a “Veggie Burger” setting on the June, but that is more of an old-school Boca burger. I reached out to June to ask about how it will incorporate items like Beyond and Impossible, and this is what a company rep emailed me back with:

“We do think that Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger will have their own Cook-Programs in the future because of their different composition of protein (Beyond Burger being made of a mixture of pea protein while Impossible Burger is a mixture of wheat protein, potato protein and heme).”

And that’s just burgers! Just about all of the animal proteins we eat now will have a plant-based analog soon enough. Just has its mung bean-based “eggs.” Seattle Food Tech has its wheat-based “chicken nuggets.” And Good Catch is creating plant-based fish.

The June has already made moves to become more of an iPhone-like platform with the recent addition of the dedicated Whole Foods button on its touchscreen to automatically cook items from that grocer. If June creates separate settings for Beyond and Impossible, how far down that rabbit hole will it and other appliance makers go? At what point in popularity does fake salmon need to get before June puts resources into a specialized cook program? And how many brands, each with their own cook program and accompanying on-screen instructions, will June have to include?

Yes, there is probably no greater measure of my privilege than me fretting over how many buttons I’ll need to tap when cooking my plant-based burger in my expensive connected oven. But this isn’t entirely just a thought experiment either. Sales of plant-based foods boomed last year, hitting $3.3 billion, and plant-based meat alternatives are only getting better and cheaper. Any appliance company that makes guided cooking apps, cookware or appliances will have to keep one eye on the market and adapt now to an increasingly diverse plant-based food future.

Beyond Meat Files for IPO, is First Alterna-Meat Company to Go Public

Beyond Meat, maker of plant-based burgers, sausage, chicken strips and more, has filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO).

Rumors first started circulating last month when CNBC reported that plant-based meat company had hired J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse to help lead their IPO. On Friday Beyond filed for an initial size of $100 million. The company has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol BYND.

El Seguno, CA-based Beyond Meat sells its non-GMO plant-based meats in over 32,000 retailers, as well as Del Taco, T.G.I. Friday’s and A&W. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised $72 million in funding thus far. Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the U.S., has a 5 percent stake in Beyond Meat, and the company also boasts investments from Bill Gates, Obvious Ventures, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

In the past Beyond has struggled to keep up with high customer demand; they even had to delay their U.K. launch, expected in August, despite the fact that in June they added a second production facility aimed at tripling production. (Beyond recently rolled out in U.K. supermarket chain Tesco’s last week.)

With the demand for plant-based proteins growing by leaps and bounds, paired with the rising number of flexitarians around the globe, Beyond Meat’s post-IPO future looks bright.

This will be the first public stock offering for the recent smattering of companies making meat-like alternatives out of plants. If successful, Beyond Meat’s IPO will make it easier for others in the space like Impossible Foods to and Seattle Food Tech to follow a similar path. The success or failure of Beyond’s IPO could also have implications for the nascent cell-based (AKA lab-grown) meat space, which itself has seen a lot of investment this year.

Beyond Meat Dishes Up Plant-Based Options at Del Taco

Today Beyond Meat announced that it’s teaming up with Del Taco to “beef up” their menu.

The plant-based meat startup will launch two branded tacos: the Beyond Avocado Taco (which is vegan), and the Beyond Taco (which is just vegetarian). Judging from photos, they look like hard shell tacos with Beyond crumbles, lettuce, and tomatoes — the vegan option also has an avocado slice, while the vegetarian one has cheese. Customers can also sub Beyond Meat into any other Del Taco dishes (burritos, nachos, etc.). I wasn’t able to find any pricing information online, but as customers are allowed to swap in Beyond, I’m assuming that it’s on par with the meatier options.

This marks the plant-based meat company’s first partnership with a fast-food chain, and, according to Beyond Meat’s press release, it’s also the first time a Mexican fast-food restaurant will serve plant-based meat.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after Impossible Foods rolled out their vegan “bleeding” burgers to White Castles nationwide. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Beyond Meat, which typically markets itself directly to consumers in supermarket aisles, is now trying to establish itself as a strong player in the plant-based B2B market — for all price points.

While their products are already available in over 10,000 restaurants, their Del Taco launch is their first fast-food drive-through partnership in the U.S. (they’re already available in Canada’s A&W chain). We’ll see if the company can keep up with the high demand of quick service restaurants (QSRs), especially if they decide to offer Beyond Meat at all 564 Del Taco restaurants nationwide.

The Beyond Meat tacos will be available in two California Del Taco locations, one in Santa Monica and the other in Culver City. If you live in the area and are lucky enough to give them a taste, drop us a line and let us know about your experience!

A Plant-Based Tour of What I Ate at the Good Food Conference

You don’t attend the Good Food Conference (GFC) for the food. You go there to hear the Big Guns of the meat alternatives movement — like Seth Goldman of Beyond Meat, Mark Post of Mosa Meats, and Uma Valeti of Memphis Meats — speak onstage. You go there to watch new startups pitch their company’s vision for reducing (and eliminating) industrial meat production. You go there to hear about the latest breakthroughs and challenges in the plant- and cell-based meat spaces.

But at the same time, you kind of do go for the food. Because the whole point of the conference is to promote alternatives to traditional meat — and in order to be successful, the first thing those alternatives have to do is taste good. Like, good enough that a carnivore would choose them over a burger or hot dog.

As cell-based meat isn’t to market yet, all the alterna-meats from the two-day conference were plant-based. Here’s a brief overview of all the ones I tried:

Photo: Veggie Grill.

Breakfast

The Good Food Conference fueled their first-day attendees with a breakfast burrito featuring JUST Egg, a vegan egg replacement made of mung beans. The resulting scramble is yellowish and color and, while the texture is pretty spot-on, still has an unmistakeable beaniness. However, camouflaged in a tortilla with black beans, roasted potatoes, and spicy salsa, said beaniness was pretty well concealed.

Sadly I didn’t take a picture of this since I just grabbed one to eat while watching the opening panels, but the photo from Veggie Grill, who teamed up with JUST to launch an all-day breakfast burrito featuring the scramble, is pretty similar. While I think JUST Egg still has a ways to go before it fools any egg-lovers out there, it’s still a reasonable stand-in for huevos when combined with other, stronger flavors, like salsa, peppers, and cheese (vegan or otherwise).

The Beyond Meat spread.

Lunch

Beyond Meat provided the lunch for Day 1, and boy did they do it right. Their grilled sausages (in Bratwurst and Italian flavors) accompanied corn with vegan aioli, as well as several salads. I got a “bratwurst” and really enjoyed it; the sausage had a nice snap and the interior texture was realistically sausage-like. The flavor was also super heavy on the umami, without tasting overly of soy. Overall, two thumbs up.

Photo: JUST

Snack

To combat that afternoon lull, I had an individual serving of JUST cookie dough, which comes in a nifty plastic container with a detachable spoon built into the top. The two flavors I tried were birthday cake, which was overly sweet with sprinkles, and chocolate chip, which tasted just like Tollhouse. (That’s a good thing.)

Overall it’s not that hard to make good-tasting vegan cookie dough — I’ve done it at home with just a few simple substitutions — but the individual serving packages are pretty genius. Now you can get a sugary snack on the go without worrying about salmonella from raw eggs — and they know just the shade of millennial pink to use to draw in customers.

Day 2

Breakfast

Day 2’s breakfast was courtesy of MorningStar Farms, but all I saw were bagels, granola (with almond milk!), and fruit. Not that I’m complaining. I did have a latté made with Oatley oat milk however, which I thought was pretty darn delicious.

Oat milk is definitely the next non-dairy milk trend, at least when it comes to coffee: it doesn’t separate as easily as almond milk and froths much better than soy, meaning your barista can make fancy latté art with it. Oats also require far less water to grow than almonds, so it’s comparatively sustainable, and also doesn’t affect those with nut or soy allergies.

Photo by Nick Klein for The Good Food Institute.

Lunch

For lunch on Day 2 we had Impossible Burgers. Which, after the awesome Beyond sausage the day before, were fine but a little lackluster. They were super savory and tasted mainly of soy, and I kept thinking there was a fishy flavor in there — though that could be attributed to the mishmash of toppings I layered on the patty.

However, the burger was cooked medium, meaning I could see a little bit of the heme-powered “bleeding” action. Overall I would have gone with a smaller bun or thicker patty (or maybe White Castle-esque slider!) so the burger didn’t get lost under everything else.

 

Snack

Visually, this snack spread was one of the most trompe l’oeuil meat-like of the entire weekend. Provided by Worthington, a meat alternative food company, there were “chicken” nuggets and even a vegan charcuterie plate with plant-based bologna. Both tasted primarily of soy, but I liked them — especially the nugget, which had the semi-spongy trademark chicken nugget texture nailed to a T.

 

Photo: Good Catch Foods.

What I Didn’t Eat:

I missed the fish-free tuna sushi from Ocean Hugger foods (made of tomatoes!) and the plant-based tuna salad from Good Catch Foods. I also didn’t get to try Morningstar Farms’ “meat lover” vegan burger, which is clearly trying to capitalize off the buzz around the meat-like patties from Beyond Burger and Impossible Foods. Next year.

 

Conclusions:

Overall, a lot of things tasted pretty heavily of soy, reminding me of veggie breakfast sausages and “soy”-rizo products I’ve eaten in my five years of vegetarianism. The food items that really impressed me were the Beyond Sausage, whose texture was spot-on, and the look of the Worthington charcuterie. I’m sure at next year’s summit there will be even more alterna-meats, milks, and eggs, from even more new, hungry young companies. I can’t wait to try them all.

Let’s Unpack Impossible Foods’ Strategy to Edge in On the Beef Market

By now, you may well have sampled an Impossible Burger. (We certainly have — and liked it.) If you haven’t, you’re probably at least curious about the plant-based burger which claims to taste, cook, look, and even bleed like real beef.

The Redwood City-based startup released their 2018 Impact Report this week, touting three of their achievements over the past year: their growing reach (and growing customer demand), their ace-in-the-hole ingredient, heme, and their sustainability mission. With their progress, they hope to continue on their quest to replace beef burgers with their plant-based patties. Here’s how:

  1. Larger availability, smaller price point

Last year Impossible patties were available in only 40 restaurants. Now, you can find them in 3,000 restaurants in the U.S., Hong Kong and Macao. To keep up with rapidly increasing demand, Impossible Foods had to hire a second shift of employees to work in their large-scale commercial plant in Oakland, California, which produces about 500,000 pounds of plant-based meat each month.

In addition to widening their availability, Impossible has also been dropping its price point. Initially they were available only at Momofuku Nishi, David Chang’s hip NYC restaurant, for $18 (albeit with fries). Now you can pick on up at one of 140 White Castle locations for only $1.99.

Impossible Foods has chosen to market their meatless patties in restaurants because of chefs’ trendsetting power with one highly influential demographic: millennials. Millennials are driving the explosive growth of the plant-based meat market and are leading the charge on flexitarianism. Impossible Foods knows this, and is taking advantage; about three-quarters of its customers also eat meat.

“We want meat eaters globally to happily prefer our plant-based vegan products because they think it’s just better,” David Lee, COO and CFO of Impossible Foods, told crowds at TechfestNW earlier this year. It’s a smart move on Impossible Foods’ part to take any self-righteous guilting out of the equation. In fact, they seem to be moving towards a branding strategy where they don’t differentiate themselves from meat at all. Their website’s slogan is: “We make delicious meat from plants”.

Not to be nitpicky, but technically, they don’t — they make vegetarian burgers out of plants, which happen to mimic the things we love about meat (umami flavor, juicy fattiness, etc.). The secret to their burger’s taste-alike success? Well, that would be…

2. The buzzy molecule behind the “bleeding” burger

A big part of Impossible’s branding is their patties’ uncanny ability to “bleed” just like beef. This is thanks to heme, a molecule found in red meat — and also plants, which is where Impossible creates and harvests it. When we sampled the Impossible burger, we could taste the animal almost-metallic funkiness (yes, that’s a good thing) that comes from heme. Heme not only gives the patties a distinctly beef-like flavor — it’s also one of the most important aspects of their marketing strategy. The reason that a burger made from plants can be dubbed as “meat” is because it has some of the same chemical flavors, down to the molecule.

A few months ago the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flagged heme as a potential allergen after Impossible sent in their burger for a voluntary food safety test. Recently, however, the FDA gave heme the green light, declaring it safe. The FDA holdup wasn’t much of a roadblock; Impossible could (and did) sell their burgers widely. More of an issue, at least to some, is the fact that the patties aren’t GMO-free. In fact, heme is made through genetically engineering. But the GMO aspect doesn’t seem to cool excitement over this molecule, which is one of Impossible’s biggest selling points — one which allows them to position their products as a “burger,” not a “veggie burger.”

3. Mission Earth 

Plants have a smaller environmental footprint than animals — they just do. And beef is one of the worst culprits of all. In the impact report, Impossible Foods’ CEO and founder Pat Brown said that his company was on track to “eliminate the need for animals as a food production technology by 2035.” He told Time that by doing so, we can save Earth and “keep it habitable” so we won’t be forced to relocate to Mars.

Obviously, this is super ambitious — and optimistic. Even if we could eliminate the need for animals as food (that is, come up with enough plant-based protein to sustain the world) many people would be hard-pressed to give up meat — no matter how realistic the veggie burger.

There’s no question demand for (and acceptance of) plant-based protein is on the rise. The market is increasing at a CAGR of 5.9% and is projected to reach $14.22 billion by 2022. Almost 40% of people are trying to incorporate more plant-based proteins into their diets.

Which sounds super encouraging, until you realize that 2018 is also the year we’re projected to eat more meat than ever before. So while Impossible’s sales might be growing, is it moving any closer to its goal of replacing beef? Or is it just becoming a supplementary option for our protein-crazed selves?

Right now we’re at a critical juncture for the future of meat alternatives; they’re clearly gaining popularity and reach, but are they actually making a dent in meat production? As of yet, not so much. But with continued technical innovation, and new manufacturing methods, they might become so good that they might reach Impossible’s self-professed goal to be so good that carnivores choose their burgers over the real thing.

Conclusions

With heme now FDA-approved, and its continuing march towards affordable ubiquity, Impossible seems to show no sign of slowing down its growth, both to new marketplaces and new heights of media attention. Apparently, the company also has patents on the flavor chemistry used to create pork, chicken, and fish flavors, and plan to make plant-based alternatives to all three in the future.

If it can fix a few training issues, and avoid the roadblocks that Beyond Meat has experienced with meeting growing demand, maybe they can take some of the wind out of beef’s sales — and then conquer the rest of the animal kingdom. Of course, as long as lab-grown meat doesn’t knock them out of the water first.

 

 

Beyond Meat’s Sausage Patties are Amazing, and a Smart Play for Breakfast Business

The first thing fans of Beyond Meat (of whom I am one) should know is that the company knows their product is hard to find and they are working on it. Beyond Meat just brought on a second production facility in Missouri to help fill the empty aisles at your local grocery store (except for you, England — sorry!).

The second thing fans of Beyond Meat should know is that its forthcoming sausage patty is, to this writer, the best product the company has created so far. It’s still in development with no announced release date, but after tasting it at the Beyond Meat R&D facility in El Segundo yesterday I’m convinced this product is a game changer in the alterna-meat category. In fact, I think it could bring in a whole new line of business for the company. But more on that in a minute.

Inside the Beyond Meat HQ, you can see the real science behind fake meat. PhDs in lab coats run samples of pea proteins through microscopes, while others try to replicate aromatic meat molecules from the plant world, while still others put patties in a machine that replicates chewing (or biting — two very different things) to test for elasticity. The team there is constantly iterating and running tests to make its plant-based products more meat-like.

The Beyond Meat tour featured a stop in its kitchen, where the company’s chefs whipped up some their burgers, brats and sausage patties for me to try. These were high-end creations piled with truffles, carmelized onions, pickles, and a variety of delectable sauces. And while all were delicious, the sausage patty really stood out.

Made from peas, mung beans, brown rice and sunflower seeds, the patty faithfully recreated the experience of eating a sausage biscuit from McDonald’s. And I mean that as high praise. It had nice peppery tones that gave the patty’s flavor some depth, the right color and smell, and a crust that gave it that slight crunch. To be honest, it’s a much better simulacra than the Beyond brats, which, while good, were over-engineered to the point of feeling synthetic.

Getting the patty right isn’t just about flavor, though. For Beyond Meat it also means entering into a new category: breakfast foods. Right now, the company offers plenty of options for lunch and dinner; the addition of the sausage patty could lead to people eating Beyond products multiple times a day. (Perhaps a Beyond sausage patty would go well with some JUST plant-based eggs in the morning.)

The Beyond rep didn’t provide a timeline for the patty’s release, but my guess is that it probably won’t be until next year, given that the company is still wresting with its existing supply issues and expanding availability for its sausage brats line.

For fans of Beyond Meat though, the wait will be worth it.

Beyond Meat Delays U.K. Launch Due to Product Shortage

Beyond Meat will no longer be bringing their plant-based burgers across the pond.

The startup announced last year that it would launch in the U.K. sometime in 2018 and later finalized plans to sell their burgers in 350 locations of British supermarket chain Tesco by early August. The Grocer broke the news yesterday that this launch has now been delayed until the fall.

Executive Chair Seth Goldman told the Grocer that they had seen “much higher than expected” demand for the burger not only in the U.S., but also in their U.K. soft launch last month. He went on to say that they didn’t want to kick off sales in a new country if they couldn’t keep shelves stocked.

In all likelihood, they couldn’t. California-based Beyond Meat has indeed been experienced increasingly high demand as of late: in May, the company told Plant Based News that their patty was outselling beef burgers in some stores. In an attempt to ramp up production, they opened a new burger-making facility in Columbia, Missouri earlier this summer which could triple production output.

The Beyond burger is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and Hong Kong. In the U.K., as in the U.S., the plant-based burgers will be sold alongside beef in Tesco chilled meat aisles. They are expected to retail for £5.55 ($7.12), which is on par with their U.S. price.

When I wrote about Beyond Meat’s skyrocketing sales numbers in June, I wondered if the startup would be able to keep meeting the growing demand for alterna-meat. I think I just got my answer.

Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to Beyond (and other plant-based meat producers) that creating the demand is not enough — you have to meet it, too. Which makes companies like Seattle Food Tech, a startup creating new manufacturing practices to help scale plant-based meat production, all the more important.

—

P.S. Alterna-meat loving Brits, don’t despair! If you’re looking for a burger made of plants that looks, tastes, and bleeds like meat, you’ve still got some options — both in restaurants and on grocery shelves.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Get Label Wins, Score Big for Plant-based Meat

Yesterday plant-based burger startup Impossible Foods officially got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that their patties are safe to eat. Impossible voluntarily submitted their burger to the FDA for testing last year and was surprised when the regulatory body came back to them with a big red flag concerning the burger’s not-so-secret star ingredient: heme.

Though heme is typically found in animal tissue, it also occurs naturally in plants — albeit in smaller amounts. Impossible uses genetically modified yeast to produce large amounts of the stuff, which lends the trademark “bleeding” appearance, and meaty taste, to their burgers.

While the FDA was initially wary of approving heme, stating that there wasn’t enough information to establish its safety, it reversed its stance yesterday, claiming that the ingredient is “generally recognized as safe.”

Though it has cleared the FDA hurdle, Impossible Foods still gets flack for using genetically modified ingredients. Plant-based meat competitor Beyond Meat, however, made headlines today when it officially secured its status as non-GMO after a one-year review. Though many people, including Beyond Meat investor Bill Gates, believe that GMOs are “perfectly healthy,” the International Food Information Council Foundation revealed last month that nearly half of consumers avoid genetically modified food, believing it to be unhealthy.

These pieces of news are big wins for the respective alterna-meat startups. Business has been booming lately for both companies: Impossible recently started selling its vegan burger patties at White Castle and on select Air New Zealand flights, and Beyond has been selling out in grocery stores around the country, with plans for international expansion.

Food Tech News Roundup: Recyclable Meal Kits, KFC Goes Vegan(ish), and a Dairy App

Time for this week’s food tech news roundup! This week on the Spoon we covered self-heating beverage cans, beer made from surplus bread, and indoor smart grow system Ava’s (one of the Smart Kitchen Summit startup showcase finalists of 2017!) seed funding. We also launched a new podcast episode discussing how machine learning can help dairy farmers.

But enough about us — here are some of the food tech news stories that caught our eye this week:

Photo: Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon files IPO in Australia
Meal kit subscription service Marley Spoon filed for an initial public offering (IPO) this week in Australia, according to TechCrunch. The company is headquartered in Berlin, but decided to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) because Down Under is one of its biggest markets. Marley Spoon has tried to distinguish itself from competing services like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh through its paid partnership with Martha Stewart and its launch of budget-friendly line Dinnerly. The IPO is expected to give Marley Spoon a market capitalization of $152 million — but we’ll see if it can overcome challenges others like Blue Apron faced post-IPO, and whether Marley Spoon will make the move into retail stores like Hello Fresh, Plated and Home Chef.

Photo: Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot unveils 100% curbside recyclable packaging
Marley Spoon wasn’t the only meal kit company with an announcement this week. Purple Carrot, the plant-based meal kit service, sent out a press release to tell the world about their “new 100% curbside recyclable packaging.” Meal kits may cut down on food waste, but they’re notorious for their packaging waste; even if many elements are technically recyclable they often require a good deal of effort on the consumer’s part to break them down or drive them to a facility capable of processing them. Purple Carrot promises that its new packaging will be 100% fit for at-home recycling — which could be a huge step towards mitigating plastic packaging waste.

 

Photo: Stellapps

Gates Foundation invests $14M in dairy tech app
Last week Stellapps Technologies, the India-based IoT and data analysis stack for the dairy supply chain, raised a $14 million Series B round, as reported by AgFunder News. The round was led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IndusAge Partners. Founded in 2011, Stellapps uses sensors, machine learning, and automation to optimize the entire dairy supply chain: from production to shipping to distribution. Technology has unlocked a new era of cow and dairy management, with startups like SomaDetect and Connecterra allowing farmers to make more data-driven decisions.

 

Pixabay

KFC to test vegetarian fried “chicken” in U.K.
KFC UK has made promises to cut their calorie content by 20 percent over the next 7 years, and one of the ways they’re working towards this goal is by developing a vegetarian version of their iconic fried chicken. Apparently, the new menu offering will still use the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices that made the Colonel famous, and will debut some time in 2019. This comes on the heels of the plant-based Impossible burger’s launch at White Castle.

 

Photo: Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat doubles production to meet increased demand
This week, plant-based protein company Beyond Meat announced that it would double their production to sate the growing hunger for their plant-based burgers. According to Plant Based News, Beyond burgers are outselling beef burgers in some stores in California, and Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown has said that the company is ahead of their sales targets. All of which means that the demand for meat-like vegan burgers is there, and is growing — the question now becomes if Beyond Meat can keep up with demand, especially as it rolls out in 50 countries this summer.

Did we miss anything? Tweet us @TheSpoonTech!

The Food Tech 25: Twenty Five Companies Changing the Way We Eat

Here at The Spoon, we spend most days writing and thinking about those who are transforming what we eat. No matter whether a startup, big company, inventor, or a cook working on new approaches in the kitchen, we love learning the stories of people changing the future of food. So much so, in fact, that we wanted to share those companies that most excite us with our readers.

And so here it is, The Spoon’s Food Tech 25: Twenty Five Companies Changing the Way We Eat

What exactly is the Food Tech 25? In short, it’s our list of the twenty five companies we think are doing the most interesting things changing the way we create, buy, store, cook and think about food.

As with any list, there are bound to be a few questions about how we got here and why we chose the companies we did. Here are some answers:

How did we create this list?

The editors of the Spoon — myself, Chris Albrecht, Catherine Lamb and Jenn Marston — got together in a room, poured some kombucha (ed note: except for Chris), and listed all the companies we thought were doing interesting and important work in changing food and cooking. From there, we had numerous calls, face-to-face meetings and more glasses of kombucha until we narrowed the list down to those you see here.

Is this an annual list?

No, this is a list of the companies we think are the most interesting people and companies right now, in mid-2018. Things could definitely look different six months from now.

Is this list in a particular order or are the companies ranked?

No, the list is in no particular order and we did not rank the 25 companies.

Why isn’t company X on the list?

If this was your list, company X or Y would most likely be on the list (and that’s ok with us). But this is the Spoon’s list and we’re sticking to it (for now – see above).

And of course, making this list wasn’t easy. There are lots of companies doing interesting things in this space. If we had enough room to create runners-up or honorable mentions, we would. But we don’t (and you don’t have enough time to read a list like that).

So, without further ado, here is the Spoon’s Food Tech 25. If you’re the type that likes your lists all on one page, click here.


EMBER
Ember bills itself as “the world’s first temperature control mug,” which basically means you can dictate a specific temperature for your brew via the corresponding app and keep your coffee (or tea or whatever) hot for as long as you need to. The significance here isn’t so much about coffee as it is about where else we could implement the technology and relatively simple concept powering the Ember mug. The company currently has patents out on other kinds of heated or cooled dishware, and Ember has cited baby bottles and medicine as two areas in which it might apply its technology. And yes, it allows you to finally stop microwaving all that leftover morning coffee.

 


INSTANT POT
The Instant Pot is not the highest-tech gadget around, but its affordability, versatility, and speed have made this new take on the pressure cooker a countertop cooking phenomenon. It also has a large and fanatical community, where enthusiastic users share and reshare their favorite Instant Pot recipes across Facebook groups and online forums. By becoming the first new breakout appliance category of the millennial generation, the Instant Pot has achieved that highly desirable (and rare) position of having its brand synonymous with the name of the category; people don’t go looking for pressure cookers, they go looking for an Instant Pot.

 


DELIVEROO
We chose Deliveroo out of the myriad of food delivery services because of their Editions project, which uses customer data to curate restaurant hubs in areas which have unfulfilled demands for certain chain establishments or cuisine types. This model allows food establishments to set up locations with zero start-up costs, and also gives customers in more restaurant-dry areas a wide variety of delivery food options. Essentially, it’s cloud kitchens meets a food hall, with some heavy analysis to help determine which restaurants or cuisines customers want, and where. These “Rooboxes” (hubs of shipping containers in which the food is prepared) show that Deliveroo is a pioneer in the dark kitchen space, and are doing serious work to shake up the food delivery market.

 

AMAZON GO
There are any number of ways that Amazon could have been included in this list, but its Amazon Go stores are what we think will be the real game changer. The cashierless corner store uses a high-tech combination of cameras and computing power, allowing you to walk in grab what you want — and leave. That’s it. At its first location in Seattle, we were struck by how seamless the experience was. As the locations broaden, this type of quick convenience has the potential to change the way we shop for snacks, (some) groceries and even prepared meal kits.

 


INGEST.AI
Restaurants have more pieces of software to deal with than ever. In addition to all the delivery platforms they are now plugged into, there have to deal with payments systems, HR software, and inventory management software. And right now, none of those applications talk to each other. Created by a former IBM Watson engineer, Ingest.ai promises to extract and connect the data from ALL of those disparate software pieces and tie them together to give restaurant owners a holistic, data-powered view of their business. It also helps them have more precise control over their business and automate tasks like food ordering and staff scheduling.

Want to meet the innovators from the FoodTech 25? Make sure to connect with them at North America’s leading foodtech summit, SKS 2019, on Oct 7-8th in Seattle.

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Food Tech News Roundup: Plant-Based Updates, Beverage Fundraising, & (Near) Instant Cake

This was a very meaty week for food tech! No — literally. From Crowd Cow’s $8 million fundraise to our Future of Meat meetup last night, there was plenty to sink our teeth into. Plus we wrote about a French pizza-making robot and Microsoft’s visual food logging patent.

But now it’s (almost) the weekend and time for our food tech news roundup! And since Monday is a holiday, you have plenty of time to sit back and peruse at your leisure.

Photo: Beyond Meat.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods unveil news (and new products)

This week at the National Restaurant Association Show Beyond Meat debuted a new product: breakfast “sausage” patties. According to Food Business News, the patties, which are made of pea, mung bean, sunflower and rice protein, as well as sage and nutmeg, cook just like a pork patty and have twice the protein. This is the latest product from Beyond Meat, who already offer Beyond Sausage, Beyond Chicken Strips, and Beyond Beef Crumble in addition to their iconic Beyond Burger. It’s expected to hit grocery shelves in fall of this year.

Another plant-based meat company also unveiled some news this week. Impossible Foods announced on Tuesday that its “bleeding” vegan burgers are officially kosher. They announced this after they received their official kosher certification from the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certification agency. Which means that those who keep kosher can now officially have a cheeseburger — sort of. Impossible is hoping to get their Halal certification later this year.

 

Craft beverages snag serious funding

Two non-alcoholic drink companies — High Brew Coffee and REBBL — announced $20 million investment rounds this week, according to BevNet. This was the Series C funding round for Austin, TX-based High Brew, whose canned cold brew coffee attracted investment from celebrities like the band Kings of Leon and former MLB pitcher Huston Street. High Brew is part of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group allied brands family.

One of High Brew’s investors, CAVU Venture Partners, also contributed to REBBL’s recent fundraise. Their coconut milk-based beverages are infused with natural supplements like matcha, turmeric, and maca. REBBL (which stands for roots, extracts, berries, bark and leaves) also has a philanthropic bent; it donates 2.5% of its net sales to efforts by Not For Sale to end human trafficking in the places where it sources ingredients.

 

Miss Jones debuts healthy, convenience-focused dessert

Millennial-targeted baking mix company Miss Jones Baking Co. announced this week that it will be rolling out a new product at Whole Foods: Desserts-in-a-Cup. We’ve all had a microwaved mug cake before (and if you haven’t, you should), but the Miss Jones version come already mixed and pre-packaged — all you have to do is add water and zap for 30-40 seconds. At 150-250 calories per single-serve cake, they’re targeting the health-conscious, convenience-seeking millennial audience that wants to satisfy their sweet tooth, guilt-free.

Did we miss some food tech news? Leave us a comment or tweet us @TheSpoonTech!

Tyson Leads $2.2 Million Investment for Israeli Startup Future Meat

Tyson just announced a new name on the list of alterna-meat manufacturers it backs: Future Meat.

Tyson co-led the Israeli based startup’s $2.2 million seed round, in which the Neto Group, S2G Ventures, BitsXBites, and Agrinnovation also participated.

Future Meat manufactures animal fat and muscle cells for meat without ever having to actually raise and slaughter animals, and without genetic modification. Right now, this is a fairly expensive process: current production costs are $10,000 per kilogram, according to the company’s Chief Scientist, Yaakov Nahmias.”We redesigned the manufacturing process until we brought it down to $800 per kilogram today, with a clear roadmap to $5-10 per kg by 2020,” he said in a press release. 

If Future Meat can make that cost efficiency a reality, it could very well be an enormous advantage for the company in terms of how it stacks up to competitors. And as one expert noted earlier this year, price and taste are two crucial factors for any company looking to make an impact in alterna meats.

The company is also looking to get away from using fetal bovine serum, which is widely known as the key to lab-grown meat right now. No doubt some of the new funds—which Future Meat says are for engineering activities and biological research—will go into developing an alternative element. Future Meat is currently looking for engineers, chefs, and scientists.

The company is one of a growing number of startups and initiatives making alternative forms of meat a reality. Memphis Meats, another Tyson investment, also makes lab-grown meat and raised an undisclosed sum at the beginning of 2018. And last summer, JUST (formerly Hampton Creek), said it would bring lab-grown meat to market by the end of this year. There’s also Integriculture, who not only makes clean meat but is also trying to develop “agricultural-scale cell culture” for uses beyond food.

Meanwhile, it seems there’s a “clean meat revolution” happening in Israel. The country is home to not just Future meat, but also SuperMeat, who recently raised $3 million Meanwhile, Soglowek, a big-time meat producer in Israel, just announced its plans to donate 20 percent of profits to SuperMeat, in addition to launching its own plant-based meat label.

None of this is very coincidental, since Israel is both a leader in tissue engineering and home to the largest number of vegans per capita in the world. And with companies like Tyson and Soglowek backing both lab-grown and plant-based meat concepts, it’s looking like the future of meat is less of an either-or scenario and more about finding the most sustainable, cost-effective, and tasty alternative.