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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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The Great Vending Reinvention: The Spoon’s Smart Vending Machine Market Report

Thanks to advances in hardware, the internet of things, and food preparation, vending machines today are basically restaurants in a box. They offer high-end cuisine in minutes, require minimal setup time, and have the on-board computing smarts to manage inventory and communicate any issues that arise.

With these capabilities, it’s no wonder the vending machine category was valued at more than $30 billion in 2018, according to Grandview Research, and was anticipated to have a CAGR of 9.4 percent from 2019 through 2025.

Had this report been written even just a few months ago, the main takeaway would have been that vending machines are perfect for high-traffic areas that operate around the clock: airports, corporate offices, college dorms, and hospitals.

But we’re living in a world continuously being shaped and reshaped by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Right now, some form of shelter-in-place orders blanket most of the U.S. Global air travel volume has plummeted, so airports are not busy. Non-essential businesses are closed and people are working from home, not office buildings. And colleges may not hold in-person classes until 2021.

While on the surface, those factors suggest vending machine companies will be yet-another sector wiped out by coronavirus, there has actually never been a better time for the automated vending machine industry. The small footprint and high-end food these devices offer are perhaps more important than ever at a time when minimizing human-to-human contact in foodservice is paramount to doing business. That makes the vending machine market uniquely positioned to capitalize on a post-pandemic world.

This report will define what the automated vending machine space is, list the major players, and present the challenges and opportunities for the market going forward.

Companies profiled in this report include Alberts, API Tech/Smart Pizza, Basil Street, Blendid, Briggo, Byte Technology, Cafe X, Chowbotics, Crown Coffee, Farmer’s Fridge, Fresh Bowl, Le Bread Xpress, Macco Robotics, TrueBird, and Yo-Kai Express.

This research report is exclusive for Spoon Plus members. You can learn more about Spoon Plus here.

Meet Blix, an All-in-One Blender & Subscription Service For Soups, Spreads & Smoothies

In a world where seemingly every other kitchen hardware startup has a pitch for a Keurig-esque business model of recurring revenue on their investor deck, it helps when your cofounder has actually sold a company to Keurig for hundreds of millions.

That’s the case with Blix, a startup cofounded by longtime beverage executive Eduoard Sterngold, who previously was the CEO of a company called Bevyz that was acquired by Keurig Green Mountain in 2014 for approximately $220 million.

It’s this type of pedigree that has no doubt helped Blix raise funding and build a team on the way towards launching a new blender-based food system that, yes, uses a proprietary cup-system to make a variety of soups, spreads and smoothies.

I caught up with the company’s president Ariel Sterngold (son of Blix CEO Eduoard) by phone, who told me that after rolling out the product in trials in 2019, they are pushing out the product nationwide over the course of 2020.

So how does the Blix work? The system is built around a blender and a single-use recyclable cups filled with pre-portioned and packaged ingredients. The ingredients are frozen using a technique called IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) where each ingredient -- a strawberry, piece of squash, etc -- is frozen independently before they are assembled.

The most unique part of the Blix system is the lid, which includes a single-use blade to chop up and mix the meal. The blade for each meal is developed specifically for that meal. By reading the included RFID chip, the system can determine the meal for each cup and adjust the blend accordingly.

One of the things that first struck me when looking at Blix were the words “single-use,” which in today’s world of increased focus on sustainability seems like a problem. Sterngold told me that the system, including the blade on the lid, are fully recyclable, which does mean it’s better than Keurig pods, which only are only partially recyclable. Still, compostable would be better, and reusable would be event better than that.

The main advantage Blix pitches is its ease-of-use as compared to normal smoothie making, which usually requires some chopping and measuring of ingredients and, if it’s a normal blender, a little clean up time. You’ll have to pay for that convenience, however, as each cup clocks in at $7.49 to $7.99 depending on the plan.

Yes, there are subscription plans and, as of now, it’s the only way to get Blix. According to Sterngold, they experimented with a la carte and subscriptions over the past year and found subscription was the preferred method. The subscription plans come in six or twelve cup a week plans and can be paused any time.

What’s in the cups? Right now, users of the Blix can choose from up to twelve smoothie varieties, three types of soup and three types of spreads (two types of hummus and a pesto).

Currently cups are only being shipped on the east coast, but Sterngold told me they plan to open up with a second copacker in California (they currently have one one in New York state) later this year. The products are packed with dry ice and, according to the company, can be shipped across state lines.

I’ve heard lots of pitches for proprietary pod systems over the years. Outside of the coffee space, most have struggled to gain traction. However, like many, I do avoid making smoothies and other blender food largely because the clean up is a pain. Add in that is makes soups and spreads, and I admit the Blix is intriguing.

That said, given that I’m focused on reducing the amount of packaging waste I add into the the wastestream, I’m not super excited about the idea of single use container anything. While Blix say they are fully recyclable, compostable would be better, and resuable preferred. And this is even before we get to the shipping packaging or the RFID tag included with the cup.

In a way Blix reminds me of Daily Harvest, which offers frozen, pre-portioned ingredient cups for smoothies and soups, only without the hardware. Like Blix, Daily Harvest offers subscription plans for its single-use cups, and packaging is recyclable.

A closer analog might be Blendid, which launched a dedicated smoothie making ‘robot’ with a single-use cup system targeted at both smoothie shops and offices in 2016. The product never really took off, but that probably had more to do with not finding traction in the tough-to-crack office food market.

Will the Blix model of subscription food and blender land with consumers? We’ll soon see. The promise of the company’s ready-to-blend food combined with a proprietary blender system was enough for investors to put $13 million so far behind the company, a decent amount of backing in what have been relatively difficult days for hardware startups over the past year.

You can see how the Blix system works in the company-produced demo video below.

Blix: How To Blend Your Blix Cup

Take an Instagram Food Robot Tour of San Francisco! Cafe X, Yo-Kai Express, Creator, Blendid and Le Bread Xpress

One of the reasons we hosted our ArticulATE food robot conference in San Francisco this week is because, well, it’s where most food robots are. So it only made sense while I was in town to go on a Food Network-esque trip around town, enjoying all the robot repasts I could.

My tour did not disappoint. I spent the day walking (and Ubering) around SF visiting Cafe X, Yo-Kai Express, Creator, Blendid and Le Bread Xpress. Because it’s better to show than to tell, we created a Spoon Instagram (follow us!) to give you a glimpse at all the cool food robotics happening right now.

Blendid’s Smoothie Robot Heads Off to the University of San Francisco

If you want to see the future of robots, go to college. I don’t mean become a student and take classes, I mean just literally head to a college campus as they are quickly becoming the go-to spot for companies to launch robots. Among the latest is Blendid’s smoothie-making robot, which is launching at the University of San Francisco next Monday.

Blendid (a.k.a. 6DBytes) came out of stealth just about a year ago to launch its autonomous smoothie making station at the Plug and Play Center in Sunnyvale, CA. As The San Francisco Chronicle reports, Blendid has partnered with food service operator Bon Appetit to bring the smooth(ie) operator to USF. Chef B, as the robot is called there, can make up to 36 smoothies and hour and will operate 24 hours a day at the Market Cafe on USF’s campus.

USF is just the latest college to test out robots on campus. Northern Arizona University (NAU), George Mason University (GMU), UC Berkeley, and University of the Pacific all now have little rover delivery bots running around, dropping off food and snacks on their campuses.

College campuses are popular destinations for robots because there is a large population centralized in one contained geographic area, and everyone there has to eat. A robot like Blendid works well in that type of high-traffic environment because smoothies are typically something people want to grab quickly, and the robot can just sit and churn them out literally around the clock.

Blendid offers a franchise option for food service companies like Bon Appetit, allowing them to install the $70,000 robot with a lower up-front cost. Given the work Sodexo is doing with Starship’s robots at NAU and GMU, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was exploring a similar arrangement.

One interesting bit about the rollout of USF’s new robot smoothie maker; Blendid put this tidbit on its FAQ page:

Q: Does Blendid eliminate any jobs for existing Bon Appétit workers?
A: No. Blendid kiosk is an added bonus. It brings another food option in the Market Cafe without adding more stress on existing staff. It won’t eliminate any jobs. We hope this will help alleviate load on staff and reduce wait lines during busy hours.

The role of robots in the workforce is an ongoing debate, and it looks like Blendid and Bon Appetit are trying to get ahead of any controversy. The impact of automation is a big issue and it’s one that we’ll be tackling at our upcoming ArticulATE conference on food robotics in San Francisco on April 16th. You should definitely get a ticket and join us for the discussion!

6d Bytes Debuts New Smoothie Making Robot

Stealthy startup 6d bytes came out of hiding yesterday to debut Blendid, a fully autonomous, smoothie-making robot station. Using a combination of machine learning, machine vision and robotics, Blendid promises to deliver customizable and consistently tasting smoothies to consumers whenever they want.

Blendid is an all-in-one robotic installation that can be set up on-site in food service operations. Inside the kiosk, the robot system blends, pours and serves up smoothies. No humans are needed, except for the site operator to manage inventory and address any issues that my arise.

Customers can use a mobile app or Blendid tablets to order from a menu of drinks including Blueberry Cacao, Mango Mint and Green Warrior, with smoothies costing between $4 and $5 for a 12-ounce drink. The robot whips it together and slides it over in under two minutes.

While the wow factor for patrons might be watching the robot arm swing back and forth with precision (see video below), there is actually a lot of impressive artificial intelligence going on in the background to orchestrate the whole operation.

Blendid Station Working

Through extensive use of machine learning, Blendid tracks the amount of each ingredient in each drink. So, for example, one drink might include only 40 grams of bananas instead of 45. The user can provide feedback on their purchase, and if they happen to like the one with slightly less banana, Blendid will remember this and adjust the drink accordingly next time.

Blendid also aggregates all the data from all of its users to help make recommendations. When someone goes to order a drink the system will say “Welcome back, Would you like the usual? Or, given your taste, you might like this other drink.”

There is also a lot of machine vision going on. Every item is coded, but should someone accidentally put spinach in the blueberry bin, Blendid will “see” the difference, know that blueberries are not spinach, and adjust accordingly, understanding the new location of the spinach.

Blendid also has the capacity to self configure and self-calibrate. Basically, every component that goes into Blendid is a standalone smart IoT (internet of things) device. If an ingredient runs out, it will take that item off the menu; if a part fails, Blendid identifies what went wrong and alerts the operator. Operators can also get a live, steady stream of analytics from the machine, detailing what ingredients are being used, if any ingredients are low, how many drinks is it serving, etc.

Sadly, for smoothie connoisseurs such as myself, Blendid won’t be serving me up strawberry banana protein blasts from the comfort of my home. Each machine costs around $70,000 and is meant for large food service operations like school and corporate cafeterias, supermarkets and stadiums. Once set up, Blendid can work all day without breaks, and 6d bytes co-founder and CEO, Vipin Jain, says operators can earn their money back after just nine months.

6d bytes has been developing Blendid discreetly for the past three years. The company is based in Sunnyvale, CA, has 15 employees, and Jain says it has raised “a little less than” $4 million in venture funding. The first Blendid is now operational at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale California. (if you’re down there, do a taste test and let us know about it!)

Smoothies are just the start for 6d bytes. According Jain, the company’s robotic platform can be adapted to serve up hot and cold solid food. Jain is a big believer that food service and fast casual need to change and has big plans for his company

“The whole on-the-go food space has to go through a transition for better consumer experience and operator economics,” said Jain. “There are 80,000 food service locations where Blendid can go. It’s a big addressable market. Our intent is to go after these locations.”

Perhaps as it goes after them, Blendid can hook up with Cafe X and Flippy to deliver a full-on robot army to get customers through breakfast, mid-morning coffee and lunch.