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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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McDonald’s Acquires Voice Ordering Tech Startup Apprente, Will Form New Tech Lab

McDonald’s announced today that it will acquire Apprente to bolster the fast food giants voice-based ordering capabilities. This is the second tech startup acquisition for Mickey D’s this year, and the Apprente team will form the basis of a new tech lab for the chain.

In the press announcement, McDonald’s described Apprente and how it will use the startup’s technology:

Apprente was founded in 2017 in Mountain View, California, to create voice-based platforms for complex, multilingual, multi-accent and multi-item conversational ordering. In McDonald’s restaurants, this technology is expected to allow for faster, simpler and more accurate order taking at the Drive Thru with future potential to incorporate into mobile ordering and kiosks.

The Apprente acquisition is part of McDonald’s ongoing evolution into more of a tech company. Back in March of this year, McDonald’s acquired personalization platform Dynamic Yield for $300 million to make its menus more Netflix-y with recommendations based on factors like the weather or current purchases. That technology is now deployed into more than 8.000 McDonald’s locations. Additionally, the chain was reported in June that McDonald’s was experimenting with robot-powered deep fryers and voice-activated technology at its drive thrus.

Major QSRs see over half their orders come via the drive thru, so it’s no surprise that area of fast food is a hotbed of tech activity. Both Clinc and Valyant AI are working on their own voice-tech solutions, and 5thru uses AI to that involves scanning a customer’s license plate. And while McDonald’s has certainly made the biggest strides of all QSRs in terms of adding tech to the drive-thru experience, others, including KFC and Dunkin’, are also experimenting with ways to speed up order times and upsell more customers.

Seeing this type of competition is most likely spurring McDonald’s decision to ramp up its own tech efforts internally. As such, the company also announced today that the Apprente team will be the founding member of a new group within McDonald’s Global Technology team called the McD Tech Labs based in Silicon Valley. The new lab will be going on a hiring spree to bring on engineers, data scientists and other technology related positions.

Chipotle ‘Quietly’ Introducing AI Into More Stores

Chipotle has been implementing more artificial intelligence (AI) into its stores this year in the form of AI-powered voice assistants for phone orders, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. The chain has already implemented the technology into 1,800 locations so far this year, and plans to have the system in remaining U.S. stores by the end of 2019.

The as-yet-unnamed female voice greets customers and takes orders. According to NRN, she “actively listens and makes suggestions when she thinks a customer might have omitted a topping on a bowl or burrito.” Over time, her algorithm learns and can remember more and more complex orders.

Chipotle has actually been quietly testing this technology out since 2018, when it introduced its “voice” to just 10 stores. But so far as AI is concerned, the time to be hush-hush about these initiatives might be coming to an end. Domino’s has been using a chatbot since 2018, an AI-powered system called DOM that also takes phone orders. And ever since McDonald’s acquired Dynamic Yield and started aggressively rolling the company’s tech into its drive-thrus systems (and soon its self-order kiosks), AI has been not a buzzword but the buzzword flying around QSRs and fast casual chains.

Having AI-powered tech in the restaurant has a few advantages. In the case of phone assistants like Chipotle or Domino’s, it can speed up the order process and minimize the amount of time employees have to spend on the phone (assuming the voice assistant can learn and retain complex orders and not need human intervention to process them). AI can also improve how well restaurants can offer more personalized recommendations to customers — that is, ones tailored specifically to that customer and based on everything from a person’s past orders to the weather outside.

What it won’t do, at least in Chipotle’s case, is take away jobs. Nicole West, vice president of digital strategy and product at Chipotle, told NRN that the phone-order system is meant to make the phone order process more convenient and save restaurant managers and employees time.

Verb Energy Raises Seed Round, Relies on the Human Touch

When dealing with any type of customer service online these days, I just assume that I’m talking with a chatbot. Companies like chatbots because they take the place of actual people who need things like paychecks, healthcare, etc. But if you reorder product from energy bar startup Verb, you will be texting back and forth with an actual human, and according to the company, it will always be this way.

To help with that mission, Verb Energy just raised nearly $1 million. The seed round was led by Global Founders Capital, with participation from Great Oaks Venture Capital and Vast Ventures, as well as an angel syndicate. Verb will use this funding to help launch a new suite of energy food related products and build out its text-to-buy platform.

Started by three Yale undergrads, Verb started off making bars in a dorm kitchen last fall and selling them at a local bakery. According to Verb Co-Founder and CFO (and still a full-time Yale student) Bennett Byerley, Verb bars are made from just eight ingredients and have as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Though Bylerley says that because their bar’s caffeine comes from organic green tea, the result is a “less jittery burst of energy.”

Verb proved popular, selling ten thousand bars in its first month. As the business took off Verb expanded to online sales, and in January launched a text-to-buy platform for reordering. The company’s CTO built the text ordering platform using payment processor Stripe, which allows customers to simply text when they want their next box of Verb bars. But instead of automating the chat process, each text is answered by one of the co-founders through an online dashboard.

“We wanted it to be absurdly convenient,” said Bylerley, and so far “customers really like the experience.” The added benefit, he said, is the ability to get in-depth feedback from buyers. Byerley and the other co-founders ask questions about the product during chats, and people often reply with pictures of themselves eating a Verb.

Byerley says Verb processed their one-thousandth text-based customer in February, which seems like a manageable number for three energetic undergrads. But what happens when the product scales up? “I don’t think we can envision anytime in the future automating the experience,” said Byerley, “It feels inauthentic to use chatbots.”

Some of the seed money just raised will go towards building out the text to buy platform and team, but it still seems overly optimistic that they’ll be able to keep up this human-centric vision of customer interaction should the business really take off. And really taking off is something institutional investors are going to want.

Of course, if Verb does take off, employees will have easy access to caffeine to keep up with all those orders.

Alcohol Brands Turning to Chatbots for Creative Marketing

It seems chatbots are popping up everywhere in the food and beverage industry, and now they’re finding their way to the liquor cabinet.

Chatbots are applications that combine Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to simulate human conversation.  They are an innovative way for marketers to reach out to target audiences and to support purchases.

As Allen wrote recently, chatbots are gaining increasing popularity as a way for grocery stores and restaurants to interact with target audiences.  Like food retailers, beverage brands, in particular alcohol brands, are quickly implementing chatbots as part of their marketing strategy.

Here is a look at what some top alcohol brands are doing with chatbots:

United Spirits Limited (USL), a Diageo Group Company, introduced Simi-Your Personal Bartender, a Facebook Messenger chatbot that provides bartending solutions.  Simi has a cocktail recipe catalogue of over 2000 recipes that feature Diageo’s brands, like Johnnie Walker Whisky, Smirnoff Vodka, Tanqueray Gin, and Captain Morgan.  With use, the chatbot will gain intelligence and offer cocktail recipes based on alcohol and ingredient preference.

According to B. Sridhar, VP Digital at USL-Diageo “There is a shift in the way consumers are interacting with brands today and through this conversational interface we wanted to build a first of its kind bar-tending solution that is not just cutting edge, but can also help us offer our consumers personalization at scale.”  The chatbot will be integrated across all Diageo brand pages on Facebook and the company’s lifestyle website, liveinstyle.com.

Johnnie Walker, one of the Diageo brands, is also rolling out, in addition to Simi, a digital education program that leverages Amazon Alexa skill, a messenger bot, and a Facebook Messenger chatbot.  The chatbot piece of their tripartite digital campaign is a guided whiskey tasting experience, aimed at giving whisky enthusiasts more knowledge. Johnnie Walker’s chatbot also offers cocktail recipes and enables users to execute on the recommendations provided, ordering alcohol and mixer supplies through Drizly or Cocktail Courier.

Free drink?

Vodka maker Absolut has launched its own chatbot, with the incentive of giving users a free drink.  Rather than providing DIY mixology advice, the Absolut chatbot leads users to the professionals—to bars where they can purchase an Absolut beverage, and redeem a special code for their free drink.  The responsible bot also gives drinkers the chance to get a ride home from Lyft.

As an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, Heineken is using chatbots as a way to get football (soccer) fans to watch the games by offering rewards like transportation and food delivery to viewers.  The Heineken Facebook Messenger chatbot will be launched in April.

So, why chatbots?

For one, alcohol brands find using chatbots are a good way engage consumers with recipe tools, bar finders, and interactive games. They’re also a good way to connect with younger consumers. Chatbots are particularly popular among Millennials, with research showing 60% of those aged 18 to 34 having used a chatbot at some point, according to Retale.

So next time you hit the bottle, remember you don’t have to drink alone. You can find company in one of the many chatbots finding their way to the local liquor cabinet.

Wine and AI: A Perfect Pairing of Technology and Tradition

If you have trouble figuring out what is the best wine to pair with tonight’s dinner, we have some good news: artificial intelligence may soon be able to help you with that age old question, ‘Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc?’ That’s because a new wave of AI-powered virtual sommeliers are now available to help make those decisions.

Old Problem, New Solution

For decades the wine industry has struggled to overcome the anxiety associated with selecting a wine. Now thanks to technology you no longer have to have an awkward conversation with the clerk at the wine store, but can turn to a virtual sommelier to pick the perfect bottle.

There have been many virtual wine selectors available for some time.  However, we are now seeing increasing intelligence integrated into these solutions, making them both more powerful and more personal.

Wine Ring, headquartered in Syracuse, New York and founded in 2010, offers one of the most personal wine selection experiences available.  Unlike other apps that offer wine suggestions based on pairing suggestions or expert ratings, Wine Ring bases suggestions on your individual preferences.  This app uses advanced algorithms to develop a personal profile based on your rating of wines and then recommends bottles based on your taste profile. The more wine you drink and rate, the better the AI and the better the wine recommendations.

Google is also serving up wine suggestions.  Google’s new “My Wine Guide” is a conversation action added to Google Assistant for wine pairing suggestions.  While My Wine Guide is currently limited in its depth of AI and personalization of wine suggestions, what makes Google’s virtual sommelier most promising is how it integrates easy conversation format with computer based wine queries. Looking forward, “My Wine Guide” could become even more useful is to take the food pairing suggestion and then offer a variety of wines matching that paring at different price points which the user could verbally order and have delivered via a service like Drizzly, all from conversation based commands.

Once you get your recommendation from Wine Ring or “My Wine Guide” you can take it to Wine Searcher, a tool for locating and pricing wine (and beer and spirits) across all online stores.  Wine Searcher uses artificial intelligence to classify wines, linking the hundreds of thousands of products and tens of thousands of retailers to produce wine suggestions and pricing based on inputted search terms.

Wine Searcher is also integrating label recognition technology and developing a chatbot to improve user interaction with the site.

Vivino is already using label recognition technology to help guide wine purchases.  With Vivino the user simply takes a photo of the wine label they are considering and is instantly provided the wine’s rating, average price and review from the community of 22 million users.  The app then tracks which wines you scan and rate, but does not at this point offer suggestions based on your profile.

All of these tools aim to take the age-old mystery out of picking wine by applying artificial intelligence. While the wine industry is steeped in tradition and ancient ways, it could be the very modern application of artificial intelligence that makes wine and wine selection relevant to today’s consumers.

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Image credit: Flickr user a.has

The Year in Food Delivery

Despite a distinct cooling off of investment in the food delivery space this year, some big names like Uber, Google, and David Chang threw their hats in the ring.

That’s because the online food delivery market is estimated around $210 billion, with companies like FreshDirect raising $189 million in the past 12 months. It’s become such a pervasive part of our way of life that Google even added a food-delivery shortcut to Maps. And there are plenty of food-delivery crowdfunding projects to go around.

But enough with the numbers. Here are the highlights in this space over the past 12 months.

More Big Players Joined the Party

This year everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Google started to ship fresh food to customers in California through Google Express. Instacart and the Food Network launched a meal-kit delivery service, and Square acquired startup Maine Line Delivery in Philadelphia to boost Caviar. Meanwhile Facebook and Foursquare made it easier to order food from within their apps through Delivery.com.

NYC darling chef David Chang decided to blow up the entire idea of a nice restaurant by launching Ando, a restaurant that only does deliveries, and he raised the bar on delivery food everywhere by launching Maple, his own delivery service that promises a daily delicious menu.

Plus, where would the year be without a few gimmicks? Taco Bell and Whole Foods both came up with ChatBots that help you order food or suggest recipes, respectively, solely through the power of emojis. And Domino’s will now let you order pizza with one tap on your Apple Watch.

The Year of UberEats

So far I haven’t mentioned the biggest player, though: Uber. The company has had quite the year in food delivery. It shut down Instant Delivery in New York City, then launched UberEats in both the U.S. and London. Next UberEats drivers staged protests over the way the pay structure has been changed, and in November a courier filed a lawsuit against the company for missing food delivery tips. Yikes.

All of this commotion from big names and turmoil within UberEats suggest that the food delivery space is still young enough that no one has solved some of the primary problems within it. Companies are grabbing on to any stronghold they see (emojis! self-driving trucks! drones! more drones!), without regard to the longevity of the solution. Uber has faced the brunt of this fast-paced growth, but we expect to see more struggles in the coming years for other players as well.

Eat Local

This year the quest to eat healthily expanded even more into food delivery. Whole Foods hinted at a “meal solution spectrum” with some sort of delivery component in the future. Good Eggs, which many thought was defunct by this point, rose from the ashes with a $15 million round of funding to help it deliver local, quality food.

And Amazon, never one to be shown up, expanded its Amazon Fresh program to Boston, among other major cities. The difference here is that Boston customers can shop from local markets, a feature that we imagine will be implemented elsewhere if it’s successful in Beantown.

You Say Potato, I Say Share Economy

In such a young and moneyed space, different business models are flying around faster than those drones I mentioned earlier.

Some want to deliver fresh ingredients to customers to help simplify cooking at home. Juicero, for example, delivers prepackaged ingredients for green juice, made in its blender that doesn’t even require cleaning. Similarly, Raised Real wants to deliver ingredients for homemade baby food, thereby making it that much easier to make your baby’s food from scratch (sounds ambitious to me).

Speaking of raising babies and tapping new markets, Drizly raised $15 million for its liquor delivery service, among other parts of its ecommerce model. And DoorDash added alcohol to its food delivery options in California (what about the rest of us?!).

Meanwhile Foodhini calls itself a “for profit social enterprise” and delivers ethnic food made by immigrant chefs: Foodhini and the chefs each receive $2.50 from each meal, after costs.

And BringMe wants to out-Uber Uber by combining delivery with the share economy in Fairfax, VA, enlisting regular folks to deliver food as “bringers.” There are already a few models out there like this, such as Favor in Texas and Tennessee, and we expect to see more too.

Of course, while all of these business models are innovative and interesting, none of them beat the ultimate and original delivery food: pizza.