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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Data Insights

ReFED: Food Waste has ‘Leveled Off’ Since 2016, But More Must Be Done

The total amount of food wasted in the U.S. has leveled off since 2016, while food waste per capita has decreased 2 percent over the last three years, according to ReFED’s newly launched data hub, the Insights Engine. But more must be done to meet the country’s goal of cutting food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

First announced last year, the Insights Engine is an online hub for data and analysis related to the global food waste problem. Among the other findings ReFED released today:

  • In 2019, 35 percent of food went uneaten or unsold. That’s the equivalent of throwing away $408 billion or 1.9 percent of U.S. GDP.
  • More than 50 percent of waste at the farm level is from food that does not get harvested but is perfectly edible.
  • Seventy percent of food waste at restaurants and foodservice businesses comes from customers not finishing their meals.
  • At-home food waste remains the largest generator of food waste in the U.S.

ReFED estimates that an annual investment of $14 billion will be needed to implement the kinds of solutions that will reduce food waste by 45 million tons annually. The Insights Engine reviews over 40 of these solutions, analyzing them based on things like net economic benefit, greenhouse gas emissions reduced, jobs created, and meals recovered. The Engine also provides a directory of organizations helping fight food waste, a tool that tracks current and upcoming food waste policies, and an “impact calculator” that puts into numbers the impact of food waste on the climate, economy, and population.

Roughly 1.3 billion tons of edible food worldwide goes to waste each year, and experts predict this number will jump to 2.1 billion by 2030. Solutions to this problem span everything from food rescue companies to technologies for preservation, cold storage, harvest and post harvest, and many other ideas, tools, and processes.

As a companion to the Insights Engine, ReFED also released its “Roadmap to 2030” framework today, which will help the organization implement the solutions found in the Insights Engine. It outlines seven “key action areas” for fighting food waste over the next 10 years, and also includes a financial analysis of where investments (public, private, philanthropic, and capital) should be directed.

Is FoodTech Investment Shifting Towards The Connected Kitchen?

If you look at the foodtech investment landscape over the past few years, you’ll notice one – and pretty much only one – investment theme: food delivery.

Yep, the vast majority of foodtech investment, as tracked by investment tracking firm CB Insights, goes to food delivery startups.  As can be seen in the chart below, all but 6% of foodtech venture funding in 2013 went to delivery and, while the percentage of non-delivery foodtech investment almost doubled in 2014 to 11%, it tanked in 2015 with a paltry total of $93 million (less than 2%) of investment.

Figure 1: FoodTech Investment (US$ Millions), Delivery vs. Non-Delivery

Source: CB Insights

Source: CB Insights

But as those of us who follow foodtech know, the category is more than just delivery. There are lots of startups doing interesting things ranging from cricket protein to farm tech to 3D food printing, so it’s no surprise that investors may finally be looking outside of delivery as the category matures.

And the hottest space in foodtech outside of delivery may just be the connected kitchen. Consider what we saw in the first half of 2016: At the top of the list is Juicero, the connected cold-press juicer company that announced one of the biggest foodtech funding rounds of the year with a $70 million series B in March.  That same month June announced a $22.5 million series A and, just two months later, PicoBrew announced a $10.6 million series A.  Add in Innit, which just announced an $18 million round last week, and you’re at $120 million for the first half of 2016 for these four connected kitchen startups alone.

If there is a slight reallocation in foodtech investment dollars towards the kitchen, no one should be surprised. Technology is giving consumersnew ways to cook food and democratizing other types of food creation (such as beer brewing). Millennials, once thought to be leaving the kitchen, are embracing cooking and love using tech as part of their cooking journey.

These trends point to a bright future for the connected kitchen, as do industry specific ones. Food brands themselves like Campbells and Nestle are beginning to invest in the space. all at the same time while big players like Whirlpool and Samsung are beginning to up their investments in IoT and the future of cooking.

Bottom line? If you’re a foodtech investor, maybe its time to come home and look inside the connected kitchen.