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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Food Tech News: Nestlé Expands Coffee Blockchain, Uber Expands Eats for Business

How are you all doing out there? I’m starting to get into a bit of a weekend routine: walk, bake bread (then Instagram it, of course), read, sleep. And read food tech news, of course. This week we’ve got stories on Nestlé’s new blockchain application, Chilean plant-based food startup NotCo’s layoffs, and Uber’s plans to expand Eats for Business globally. Enjoy!

Nestlé brings blockchain to its Zoégas coffee brand
Food giant Nestlé announced this week that it’s partnering with The Rainforest Alliance to expand its IBM Food Trust blockchain technology to its Zoégas coffee brand (thanks for the tip, FoodDive). With blockchain, consumers will be able to scan a QR code on their bag of coffee to trace its journey and see which country it came from. They’ll also be able to access information about the farmers, general time of harvest, and when the beans were roasted at  Zoégas’s factory in Sweden. 

Photo: Eats for Business

Uber for Business to expand Eats to 20+ countries
Uber for Business, a platform which targets corporations, announced this week that it will expand its food delivery component, Eats for Business, to more than 20 countries this year (h/t Techcrunch). First up: Brazil, Canada, France and the U.K., which all launched last week. Uber started Business for Uber in 2014 to help companies better facilitate rides for their employees and clients, and in 2018 added a corporate version of its Uber Eats food delivery app. Uber Eats reportedly decided on this expansion since more employees are working from home in the wake of COVID-19 and don’t have access to catered office foods.

Photo: NotCo

Chilean plant-based food startup NotCo shutters production plant
NotCo, a Chilean startup making plant-based foods like mayonnaise, milk, and ice cream, has announced it will close its NotMayo production plant in Santiago, Chile. According to Contxto, over half of the startup’s staff has been laid off. But the company isn’t shutting down altogether — production of its vegan NotMayo product will be passed onto an unnamed third party.

Udelv Partners with HEB for Autonomous Grocery Delivery Test

Autonomous vehicle startup udelv has partnered with Texas-based grocery chain HEB to run a self-driving delivery pilot in the San Antonio area, according to TechCrunch. The HEB agreement adds to udelv’s customer roster, which also includes Walmart and online grocer Farmstead.

The pilot will start with one of udelv’s second-generation Newton self-driving cargo vehicles. Udelv vans come equipped with compartments to store goods or, in this case groceries. Once loaded at the store, the vehicle autonomously travels to its delivery destination (there’s a human on-board for safety) where the user can unlock the compartment with their phone to retrieve their groceries.

If you’re interested in getting your groceries via a self-driving car, Texas is the place to be. In addition to the forthcoming HEB/udelv partnership, earlier this year, Kroger expanded its self-driving grocery delivery via Nuro vehicles to Houston.

The whole self-driving grocery delivery space is just getting off the ground, and exactly what it will ultimately look like remains to be seen. Udelv uses full-sized cargo vans for its deliveries. Nuro uses low speed pod-like vehicles that are half the size of normal cars. Meanwhile, Robomart, which also uses pod-like low-speed vehicles, has partnered with Stop&Shop not for deliveries but to drive around mobile mini-stores that sell various groceries autonomously on the spot.

Vehicles like udelvs have a long delivery range, but their high-speed and heavy mass may encounter more regulatory hurdles as lawmakers learn to cope with self-driving vehicles. Smaller, low-speed vehicles may have an easier time with local laws, but won’t be able to travel as far or as fast.

Hanging over all of this innovation, however, is the question of whether or not customer want autonomous delivery. Once a vehicle arrives at your house, you still have to go out to the curb and lug heavy bags into the house, which can be a pain if you live up a bunch of stairs or are infirmed. That’s one reason why AutoX, which uses regular self-driving sedans for its deliveries and mobile commerce, moved more towards restaurant delivery.

Despite its drawbacks, self-driving delivery has its advantages too. With no humans (eventually) to pay, deliveries can happen around the clock, and software-determined driving, which keeps track of all kinds of data along its path, can make for more efficient routing and delivery.

If you’re a HEB customer in Olmos Park, TX, tell us if you chose self-driving grocery delivery, and how it went.