Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

June

It’s All But Official: The June Oven is Cooked

If you’ve been paying attention to the June Oven website lately (and really, who hasn’t?), you may have noticed that it’s been a bit difficult to order a new smart oven from the company for most of the past 12 months. That’s because every single model listed (standard June, June Premium, and June Oven Plus) has been marked as “sold out.”

If June were a capital-starved startup scrimping up to start its next production run, there’s an outside chance we may see more inventory at some point. But, somewhat paradoxically, since June was acquired by grill giant Weber in January 2021 – a company that no doubt has relatively easy access to manufacturing services – that there have been no June ovens for sale doesn’t bode well since, presumably, this was a decision made by management.

And now, according to Andru Edwards, a tech influencer and writer for GearLive, the Weber team told those who asked at CES last month that the June oven is no more.

From a post made by Edwards on Reddit:

Just got the word from Weber themselves here at CES. The June Oven will continue receiving software updates, but no plans for a new model. The tech from June is now being integrated into the new Weber grills. Was hoping for June Oven Gen 4, but it’s not in the cards, unfortunately!

My own outreach to Weber has gone unanswered, so this, combined with a lack of inventory and what they were telling folks at CES, it’s probably safe to say that June is cooked.

This will no doubt come as a bummer for those hoping for a fourth-generation June. It will also raise the question of why Weber bought June in the first place. The answer is probably as simple as, at least at the time of the deal, Weber saw June’s expertise in building high-tech cooking platforms as something they could build on for their own technology roadmap.

From then-CEO of Weber, Chris Scherzinger: “June has been an invaluable partner in developing our Weber Connect platform. Adding June’s expertise and technology to our own allows us to accelerate our connected innovation programs and better address grillers’ needs with new products and services that offer simplicity and fuel grilling discovery through enhanced capabilities.” 

Since then, Scherzinger has left the company. And, while Weber went public in 2021 (after the June acquisition), it wasn’t long before the company’s stock was pulled from public trading after accepting a buyout from private equity firm BDT Capital Partners, which had been its majority shareholder at the time of the IPO. That all makes for a lot of internal turbulence, so it’s probably not all that surprising that the company pulled back a bit from its future roadmap. Add to this the fact Weber is, in essence, an outdoor grilling company, and indoor smart ovens really aren’t a core focus (maybe they should have been focused on an indoor smoker like GE Appliances?).

While June looks like it’s done shipping new ovens, those in the market for a high-tech countertop cooking appliance can still buy a Brava (now owned by cooking equipment giant Middleby), Tovala, or Suvie. And, if you’re willing to wait a little bit, you could pick up a Macrowave from Revolution Cooking (which uses infrared and microwave heating) when it ships later this year.

Weber Announces New Smart Gas Grills Using the June OS

Weber announced it is adding new smart grills to its Genesis and Spirit lines of gas grills. The new smart grills feature the Weber Connect technology, which is powered by the June OS, and will provide precision and guided cooking to backyard barbecuers.

The new line of Weber smart grills feature WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, temperature probes and a built-in LED display. Using either the accompanying mobile app or the LED display, grillers can monitor the temperature of the grill as well as the doneness of what’s being grilled. The app will also alert grillers when it’s time to flip and serve their food.

What the grill won’t do, however, is automate your grilling. So, unlike a June oven, which automatically changes the type of heat (bake, broil, etc.) and temperature to cook your food, the Weber smart grill requires manual temperature controls. This is a bit of a bummer, but probably understandable given that the grill would have to regulate the flow of gas rather than electric current to adjust temperatures.

Today’s announcement comes a little less than a month after Weber acquired smart oven maker, June. June’s technology was used in the SmokeFire wood pellet grill back in 2019, and and two developed the Connect Hub, a small device that added smart cooking features to conventional grills.

Innovation in the outdoor grill space has certainly, errr, heated up over the past few years. Traeger has its own line of connected smart pellet smokers, German brand, Otto has a line of connected and modular grill components, and Spark launched its line of precision charcoal grills.

The new smart grills from Weber are all listed as “Coming Soon” on the company’s website. Prices range anywhere from $799 to $1,299.

What Does Weber Acquiring June Say About the Smart Oven Market?

When Weber announced this week that it was acquiring smart oven maker, June, my first thought was — phew.

There was relief in knowing that June, the company, wasn’t going under any time soon, so my family will continue to enjoy June, the oven, for the foreseeable future. Instead of being a scrappy startup and dealing with issues like funding, scaling and exits, June now enjoys the deep pockets and vast sales network of grilling giant, Weber. In other words, June lives on and my smart oven won’t get bricked.

At least I hope not.

Acquisitions can get weird and who knows what Weber has in store for June, or how those plans will change. An old saw in business acquisitions is that companies don’t fully realize what they’ve bought until six months after the deal is closed.

Anyway, after the initial wave of relief, my thoughts turned to the countertop smart oven market in general, a category that still quite young. After all, June launched its first gen oven in December of 2016, which isn’t that long ago. But Weber buying June is the second major acquisition in the space since then. Brava, which started shipping its oven that cooks with light in November of 2018, was acquired by Middleby in November of 2019. Even Anova, which only launched its first smart oven last year, is owned by Electrolux.

That pretty much just leaves Tovala and Suvie as the remaining independents in the countertop smart oven space. But how long with they last?

Suvie positions itself more as a kitchen robot, in part because it doesn’t just re-heat food, it also keeps it cold and times the cooking to fit your schedule. Tovala raised $20 million and saw its business accelerate last year, thanks in part to the pandemic keeping people at home. It also doesn’t hurt that the company has has a low price point ($300) for its oven.

Anova is certainly pushing its steam-sous vide cooking as a differentiator rather than any “smart” capabilities as it enters the market. At $599 it’s not cheap per se, but Anova is promising more professional grade cooking than it is high-tech, connected bells and whistles.

A couple of years back, I wondered which companies would survive the kitchen countertopocalypse. There were so many multi-purpose (June) and single-purpose (Rotimatic) smart countertop devices coming to market that the average kitchen just doesn’t have the space to support them all. The field would winnow down, especially because some of these countertop ovens are big and take up a lot of space.

At the same time the countertop oven space is consolidating, we’re starting to see key smart features being added to traditional built-in ovens from the big players. At CES 2019, Whirlpool showed off its KitchenAid Smart Oven+, which featured automated cook programs. LG debuted an oven at CES this year that featured an Air Sous Vide setting.

The countertop smart oven space won’t disappear completely. The smaller size and cooking cavity can make preparing meals easier than firing up the gigantic built-in oven. And because they are cheaper than built-ins and don’t require installation, countertop ovens can be fertile territory for innovation. So the field is ripe for a new wave of startups to create and launch new cooking technology on a smaller scale. If that tech catches on with consumers, a bigger appliance company will acquire that startup and the cycle continues. And the industry as a whole can find relief in that.

Weber Acquires Smart Oven Maker June

Grill giant Weber announced today that it has acquired smart oven maker June. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. June had raised a total of $29.5 million in funding.

According to the press announcement, “Weber has acquired 100 percent of June, including its proprietary software, technology, intellectual property, and the June Oven line of products and accessories.”

The two companies had worked together previously on the Weber Connect, a connected temperature monitor and guided cooking device that helped grillers monitor and cook meats, and the SmokeFire pellet grill.

June is best known as being one company in the first cohort of smart-oven makers that included Tovala, Brava and Suvie. The June oven features a camera that can identify foods placed inside and automated cook programs for a wide range of foods. The company launched its third-gen June oven in October of last year.

According to today’s press release, the acquisition of June will equip Weber with technology that can “revolutionize the outdoor cooking experience.” So it’s not hard to guess that we’ll be seeing fancier, more high-tech grills coming to market soon.

On the other side of the equation, June will now have access to Weber’s gigantic sales network, infrastructure and resources to increase its sales and further develop its connected cooking platform.

June is the second connected, “smart” countertop oven makers to get acquired. In November of 2019, Middleby acquired Brava, which used special light technology to cook dishes.

FWIW, I have a second-gen June and my family uses it daily. Personally, I like June being acquired by a big company like Weber because it (hopefully) means that I don’t have to worry about June going out of business and support for my oven disappearing.

New Weber Connect Hub Turns any Grill into a Smart Grill

Barbeque brand Weber and June, maker of the June smart oven, today introduced the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub, a connected device that allows users to bring smart functionality to the grill they already have.

The Hub is a small device that sits outside any grill. There are four inputs on the Hub which you can use for food probes and to monitor the internal temperature of what you’re cooking. There’s also an external thermometer to measure the ambient cooking temperature inside the grill.

The Hub wirelessly displays these readings and communicates them back to the Weber Connect mobile app, powered by the June OS, which provides guidance on grill set up, when to flip food and when to take it off the grill.

This is the second public product collaboration between Weber and June. Back in November the two companies announced the SmokeFire connected wood pellet grill that also uses the Weber Connect app to guide your grilling. The Smokefire costs roughly a thousand bucks and ships early this year.

If it works as advertised, the Weber Smart Grilling Hub will be able to turn your existing grill into a smart one for $130 when it comes out in “early 2020.” While that’s less expensive than a Smokefire grill, the Hub won’t be able to do all the things the Smokefire does, like automatically adjusting the temperature or keeping itself at a precise temperature.

I’ve been using the Traeger WiFi connected Pro pellet grill over the holidays and I can say firsthand that having the ability to monitor and control the grill remotely from a phone is a game-changer for novice grillers like myself. The one thing lacking in the Traeger, however, is the app design, which can be a bit clunky. As a happy June Oven owner, I’m excited to see what kind of design sensibilities June will bring to Weber’s grilling experience.

Newsletter: Will E-Bikes Take Charge? Plus, Precise Heating Comes Home

This is the web version of our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get all the best food tech new delivered directly to your inbox!

Delivery robots like those from Starship and self-driving vehicles like Nuro‘s grab a lot of headlines when it comes to the future of food and meal delivery. And it’s easy to understand why–robots are cool, man! But I have one bit of advice when it comes to the business of food delivery as we head into 2020:

Don’t sleep on electric bikes. They could be a huge platform in cities.

This is a prediction I’ve made before, when Uber bought e-bike rental company Jump last year. But yesterday’s announcement that Australian company Bolt Bikes launched its e-bikes for delivery service in the U.S. and U.K. got me thinking about a potential bicycle boom in food delivery.

TechCrunch reports that Bolt rents out bikes for commercial use on a two-week contract for $39. As TechCrunch writes, “The Bolt Bikes platform includes the electric bike, fleet management software, financing and servicing. Subscribers get 24-hour access to the bike. A battery charger, phone holder, phone USB port, secure U-Lock and safety induction is included.” Postmates has reportedly been piloting Bolt Bikes in SF since June.

E-bikes are actually great for city environments. They are fast, nimble on traffic-choked streets and take (most of) the work out of going uphill. Plus they have human drivers, so you don’t have to worry about the potential human/robot issues that come with even small autonomous delivery vehicles.

Though they aren’t as well suited for longer distances, e-bikes could also work in some suburban areas with tightly packed homes (think: housing developments), especially as part of a hub-and-spoke model. Next summer, Uber Eats is testing drone delivery of food to centralized drop off points where delivery people pick orders up and drive them the last mile. Instead of cars rolling around the suburbs, an e-bike could make that last mile more economical, faster (no need to park) and more welcome for neighborhoods that don’t want a lot more delivery cars driving around.

Bicycles already have already enjoyed a place in food delivery, especially in more dense urban areas, but the advent of affordable e-bikes could really charge up their use for getting you fed.

Precision Temperatures

I’m going to steal from WIRED here for a moment, but:

TIRED: Heat
WIRED: Precise heat control to the exact temperature you want

We covered two different technologies this week deliver granular control to the way you heat either a beverage or your BBQ.

First up we took Ember’s new Travel Mug<sup>2</sup> out for a spin. The Tesla of travel coffee mugs runs a whopping $180 and keeps your coffee at a constant hot temperature of your choosing. This second-generation Ember mug features great design and clever controls, but sadly the promised three-hour battery life diminished pretty quickly in real world circumstances. Check out our full review.

On a much larger scale, the just-announced Weber SmokeFire grill features the connected cooking smarts of a June Oven. The two companies announced that the JuneOS will power the Weber Connect app that controls the SmokeFire. You can also get step-by-step instructions to become a master griller and dial in a constant temperature for those long brisket smoking sessions.

The Ember Travel Mug <sup>2</sup> is available now if you’re looking for a pricey stocking stuffer, and while the SmokeFire ($999) won’t be out until 2020, you can pre-order it on Cyber Monday.

The New Spoon Logo

A New Spoon

If you’ve been to our website this week, then you’ll notice an entirely new look and a new logo.

As Spoon founder Mike Wolf noted when introducing the new site yesterday:

We launched the Spoon in October 2016. At the time, we didn’t know what it would become, all we knew is that we wanted to tell the stories of the people and companies shaping the future of food and cooking.

He went on, saying:

With thousands of stories published and hundreds of thousands of readers per month, The Spoon is a big part of what we do and we figured it was time the site got a fresh coat of paint and maybe even a new beam or two.

The Spoon will remain the best place for all the food tech news and analysis you need to know, it’s just going to be easier to read and navigate. G’head and click through it and tell us what you think!

Speaking of our new logo, you’ll be able to see it on display in Vegas during CES at our second annual FoodTech Live. Last year we had over forty companies showing their stuff, so if you have new kitchen or food tech product and want to show off your wares, make sure to check out our event page!

The JuneOS (Precisely) Heats Up New Weber SmokeFire Pellet Grill

Weber announced its new connected SmokeFire wood pellet grill today, which will use the JuneOS for precise temperature control and step-by-step guided cooking. This is the first time June’s technology has been incorporated into a third-party product.

June’s cooking smarts in the SmokeFire grill will be a little different from what June Oven users are used to. For starters, the grill is controlled by the Weber Connect app, which is powered by the JuneOS but invisible to the user. Second, there is no built-in camera to automatically recognize food or touchscreen to control the grill. Instead, there’s a black and white display on the grill with the click knob.

The SmokeFire can go from 200 to 600 degrees, so you can do both low and slow cooking as well as rip it up to get a hot sear. In addition to providing guidance on setup and meal-prep, the Weber Connect app also lets users set precise temperatures. Just like when using a June Oven, the SmokeFire will send an alert to the mobile app based on internal food temperatures to give grillers an ETA on when their food will be done.

Obviously, we haven’t had a chance to use the SmokeFire yet, but from the looks of it, it seems a lot like the Traeger Pro wood pellet grill with WiFire technology ($700). That too has an accompanying app that features precision heat control and step-by-step cooking guidance. I’m curious to see if June can carry over its clean, easy-to-follow oven UI that the Traeger lacks.

This partnership represents a first for both companies. This is Weber’s first pellet grill. It’s also the first time that June’s software has been incorporated into another company’s product. I spoke with June Co-Founder and CEO Matt Van Horn last week about this partnership and he said that his company has “always been open minded” about licensing its OS out to other companies.

The SmokeFire comes in either a 24 or 36 inch model, costing $999 and $1199 respectively. Each will be available for pre-order on Cyber Monday and shipped in early 2020.

SKS 2019: The Kitchen Evolution is In a State of “Good Chaos”

What’s next for the smart kitchen? What sort of new appliances will be gracing the countertops of the future, and what sort of technologies will power them? In short: What will it look like to cook at home in the future?

That’s exactly the question one of our panels tackled at SKS 2019. The discussion was led by The Spoon’s Chris Albrecht, who spoke with Lisa McManus of America’s Test Kitchen, Matt Van Horn of June and Steve Svajian of Anova about what’s coming down the pipelines for kitchen tech. The full video is below, but if you want a few quick highlights read on:

The future of the kitchen is software
Svajian argued that the smart kitchen space started out more hardware-driven, but has recently been shifting to focus more on software. Van Horn agreed. He said that in the early days of the company, people used what he called the “primitive” settings of the smart oven: bake, broil, etc. But now they’re using the automatic cook programs more and more. “That said, the hardware [still] has to be great,” added Svajian.

All tech aside, it has to work
McManus drove home the point that high-tech appliance are great, but they have to actually help people cook better — not just look cool. “We look at things that will make [cooking] easier and more accessible to everyone,” she said. “Things that are practical, that are functional.”

The smart kitchen space right now? “Good chaos.”
McManus summed up the evolution of the food tech ecosystem pretty neatly during the panel. “It feels like a really exciting brainstorm,” she said. “It’s good chaos.” Svajian agreed, equating the space to the evolution of the Web in the late 90’s. ‘The law of entropy is real.’

If you want to hear more about where these three insiders see the fast-paced evolution of the kitchen heading, make sure to watch the full video below.

SKS 2019: Kitchen Tech Futures: A Look At What's Next

Hey Joe, the Smart Kitchen Isn’t Stupid, It’s Just Getting Started

We have a rule in our house where we try to use the word “and” instead of “but.” So it is in that spirit that I write how I’ve met WIRED’s Joe Ray. I’ve eaten dinner with Joe Ray. I think Joe Ray is a brilliant writer and product reviewer.

And.

I think his recent piece on how “The ‘Smart Kitchen’ Is Very Stupid,” misses the mark and is worth responding to.

You should read the full piece, but the gist of what Ray’s complaint can be summed up in his opening graph:

The app-connected kitchen gadgets, the experimental tiny ovens, the microwaves you can talk to, and the recipe apps? They’ve failed. While our first whack at the connected home kitchen was interesting and occasionally even fun, for the most part, it has flopped like a soufflé.

To be fair, there is a lot Ray gets right: kitchen appliances should have controls on the actual devices, not just controls via an app; the apps themselves have pretty weak content; and don’t even get me started on voice-controlled microwaves.

I think the underlying issue is that Ray likes to cook. Though I haven’t eaten his food, he’s probably a really good cook. I, however, am not. And honestly, I don’t really want to learn all about cooking. Food tech, however, and connected kitchen appliances in particular, have actually helped me become a decent cook.

For example, a few weeks back I made ribs for the first time, thanks to the Traeger WiFi-connected electric smoker. I had never tried making ribs before because they seemed to take such a long time and be so complicated. Who wants to spend that many hours making something that doesn’t work out? Or, my greater fear, makes people sick because it wasn’t cooked properly.

While the Traeger had controls on the device itself, I was also able to follow the in-app recipe and more importantly, monitor the smoker remotely. Rather than going out to the smoker itself, I just pulled out my phone to make sure it was still at the right temperature and check on the timer.

The same goes for my June oven. Sure, with some practice, I could probably learn how to make cod well. But the June does it all for me with the tap of a button, and the fish turns out great. Plus, the June has multi-generational appeal in the Albrecht house. My septuagenarian parents like the fact that the oven shuts off when you’re done so they won’t forget (my dad literally used to touch all the oven burners with his hands before leaving the house to make sure the stove wasn’t left on), and my 9 year old son is able to make pizza and chocolate chip cookies (super healthy eating in the Albrecht house) on his own thanks to the June’s computer vision and automated cook programs.

It’s important to realize as well that food tech is an entirely new category in cooking; there will be some bumps in the road as appliances and consumers figure out the best way to work with one another.

I think Ray is right that if startups and appliance makers are going to disrupt the kitchen, they should spend a lot more time working on creating products that are intuitive and make the act of cooking easier. There needs to be a particular emphasis on not just hardware design, but app UI design as well.

And what I want to remind Ray of is that the needs of cooking experts are not the same as those of the n00bs or the never-want-to-be’s.

Having said all that — see you onstage at SKS in two weeks, Joe!

Newsletter: Food Tech is Going Big Time in 2019

My dad is buying a June Oven.

Normally, I wouldn’t foist the day-to-day tech purchases of the Albrecht family on our Spoon readers, but it occurred to me that this particular decision is somewhat emblematic of where the entire food tech sector is at, and why 2019 could be a watershed year for the industry at large.

Why does my septuagenarian father, who normally doesn’t give a whit about gadgets, want a June? Because it’s automated, repeatable and to him, safer. He likes how the June will cook meat to the proper temperature automatically, that he’ll get the same result every time, and how he doesn’t have to worry about whether or not he left the stove on when he’s out and about. And I’m sure he’s not an outlier.

The second-gen June is among a raft of smart cooking appliances coming to market. The Brava, second-gen Tovala, and the forthcoming Suvie have the ability to turn everyday people into people who cook every day. And as these appliances get more affordable, the audience for them is moving beyond early adopters and into the mainstream.

We’ve seen this greater interest in food tech reflected in our readership. Our audience grew by 186 percent since January of this year, and we had our fourth and biggest ever Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle this October. It’s not just smart ovens that people want to know about. This year, our readers have loved stories on alternate proteins, news about the changing delivery landscape, CBD products, food robots, food personalization and more.

All this is to say that food tech is being called up to the big leagues in a big way in 2019. Speaking of which, you should check out some of our specific predictions for the coming year. Catherine Lamb wrote about the coming rise of CBD edibles. Jenn Marston said to watch out for more ghost kitchens and drone deliveries. And I raised my articulating hand to say that 2019 will be a breakthrough year for food robots.

But before we pop the champagne get all Auld Lang Syne, let’s take a look at the last bit of big food tech news in 2018.

Mike Wolf got the scoop on the much-delayed Spinn Coffee maker raising $3 million. Will this cash infusion mean that the connected coffee maker will finally make it to market?

For those budding or serial entrepreneurs looking for a little help with their food tech ambitions next year, Jenn put together a list of big CPG company accelerators like those from Land O’ Lakes and Coca-Cola.

As Amazon Gos continue to pop up around the country, the debate over who gets to participate in the cashless retail revolution will heat up. One company looking to make the Go experience available to all is All_ebt. We confirmed this week that All_ebt’s users on SNAP assistance will be able to shop (for USDA approved items) at cashless grocery stores like Go.

And finally, if you are looking for a new holiday tradition — may we suggest you be like Catherine and her family and hold a White Castle eating contest which, thanks to the Impossible slider, is now open to vegetarians!

It’s been a fantastic year. Thank you for being with us throughout 2018, we look forward to even bigger and better things in 2019.

Happy New Year!

Be kind.
-Chris

In the 12/28/2018 edition:

Burritos by Air Highlight Noisy Headaches Associated with Drone Delivery

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 28, 2018 08:08 am
There was a lot of chatter about drones this past year: Uber Eats is accelerating its drone ambitions, Zomato acquired a drone company in India, Amazon got a patent for in-flight drone recharging. There was so much activity that my colleague, Jenn Marston predicted that 2019 will be a big year for delivery by drones. […]

Big Food Has Big Plans for Foodtech Accelerators in 2019

By Jennifer Marston on Dec 27, 2018 01:39 pm
Just a little less than a year ago, we highlighted what was then a new trend the foodtech space: major CPGs launching food accelerators geared towards emerging brands. From Chobani to General Mills to Kraft-Heinz, it seemed Big Food had an appetite for assisting younger, trendier, and often healthier brands to grow in 2018. Some […]

Video: Bellwether Cuts Out the Coffee Roasting Middleman

By Catherine Lamb on Dec 27, 2018 09:00 am
“A lot of people don’t realize just how big coffee is,” said Nathan Gilliland, CEO of Bellwether Coffee at the 2018 Smart Kitchen Summit. Seriously, though: according to him, coffee is the most consumed beverage in the U.S., with people drinking more cups of joe than bottles of water, wine, and beer combined. Not only are […]

My Whole Family Tried the Impossible Slider from White Castle (and Loved It)

By Catherine Lamb on Dec 27, 2018 06:00 am
My family has a… rather unique Christmas tradition. For Christmas Eve lunch, when the 15-odd crew of us gather at my grandparents’ home outside of Cincinnati, OH, we have a White Castle slider eating competition. The record: twenty-one. (Blegh.) As a vegetarian I usually have to abstain from this tradition. But this year, oh this year, […]

What Amazon Did (and Didn’t) Mention in its Holiday Sales Press Release

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 26, 2018 11:00 am
With Christmas now over it’s time for the annual releasing of the vague holiday sales stats from Amazon! This year, Bezos’ behemoth did not disappoint and shared with us a press announcement filled with unspecific terms like “record breaking” and “millions more.” As we said back in November, though these puff pieces from Amazon are […]

Spinn Raises $3 Million As It Eyes Production Of Long-Delayed Coffee Machine

By Michael Wolf on Dec 26, 2018 09:00 am
Spinn, the grind and brew centrifugal coffee machine that is nearly two years past its original ship date, has raised an additional $3 million in funding that it plans to use to ramp up production of its coffee maker. The funding announcement came as part of an update to early buyers via the company’s community […]

Delivery in 2019 Will Be About Ghost Kitchens, Drones, and Boone, North Carolina

By Jennifer Marston on Dec 26, 2018 06:00 am
The food delivery craze will normalize at some point, but not soon. Right now, it’s a segment projected to be worth $365 billion by 2013, and even companies with inherently undeliverable foods are delivering. All of which is to say, food delivery holds a well-earned spot on the list of 2019 hot topics. Major delivery […]

2019 Will Be a Breakthrough Year for Food Robots

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 25, 2018 06:00 am
Right now the year 2019 is still (slightly) in the future, but 2019 will also be a year where we start to feel like we’re living in the future. The reason for that can be summed up in one word: ROBOTS. The food robots are coming and while they won’t become ubiquitous next year, 2019 […]

All_EBT Allows Those Underbanked to Participate in (Some) Cashless Retail

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 24, 2018 12:00 pm
The number of Amazon Go stores are set to explode over the coming years, and while the grab-and-go convenience stores are a marvel of modern technology, they also raise thorny ethical issues surrounding cashless retail. You can only use Amazon Go if you have an Amazon account, and to get an Amazon account you need […]

Whirlpool Awarded Comprehensive Patent For Kitchen-Centric Computer Vision System

By Michael Wolf on Dec 24, 2018 10:00 am
Over the past couple years, there’s been what can only be described as an intellectual property land grab in the world of computer vision as Google, Amazon and Microsoft file more patents in an effort to establish foundations from which to launch an innumerable amount of AI-driven products and services over the next decade or more. […]

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.

My Food Tech Plans for Thanksgiving: Delivery, Caffeine, Meater and More

Before I begin this post, let me be completely honest. Thanksgiving is the domain of my wife and woe be to those that try to interfere in her preparations. Unlike previous years, however, I’m no longer completely useless in the kitchen because now I’m packed full of food tech know-how. Here are some of the gadgets, devices and gizmos we’ll be using in the Albrecht house to make Thanksgiving 2018 that much easier.

Skip the Store (for Bulk Items)
Grocery stores are madhouses this time of year. Who needs to deal with that? Not you, thanks to the billions of dollars poured into delivery startups this year. While you’ll still want to pick out your turkey and veggies in-person (probably) there are plenty of items you can order online sight unseen. Get your potatoes, rolls, paper towels, sodas and more delivered to your door in advance to save yourself (and your arms) at least one trip to the store.

Get Ready (by Getting Caffienated)
Thanksgiving is a long day, and before you can entertain a house full of people, you need to prepare. And by prepare, I mean, wake up. And by wake up, I mean, get that coffee flowing. To maximize your caffeine intake, I recommend the Ember coffee mug. Embers ain’t cheap ($80 for the mug), but they keep your cup o’ joe at the same hot temperature until the bitter (but so delicious) end.

Keeps Tabs on that Turkey with Meater
The appropriately named Meater connected meat thermometer lets you wirelessly keep tabs on your turkey’s cooking temperature without the need to open up the oven door (which makes you lose all that heat). I like Meater’s mobile app, which charts your turkey’s temperature in real time, as well as its cooking guidance tips (like telling you when to rest the meat). And the one drawback — it’s as big as a nail and leaves a pretty sizeable hole in your meat — won’t be as noticeable with a whole turkey. Meater even has instructions to help you cook a classic turkey on its blog.

Use that June
My love for the second-gen June is well documented here, but I think it will actually come in extra handy this Thanksgiving. We now essentially have three ovens in the kitchen (two traditional + the June). The big one will be for the turkey, and now we don’t need to rotate stuffing or sides through the other oven. We can cook two more things at the same time and have everything served piping hot. Plus, with the June’s presets, roasting carrots or broccoli or beans will be a one-button snap.

Alterna-Meat Stuffing
Speaking of sides, this isn’t a gadget, but I saw that Beyond Meat posted a recipe for meatless stuffing. I’m not a vegetarian, but Beyond Meat ground/crumbles have evolved to the point where they can effectively act as a tasty “meat” component in stuffing. Bonus: Now there’s one more thing your vegetarian guests can enjoy.

All of this tech should help make this year’s Thanksgiving the best. One. Ever! The only gadget still on my wish list for the holidays is the Apple iWatch Series 4. I could use a device to help me keep track of all the exercise I need to do after all that pumpkin pie.