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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Kraft Heinz

Podcast: How is Kraft Heinz Preparing for the Future of Food?

For most Americans, Kraft and Heinz products – Oscar Mayer hot dogs, Kraft cheese, Velveeta, and Jell-O – have been in our cupboards and fridges for as long as we can remember.

But being a big company today doesn’t always ensure success in perpetuity. The world around us – due to climate change, new retail consumer touch points and emerging technology – is changing more quickly than ever. Add in rapidly shifting consumer tastes in our social media-saturated lives, and a company like Kraft Heinz has to transform itself to meet this constantly evolving market.

To hear how Kraft Heinz is meeting the challenge of adapting new technologies and reimagining its product lineup, I caught up recently on an episode of The Spoon podcast with the company’s President of R&D for North America, Robert Scott. Scott, a long-time exec with stints at Coca-Cola and Abbott before he took over R&D for Kraft Heinz, had lots of opinions about how to ensure Kraft Heinz adapts to a changing world.

As a part of this conversation, Robert talks about:

  • The company’s partnership with NotCo and how they are using the Giuseppe AI to develop new plant-based products.
  • How he sees AI becoming interwoven into the company’s product development cycles
  • Why they created a Freestyle-like machine for custom condiments called the Heinz Remix
  • The idea behind the 360Crisp and innovating our food products and how they cook in our kitchens
  • How Robert would advise aspiring food scientist to pursue a career path in food research and development
  • And much more!

You can listen in to our conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or just clicking play below.

If you’d like to dive deep into how AI is changing food at places like Kraft Heinz, you’ll want to make sure to be at the Food AI Summit on September 25th in Berkeley, CA.

Heinz Introduces REMIX, a Coca-Cola Freestyle for Condiments

I have to admit I was not expecting to write about Heinz condiment product today, but a big company surprises you every now and then.

No, it’s not MayoChup or Wasabioli, but the Heinz REMIX, a vending-machine-sized sauce dispenser that lets customers create personalized sauce mixes.

The new machine, which the company claims to have developed from concept in just six months, can create up to 200 sauce combinations from a base of sauces that includes ketchup, ranch, Heinz 57 Sauce, and BBQ Sauce. From there, the customers can mix in what the company calls “enhancers, ” including jalapeño, smoky chipotle, buffalo, and mango at varying intensities (low, medium, high).

The product, which is part of the company’s “Away From Home” (AFH) division, will debut later this month at National Restaurant Show.

The product is reminiscent of the Coca-Cola Freestyle, which lets customers create weird combinations of sodas to their heart’s content. However, unlike the Freestyle, it’s unclear how many restaurants are willing to cede floor space to a giant condiment mixer. Sodas are something customers actually pay for, and I’d gone to places just so I could use the Freestyle. So while the REMIX might be a draw for condiment-conscious consumers, restaurants will need to be sure the extra cost of having a REMIX adds enough to the bottom line in recurring or new customers to make it worth it.

But who knows, maybe all those RanchUp or Mango 57 nerds out have been waiting for the moment when they can finally express themselves.

Kraft-Heinz and NotCo Form Joint Venture for AI-Powered Food Products

Today Kraft-Heinz and NotCo, the food tech company behind the NotCo brand of plant-based foods, announced they are forming a joint venture to develop a lineup of plant-based food products.

According to the announcement, the new company will leverage the strengths of both companies to develop and bring to market a new line of plant-based products. Called The Kraft Heinz Not Company, it will leverage NotCo’s patented AI platform to develop the food products, while Kraft-Heinz will offer up its production capabilities and formidable sales channels to help bring the products to market.

In joining forces with NotCo, Kraft-Heinz is partnering up with one of the hottest new brands in the fast-growing alt-milk category. The Chilean-based startup has secured distribution deals with a number of premium natural and organic food retailers such as Whole Foods, Sprouts and others since entering the US market in late 2020. The deal also gives the CPG stalwart access to the startup’s patented AI product development platform.

And its this AI platform, which goes by the name Guiseppe, which NotCo cites for its fast success in the US market. Guiseppe works by sifting through huge datasets from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Library and other sources to find ingredient and processing combinations that would best mimic the elements (flavor, texture, etc.) of real meat or dairy in plant-based analogues. The goal is to find the types of combinations that can create a product that completely mimics traditional meat and dairy — a feat few if any plant-based protein-makers have yet to achieve.

For NotCo, which has seen bigger CPG brands like Danone attempt to mimic its playful and somewhat irreverent product branding, the JV marks a potentially powerful new way to reach a broader swath of consumers in an increasingly crowded alt-protein market. However, by launching an entirely new set of products into the market with Kraft-Heinz, NotCo also runs the risk of potential cannibalization of its existing product lines. The deal announcement doesn’t specify how the new JV will sort out how the two will divvy up retailers, something that could come into play since some retailers will not have shelf space for similar alt-milks from the two brands. It could be that the Kraft Heinz Not Company will focus on new products such as plant-based cream cheese or other categories that play to Kraft’s strengths.

Finally, one wonders if this new JV will set a template for other large CPG brands looking to rejuvenate their product lines as more consumers turn to plant-based diets. Many of the old-school brands are ill-equipped to utilize newer product development tools like AI to create new products, so it makes lots of sense to partner up with ascendant brands well-versed in faster digital-cenric product development methodologies.

SKS 2019: Think of AI as Augmented Intelligence, and is the Future Just-in-Time Farming?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a vague, slightly tech-y term that is overused by marketing departments trying to show some bona fides. But if you want some real insights on what artificial intelligence is and what it can do, then you should check out these talks that Chris Satchell of Zume and Erik Andrejko of Evolv (the venture arm of Kraft-Heinz) each did onstage at our recent Smart Kitchen Summit.

But before you can begin talking about AI you must understand the importance of data. Not just plenty of it or the right kind, as Satchell points out in his presentation. Before you can get into algorithms you need clean, tagged data that is centralized. He recommends that you don’t spread out your data teams across the company, and instead cluster them together to get the best results.

With your data organized and your models in place, then you can start to analyze and gain insights. For Zume, that means making the food supply chain more efficient. When we talk about last mile delivery, we’re actually talking about the last five or seven mile delivery. Zume is using predictive analytics to know ahead of time what food will be ordered, when and where. From that information they can place mobile kitchens directly in those neighborhoods to make the delivery process more efficient for the cooks, the couriers and the consumer.

Satchell wants to take this type of AI-based prediction up the food stack to improve supply chains and even create predictive farming. This type of just-in-time farming would help farmers understand what types of crops to grow and when in order to help reduce food waste.

As Andrejko pointed out in his talk, agriculture is already changing thanks to analytics and AI. Though Andrejko would like people to think of AI as “Augmented Intelligence,” not “Artificial Intelligence.” On the farm, this means that data and algorithms can be used to optimize how fertilizer is applied, using more on acres that need it and less where it doesn’t. Or with emerging fruit-picking robots that can use computer vision to automatically harvest at peak times for ripeness.

Andrejko also sees augmented intelligence at our kitchen tables, giving us more human connection at dinner time. Say you want to cook a butternut squash chili for dinner. Eventually you’ll be able to say that request to a voice assistant, which will break down the list of ingredients and place the order, which will be brought to your house via a self-driving delivery vehicle, which also uses AI to travel to your door.

These talks, along with the panel discussion with Satchell and Andrejko afterwards, are great deep dives into AI for anyone curious about the trendy term or for any company looking to add that arrow to their quiver. At least have the marketing department in your life check it out.

SKS 2019: How AI Will Reshape Food Markets

Mars Announces Startups for Inaugural Seeds of Change Food Accelerator

This morning, CPG giant Mars unveiled the six startups participating in the company’s first-ever cohort for its Seeds of Change accelerator program, which helps early-stage companies with health- and sustainability-focused offerings hit their next phase of growth.

As a consumer-focused brand, Seeds of Change has been in operation since 1989, initially selling organic seeds to farmers and gardeners before launching a food line in the late 1990s.

The new accelerator program, which was announced in March of this year, is an extension of the brand’s focus on health and sustainability.

Participants were selected this past weekend, when 10 finalists from the application pool headed to Chicago and presented their companies and ideas to a panel of judges. Each will receive a grant of $50,000 and participate in a four-month-long program that includes curriculum and mentorship sessions designed to help startups scale up their operations.

For this first cohort, the program looks to be focused mainly on ingredient innovation:

Fora produces non-dairy butter and is on track to release other yet-to-be-named plant-based dairy alternatives.
Prommus makes a protein-enhanced hummus, and also runs a program that provides meals to school children in food-insecure parts of the world
Brooklyn Delhi makes India-inspired condiments and sauces.
Tru Made Foods turns condiments like BBQ sauce and Sriracha into superfoods by replacing sugar with vegetables
NoBull Burger makes plant-based burgers.
Oxtale sells starter packs that let consumers cook traditional Asian meals in under 30 minutes.

The six companies chosen over the weekend were selected for Seeds of Change’s U.S.-based program. The company also runs an Australia-based version of the accelerator, for which applications just closed.

Mars, at this point, is better known for candy and pet foods than it is for sustainable eating. But like a growing number of major CPGs out there, the company is looking to double-down on food innovation by partnering with younger, leaner companies, and also align more with the growing consumer demand for things like health, transparency, and sustainability. Dairy Farmers of America, who works with some of the world’s largest food producers, has a new(ish) accelerator program that’s been getting attention as of late, and numerous other CPGs, from Kraft-Heinz to Nestle to BSH run programs.

Kraft Heinz Acquires Food AI Startup Wellio, Kickstarts New Digital Hub

Karft Heinz announced this week that it has acquired food tech startup wellio, which will help jumpstart the new digital hub the company has now opened in Chicago and San Francisco.

Terms of the Wellio deal were not disclosed, and it looks like the startup raised $3 million in venture funding. Wellio brings with it a team of engineers that are building an AI platform to help people discover, order and make fresh meals at home. Wellio is still in beta, and based on its website, the service reads almost like a customizeable meal kit. Users can browse recipes, order the necessary ingredients to be delivered same-day, and get on-demand support when cooking, all for around $5 – $9 per serving.

Kraft Heinz’s new digital hub is part of its evolv group, which is tasked with creating “digitally powered business models and launch[ing] other entrepreneurial ideas to fuel growth for Kraft Heinz.” The evolv group helps support the similarly-named-but-separate Evolve Ventures, which is the food tech venture fund Kraft Heinz committed $100 million to just last month. Evolve Ventures is focused on investing in supply chain, logistics, direct-to-consumer projects, and e-commerce startups.

The question now is whether Kraft Heinz will continue on with the wellio product as it was progressing, or will it integrate its AI capabilities into more Kraft Heinz-centric products and offerings.

As we’ve noted, a lot of big food brands are getting into the tech venture game. Chicken giant Tyson has a venture arm, grocery chain Albertsons launched a fund with Greycroft Ventures, and there are a host of other CPG companies with their own incubators.

To get a sense of what Kraft Heinz is getting with wellio, check out this panel discussion on “Applying AI To The World of Food and Cooking” from our Smart Kitchen Summit 2017, featuring Erik Andrejko, CTO of Wellio.