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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Ocado

Ocado Makes a Step Beyond Groceries With Two New Indoor Farming Ventures

Ocado has thus far made a name for itself in the world of online grocery delivery and fulfillment, but new moves see the company stepping out of the supermarket and into the farm — the indoor farm, to be exact.

One such move is Ocado’s announcement that it will partner with Dutch firm Priva and U.S.-based 80 Acres to create a new vertical farming company called Infinite Acres.

According to a press release, Infinite Acres will create a turn-key indoor farming solution meant to grow year-round produce close to densely populated urban areas. The idea is in keeping with many indoor and/or vertical farming initiatives out there now: get greens to the grocery store on the same day they’re harvested.

The company will design and install fully automated farms with custom LEDs, finely tuned climate controls, and other software tools that match clients’ specific needs around things like location and crop selection. Additionally, 80 Acres Farms will send its own growers to operate the farm, from managing the tech platform to harvesting the actual food.

80 Acres already offers an automated indoor farming platform to U.S. farmers, while Priva makes hardware and software tools aimed at better indoor climate control, water conservation, and energy savings.

Where UK-based Ocado comes in is with its tech know-how around things like predictive analytics, logistics, and automation. The company is known in the U.S. for its ongoing partnership with Kroger, with which it operates warehouses full of smart robots that can pack groceries and handle other food-related tasks.

In terms of involvement in vertical farming, Infinite Acres is just the start. Company CEO Tim Steiner noted in the press release that Ocado hopes to “co-locate vertical farms within or next to our Customer Fulfillment Centres and Ocado Zoom’s micro-fulfillment centres so that we can offer the very freshest and most sustainable produce that could be delivered to a customers’ kitchen within an hour of it being picked.”

No word yet on whether robots will be scurrying around those farms in future, though that wouldn’t be so surprising given the level of automation companies are trying to pack into indoor farms nowadays. Infinite Acres will join the likes of Liberty Produce and Australia’s VFS in trying to automate as many aspects of the indoor farm as possible.

Ocado also announced today it had purchased a majority stake in vertical farming company Jones Foods Co., and will use its tech to improve efficiency in the grow process and possibly even integrate the system with Ocado Zoom, for delivery. Jones Foods Co. is Europe’s largest operating vertical farm, with the capacity to grow 420 tons of leafy greens per year. Ocado’s investment in the company could mean Steiner’s aforementioned vision of co-locating vertical farms near Ocado fulfillment centers will become a reality in the near future.

Ocado Leads $9M Seed Round in Food Robotics Company, Karakuri

U.K. based online grocer Ocado announced today that it has acquired a minority stake in London-based food robotics company, Karakuri. Ocado’s investment led a $9.1 million seed round in Karakuri, which also included Hoxton Ventures, firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers.

Karakuri makes two different food robots: The DK-One, a more industrial robot that can assemble (not cook) 48 ingredients into ready-to-go meals on a mass scale in commercial kitchens; and the Marley, which is a smaller scale machine meant for applications like candy stores and frozen yogurt dispensing and topping.

Ocado is no stranger to robots: the company uses them to power its smart, automated warehouses, where totes on rails bundle up grocery orders for delivery. With the minority stake in Karakuri, Ocado appears to be setting itself up to expand this robot-powered automation into other forms of food delivery. From Ocado’s press announcement:

The [DK-One] can be used in the assembly of all boxed meals, using a configurable, modular design which can easily be installed in-store or in “dark kitchens”, and can aggregate up to 48 food items to create a wide range of food-to-go options.

Dark kitchens (restaurants that are delivery only) in particular are an interesting avenue for Ocado/Karakuri. Not only could a dark kitchen automate order assembly quickly, but the restaurant could then subscribe to Ocado’s logistics and delivery service to manage and optimize getting those orders to customers. This would mean more revenue for Ocado and also more data, giving the company insight into what, when and where people are ordering different restaurant meals.

Ocado also said it would tie Karakuri’s robots into its existing grocery service, which makes me wonder they will be used for something akin to customized meal kits, or even prepared food that customers could shop for as part of their daily or weekly shopping.

As we saw at our ArticulATE conference last month, automation is invading almost every part of the food stack. Here in the U.S. companies like Takeoff, Alert Innovation and Common Sense Robotics are creating robot-powered micro-fulfillment centers for grocery stores to speed up online order processing. Kroger, which is an investor in Ocado, is building out Ocado-powered smart fulfillment centers here in the U.S. to speed up its own grocery fulfillment and delivery. Will that now include Karakuri robots?

Ocado said that it would take delivery of its first Karakuri robot in the second half of this year. For its part, Karakuri said it will use the new money to further develop its technology, “strengthen its IP base,” and expand its team.

Kroger Selects Groveland, Fla. for its Next Robotic Warehouse

Florida is becoming a hotbed for grocery robots as Kroger announced yesterday that it has selected Groveland, Fla. as the location for its second automated warehouse using Ocado’s technology.

These smart warehouses use a series of crate robots on rails that zip around assembling items to speed up the fulfillment of grocery orders. Kroger has plans to build out 20 such robot warehouses, with the first being built in Monroe, OH, just outside Kroger’s hometown of Cincinnati. In addition to Monroe and Groveland, Kroger has announced a third automated warehouse will be built somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic region.

But Groveland isn’t the only place in Florida where groceries are going robotic. Further south, down in Miami, Takeoff launched its first robotic grocery fulfillment center for the Sedano’s supermarket chain last year. Sedano’s has locations in Orlando, and should the Takeoff partnership expand, it would set up a bit of a grocery robot battle royale, as Groveland is only 45 minutes away from Orlando.

Automated warehouses are just one part of a big investment Kroger is making in logistics and fulfillment. The Cincinnati shed alone is costing the grocery giant $55 million to build, and as noted earlier, Kroger has plans for 20 of them. Additionally, Kroger has been testing self-driving delivery vehicles in Scottsdale, AZ and recently expanded those tests to Houston, TX.

It’s not hard to connect the dots between a Kroger robot fulfillment center packing your grocery orders and loading them into a Kroger autonomous vehicle that brings them to your door. That’s still a ways off, but Kroger is laying the groundwork for it all right now.

Automation throughout the grocery chain is something we’ll be discussing at our upcoming ArticulATE food robot summit in San Francisco on April 16th. We’ll have speakers from Albertsons, Robomart and more talking about all the big issues around robots at grocery retail and how they will transform the shopping experience. Tickets are limited, get yours today!

Kroger and Ocado Begin to Roll Out Automated Fulfillment Centers

If you’re as fascinated as we are with the idea of robots scurrying around and doing your weekly grocery shop, Kroger and Ocado have some good news for you.

Today the grocery giant announced it would roll out two new Ocado-powered customer fulfillment centers (CFCs) — also called “sheds” — in the Central Florida and Mid-Atlantic regions. This news comes just a few months after Kroger named Monroe, OH (outside of Cincinnati) the location for its first automated robot warehouse.

In May of 2018 Kroger entered into an exclusive partnership with U.K.-based online grocer Ocado, nabbing a 6 percent stake in the company and promising to build twenty automated warehouse facilities across the U.S. over the following three years. We’re seeing that promise come to life.

As resident robo-expert Chris Albrecht pointed out, grocery logistics is hot hot hot right now and big players like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Kroger are all racing to deliver your groceries as fast as possible.

To beat out its competitors, Kroger has invested not just in robotic fulfillment centers but also in self-driving cars, a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform, and an expanded deal with Instacart.

And that’s just for grocery delivery and curbside pickup. In-store, Kroger also has a number of developments in the works. In this month alone, they partnered with Microsoft to launch two tech-enabled grocery stores (their answer to Amazon Go), and also unveiled new Customize It personalized meal kits. With the company’s brand new innovation lab, which it launched in August in tandem with the University of Cincinnati, Kroger doesn’t seem like it will stop reinventing the grocery space anytime soon.

Curious about how robotics and automation will reshape the grocery business? Join the conversation at ArticulATE, our food robotics summit in San Francisco on April 16th! Early Bird tickets are available now.

Kroger Selects Cincinnati Area for First Ocado-Robo “Shed”

Baby, if you ever wondered, wondered where grocery giant Kroger was going to build its first Ocado-powered automated robot warehouse, then get ready because it will be in…. Cincinnati. Well, a suburb north of the city, but it’s basically in Cincinnati-based Kroger’s backyard.

Kroger today announced that the first Ocado-powered customer fulfillment centers (CFC) will be in the suburb of Monroe, OH. Kroger says it will spend $55 million on this automated warehouse, which the company is referring to as a “shed” (ed. note: we don’t know why they call it a shed, they don’t explain it in the release, perhaps it’s a holdover from U.K.-based Ocado’s home country?).

Earlier this year, Kroger upped its investment in Ocado, taking a 6 percent stake in the company. As part of that deal, Kroger and Ocado will build twenty such automated warehouse facilities across the U.S. over the next three years. If the original timetable still holds, Kroger could announce two more CFC locations before the end of this year.

Grocery logistics has been a hot topic this year, especially as giants like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Kroger are all investing in infrastructure to get your goods to you super fast.

Kroger specifically has been on a tear lately. In addition to Ocado, the company started piloting deliveries via self-driving cars, launched Ship, its direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform, and expanded its deal with Instacart.

In addition to all that investment, in August, Kroger teamed up with the University of Cininnati to create an innovation lab, which makes the Monroe CFC location make even more sense. Having a high-tech fulfillment center just miles from your innovation lab can breed a lot of, well, innovation. Given that it’s almost Thanksgiving, perhaps they can find a way to finally make turkeys fly.

Kroger Invests in Ocado, Will Use UK Grocer’s Tech in U.S.

Grocery giant, Kroger, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Ocado, and will use the UK-based online grocer’s logistics and warehouse technology (ROBOTS!) here in the U.S. The move indicates that Kroger is ramping up its technological efforts as it looks to defend itself against the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

Ocado is known for fast deliveries and, according to CNN Money, Ocado said it will be helping Kroger with warehouse operations, logistics, delivery route planning and automation.

On the automation front, Ocado runs giant warehouses filled with smart robots that scurry around, carrying food. Tech Insider has this video showing the robots in action:

Inside A Warehouse Where Thousands Of Robots Pack Groceries

Kroger is wasting no time getting in on that robot action. From the press announcement: “Kroger and Ocado are already working to identify the first three sites in 2018 for development of new, automated warehouse facilities in the U.S., and will identify up to a total of 20 over the first three years of the agreement.”

This isn’t the first such deal for Ocado, which has licensed out its technology to grocery companies in France, Canada and Sweden.

Kroger has also increased its existing investment in Ocado by five percent in a subscription rights agreement, bringing its total investment to six percent.

Not living in the UK, I can’t speak to the actual quality of Ocado’s service (though the robots in the video are a sight to behold). But you have to wonder if Kroger’s move is too late.

Amazon, which is a logistics master and has its own warehouse automation, isn’t one to rest; it’s continuing to expand two-hour grocery delivery and discounts for its 100M Prime members at Whole Foods. Then there’s Walmart and Target, each of which are grow their same day delivery services. And Albertsons, which has partnered with Instacart to facilitate its own same day deliveries. And if all that wasn’t enough, there are the smaller, more focused players like Good Eggs, which just got $50 million to expand in California.

That’s not to write off Kroger’s. It’s a massive company with the capital to spend, let’s just see if it can implement that spending quickly enough.