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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

personalization

The Secret to Food Hyper-Personalization? According to Meal Hero’s CTO, It’s AI

What should you eat tonight? That question can be tricky to answer, especially if you’re trying to use up leftovers while feeding folks with diverse eating preferences and dietary restrictions.

It’s also the exact question that Erik Andrejko is trying to solve. Andrejko is the CTO of Meal Hero (formerly wellio), a personalized meal planning app that’s part of Kraft-Heinz’s Evolv group. At The Spoon’s Customize event in NYC next week, he’ll be speaking about how AI is the secret sauce that will shape the food personalization revolution.

So how exactly will AI reinvent data, discovery, public policy and more within the food ecosystem? You can learn some of the answers by reading Andrejko’s Q&A below, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want the full story you’ll have to see Andrejko speak at Customize next week! Use code SPOON15 to save 15 percent on your tickets.

Tell us a little bit about what Meal Hero does, and how it fits within Kraft Heinz.
At Meal Hero, we are empowering people to improve their lives by eating well. The consumer relationship with food is evolving, and we see supporting personalized food experiences, in particular supporting home cooked meals, as an essential part of a broader strategy of nourishing a growing world.

To that end, we have developed a personalized meal planning application that connects seamlessly to digital grocery fulfillment. It solves the problem of “what’s for dinner tonight?” for the 89 million US households that cook dinner 5+ times a week, making those occasions tasty, nourishing, convenient, and personalized to each household’s needs.

What are some opportunities to bring customized dining into the consumer kitchen? 
Dining at home is a complex challenge with multiple participants. One household we studied led by Susan, a working mom of three, exemplifies this complexity. Susan’s decision-making process starts in the morning as she glances at her fridge while cooking breakfast to determine what to use up for dinner. She then revisits the decision at the end of her workday, going through a complex decision tree that takes into consideration the ingredients she has available, one kid’s tree nut allergy, two kids’ distaste for spicy food, and her own desire to make something pescatarian at a reasonable cost before deciding that she can make fish tacos. As shopping for the missing ingredients and cooking take longer than expected, she’s forced to give the kids some snacks, and by the time the meal is ready, the kids are no longer hungry. We can reduce or eliminate the obstacles that people like Susan face in realizing their aspirations to nourish their households through software technology that embodies the expertise of a personal chef, a personal nutritionist, and a personal shopper.

What’s the biggest challenge facing companies trying to tap into consumer demand for personalization?
The biggest challenge centers around data: gathering it, organizing it, and sharing it. The cold-start problem is well noted in the field of data science and continues to be a hurdle for food personalization as companies struggle to initially gather or generate useful data. Once sufficient data is gathered, a system must be devised that is comfortable working with natural inputs and outputs to derive domain intelligence, which we have done with our Food Intelligence Platform. For the system to improve, it must continuously ingest data from users, whose app fatigue can impede the learning process if the system cannot yet generate sufficient value to combat abandonment. Finally, no firm operates in a vacuum with only its consumers, so the whole value chain must mobilize to adopt standardization, transparency, and accessibility of data. 

What do you think personalized food or drink will look like 5 years down the road?
Personalization will evolve to hyper-personalization as consumers’ expectations in the food domain increase over time to match those in other, more digitally mature domains (e.g. entertainment). We see that evolution occurring in the following sequence:

1. Convenience – How do we bridge the gap from the 80 percent of consumers who use digital tools for grocery planning and discovery to the 3 percent of grocery transactions that occur online? As consumer adoption of digital grocery grows, the connectivity from planning & discovery to commerce must become seamless. 

2. Lifestyle – Diet and lifestyle-based digital shopping journeys are increasingly becoming available, but none close the loop on going from what to eat to getting access to them conveniently and at a reasonable cost. 

3. Health – Food as medicine is just beginning to kick into gear. In about 5 years, we see food tech and health tech converging to create new and powerful consumer experiences. While we see this beginning to happen in pockets, it is not at scale.

In order for the food ecosystem to deliver on those personalized consumer values, a complete evolution is necessary across the value chain (ie: in data, discovery, public policy, standards, etc.). AI will be critical in accelerating the solutions to these challenges.

Newsletter: As Food Gets Personal, What Happens to Our Data?

With Customize, The Spoon’s daylong NYC summit, just around the corner, we’re talking all things food personalization these days. And with personalization comes personal data, which you, me, and a growing number of consumers endlessly hand over these days to CPGs, grocery services, nutritionists, and, of course, restaurants.

I was reminded of the data portion of personalization earlier this week when I came across a new report from Technomic that noted just over half of U.S. consumers want to know more about how restaurants use their personal information. To be honest, I was surprised the exact number, 56 percent, wasn’t higher, though it probably will be by the end of this year.  

Restaurants now have a growing number of ways to find out more about their customers, and since food preferences aren’t the most high-stakes form of personal data, we’re more willing to part with that information. As one survey respondent noted, “The benefits of using technology to order/pay for food and beverages from restaurants outweigh the risks to my personal data.”

Still, as more kiosks land in the front of house and more brands implement AI to better understand their customers, proving themselves trustworthy with customer data is crucial. So what does that look like?

There are the obvious steps around safety, of course: staying PCI-compliant, vetting third-party vendors, etc. Those are all back-end policies and procedures consumers neither see nor probably care about unless something like a data breach occurs. 

What consumers do care about is getting a consistently good experience with a food or brand. I don’t just mean having an easy-to-use mobile app or quick drive-thru times. Restaurants must also be able to show customers that the personal data they hand over is what creates that consistently good experience. If a chain has my birthday stored in its system, it should automatically be able to offer some kind of reward (e.g., dessert) on that day. If a coffee chain already knows I can’t have sugary syrups in espresso drinks, its system should stop offering me those upsells when I order. Use the digital real estate to try selling me something I would actually buy, like a bagel.

Many restaurants, multi-national chains and indies alike, are already working to offer these kinds of experiences. Many more will follow as personalization becomes as common in restaurants as mobile apps have. Right now, however, it’s no sure bet your personal data is going to create your most optimal experience from one restaurant to the next, or even from one chain’s store to its next. Figuring out how to standardize some of these processes will be the next step in restaurant personalization. 

Can Customization Lead to More Food as Medicine?

Food customization and personalization are happening outside the restaurant, too. Some of it involves using your DNA to tell you exactly what foods you should be eating. 

My colleague Catherine Lamb explored that this week when she wrote about her experience with GenoPalate, a service that uses information gleaned from a user’s DNA to create a personalized nutrition plan for them.

As Catherine rightly points out, a tool like GenoPalate isn’t yet terribly useful to the average person, other than telling them to eat a healthy diet. However, for those who suffer from chronic illness or other issues, the service could offer an easier way for people to adjust their diets in order to live healthier, more comfortable lives.

I wonder about the food-as-medicine angle here. If GenoPalate can recommend certain foods and recipes for someone with, say major digestive issues, could a more personalized diet keep that person from having to heavily rely on over-the-counter pills and prescription meds. And to take things a step further, can personalization tech eventually help consumers make the needed behavioral changes necessary to eat better instead of simply swallowing another pill?

There’s tech that simply informs us and there’s tech that can actually help us alter our lifestyles for the better. When it comes to personalization, companies that can accomplish the latter will be the ones who stand out. 

Last Chance for Customize Tickets

Since we’re talking food personalization today, now’s the point when I shamelessly plug The Spoon’s NYC event next week. If you want to know more about how your DNA could create a better diet or simply when The Cheesecake Factory will start offering you a free birthday dessert, head up to Manhattan on February 27 to join us for the event.  Use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off tickets.

Keep on truckin’,

Jenn

Viome’s CTO on why Gut Microbes plus AI can Reveal Perfect Diet

For all of us trying to eat healthier — especially those who are battling a chronic disease — figuring out exactly how certain foods will affect your body is critical. That’s what Viome is trying to help people determine. The startup examines your microbiome to create personalized dining recommendations (and recipes) featuring foods that are an ideal fit for your biology.

We’re pretty fascinated by the whole concept of microbiome-based eating, so invited Guru Banavar, the CTO of Viome, to speak at The Spoon’s Customize event in New York on February 27. If you want to join us (you should!) there are only a few tickets left, so get on it! (Use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off.)

To give you a taste of what’s to come, we asked Banavar a few questions about microbiome-driven eating, his time learning about AI with IBM Watson, and the biggest challenges for selling personal nutrition.

This interview has been edited for grammar and clarity,

Tell us a little bit about what Viome does.
Viome is on a mission to help people take control of their health and ultimately prevent and reverse chronic disease. We do this by understanding people’s biology on a molecular level, especially in their gut microbiome, using our proprietary metatranscriptomics technology combined with powerful AI-driven analysis to deliver them personalized insights and recommendations.

What’s the difference between personalized nutrition based on your microbiome (gut bacteria), and personalized nutrition based on your DNA?
Our microbial genome is between 2 to 20 million microbial genes, making our genetic material 99% microbial. This means that to fully understand the human body we must start by collecting data and analyzing the gut microbiome – the richest source of our microbes.  

Therefore, the first difference is that DNA tests only look at DNA (your genes), which never change throughout your life — even if you develop a chronic disease. We at Viome look at RNA (gene expression, or what your genes are actually doing within your body) which is dynamic and changes all the time. It’s a better indicator of overall wellness and chronic disease. Since any two humans share [more than] 99 percent the same DNA, but only about 5 percent of the same microbial DNA,  each person’s microbiome is incredibly unique — what works for you may not work for me.

In the past you’ve worked for a long time at IBM Watson. How do you think your AI experience has helped in the personalized nutrition field?
I was involved in solving a wide variety of problems from different industries at IBM Watson, so I quickly learned that AI is not one thing but really a toolbox of many techniques that you need to put together depending on the problem you’re solving.  Personalized nutrition based on molecular data is a very challenging field, and I brought my experience with the full range of AI tools & techniques to get the fastest and the most effective solution.

Viome currently recommends diets and recipes. Do you see it ever working in tandem with foodservice or grocery?
We already see many of our customers reporting that they use their Viome app in the grocery store, when they are choosing foods and supplements online or when they are selecting from restaurant menus. As we build new services within our app we are looking to make this frictionless, and we are in early stage discussions with a number of large grocery retailers and international food companies…. watch this space!

What do you think is the biggest challenge for personalized nutrition?
We have actually found that once people understand the technology, take the test, they see amazing results, so our job is less about acceptance and more about awareness and inspiration.

The science around personalized nutrition is advancing rapidly with multiple new papers published every day, especially connecting the microbiome and chronic diseases like Diabetes, Obesity, IBS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers and Cancer. Our world class science team is working with partners like the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser, United Healthcare and GSK, among others, to not only keep on top of the science but advance it through clinical studies and trials. Not all companies who give personalized nutrition recommendations with the same depth of scientific rigor and understanding, so education is important.

Banavar will be speaking about microbiome-driven personalized nutrition along with the CEO of Sun Genomics at Customize! Don’t miss out — use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off your ticket now, before they’re gone.

I Used GenoPalate to Create a Custom Nutrition Plan based on My DNA

A few weeks ago I rubbed my cheek with a swab, slipped it a vial of liquid, and sent my DNA off to be tested. This was part of a service from GenoPalate, a startup that uses information gleaned from DNA to create personalized nutrition plans for users. Having never done any sort of DNA test before, I was surprised at how simple it was: the entire process took maybe three minutes, including creating an online account.

Cut to 10 days later and I got an alert that my GenoPalate report was ready. I downloaded the GenoPalate app, logged in with my email and password, and prepared to get new insights into my ideal diet.

What I found was surprisingly . . . unsurprising. I was told I should eat a diet that’s moderately high in carbohydrates, high in fiber, and has low levels of sugar and saturated fat (but is high in “healthy” fats). I’m likely lactose intolerant (can confirm: yep) and likely not sensitive to gluten. I’m a fast caffeine metabolizer and a normal alcohol metabolizer. I have gene variants that indicate I might need to consume higher levels of Vitamin A, E, and D, among others.

I also got a list of my recommended fruits, vegetables, starches, proteins, and cheeses. These included raspberries, squash, and lettuce, as well as bagels, spaghetti, gruyere cheese, eel, and chicken liver.

Is it fun to discover that my “best” fruits include kiwis? Sure. But after reading through my GenoPalate results, I realized that I didn’t really discover anything I didn’t already know. Basically, the test told me I should be eating a pretty basic healthy diet.

That said, I’m not necessarily GenoPalate’s target audience. I’m already quite conscientious about what I eat and have done a good bit of trial and error to determine what foods make me feel healthy and energized. For someone with a chronic illness, or who suffers from low energy or persistent digestion issues with an unknown cause, GenoPalate’s reports could be more revelatory.

I also didn’t get to try GenoPalate’s recommended recipe service, which, for an additional $30 ($199 as opposed to $169), will give you five recipes based off of your genetic profile. In retrospect, that would have been helpful insight to have. Five recipes aren’t a lot, but they could provide some building blocks for future meal plans and guidance on how to turn the barrage of information in the nutrition analysis (e.g., eat raspberries, not blueberries) into something actionable.

In fact, that’s really the problem with GenoPalate. You can see its potential — discovering which foods to eat to make you feel your best — but right now the technology is too early-stage to be all that helpful for the average person (i.e. me). I haven’t tried them yet, but I imagine services like Viome (which does include recipe recommendations) and Sun Genomics, which also give personalized nutrition reports, are at a similar place. One of the more useful services is DNANudge, which also uses your DNA to guide your grocery shopping outings and push you towards brands that are a better fit for your biology.

Overall these services can give you some high-level information, but they’re not quite ready to be a granular guide. That said, I still think there’s huge potential in the space. As the technology evolves I imagine these services will be able to become more helpful, possibly even linking up with recipe recommendation services as well as health trackers to create a super-curated, all-in-one dietary guide. With these added capabilities, services like GenoPalate could create personalized, shoppable meal plans, and even tweak recipes to meet your health goals (losing weight, training for a marathon, etc.)

If you’re curious about the potential for personalized food and nutrition, then you’ve got to join us at our Customize event on February 27th (next week!) in NYC. GenoPalate’s CEO Dr. Sherry Zhang will be there speaking about biology-driven dining. If you want to come, you can use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off tickets.

This Swiss Company Can Now 3D Print Tons of Personalized Chocolate

It’s February 14, which means there’s a good chance you’ll give or receive chocolate at some point today. The chances that that chocolate will be 3D printed? Slim to nil.

But all that could soon change thanks to Barry Callebaut AG, a company that makes roughly one-fourth of all the world’s chocolate, including that used by well-known brands like Hershey’s and Nestlé. According to a press release from the Swiss corporation, it will work with gourmet clients to let them print personalized chocolate designs en masse through Mona Lisa, its chocolate decoration brand. In short — Barry Callebaut will help brands print customized chocolate creations.

Business partners can develop their own custom designs and specify size parameters for their chocolate. They’ll then share those with Barry Callebaut, which will print the custom chocolates in large quantities at its Mona Lisa 3D Studio. Barry Callebaut can print thousands of a particular design succession thanks to its new 3D printing tech, which keeps melted chocolate at the perfect temperature for speedy printing.

Chocoholics will have to wait a while before they can buy these 3D printed creations in stores, though. Barry Callebaut will first work with high-end clients, like hotels, pastry chefs and coffee chains. Its first customer will be Dutch hotel chain Van der Valk. Down the road, Barry Callebaut will open up its tech to use with manufacturers such as Nestlé and Hershey.

For aspiring chocolatiers who don’t want to wait, there are some home options. Mycusini is a countertop chocolate printer (though it’s only available in Europe). The Mayku Formbox lets you print DIY chocolate molds at home. And while it’s not available yet, but the Cocoterra lets you make bean-to-bar chocolate right in your kitchen.

Barry Callebaut’s tech is perfectly situated to tap into a trend we at the Spoon have been seeing everywhere lately: personalization. The chocolate-maker can’t produce individualized chocolates for every person, obviously — the Mona Lisa 3D Studio will be printing chocolates on a large scale. But with this new 3D printing service, businesses can get more creative with their sugary marketing and branding efforts. For example, Starbucks could make a line of hot chocolate sticks (it’s a thing!) in the shape of their signature coffee cups. Or your favorite hotel line could make pillow chocolates shaped like pillows!

As consumer demand for personalization grows, CPG companies are hustling to figure out how to tap into the trend — even when manufacturing in massive quantities. In fact, that’s one of the questions we’ll be tackling at Customize, our food personalization summit happening in NYC on February 27th! If you want to come, use code SPOON15 to grab 15 percent off your tickets.

The Food Tech Show: What Do PicoBrew’s Struggles Mean for High Tech Beer Making?

The Spoon’s editor podcast is back and this week Jenn, Chris, Catherine and myself discuss the following stories:

As always, you can subscribe to the Food Tech Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download this week’s episode direct to your device or just click play below.

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In 5 Years We’ll Each Have a GPS to Guide All Our Food Choices, says Suggestic CEO

Ten years ago if you were driving somewhere you’d have to either memorize directions or print out a paper map. Cut to now, and it’s almost unheard of to drive anywhere new without a GPS guiding you, turn by turn.

That’s exactly what Victor Chapela, CEO of personalized nutrition company Suggestic, thinks will happen to our diets. He believes that in five years, AI-driven technology will “drive” our food decisions just like a GPS drives our directions now. The result? Very high personalization, and comprehensive food discoverability.

If you want to know more about how we actually get to this future, you’ll want to come see Chapela speak at Customize, our food personalization event, on February 27th in NYC. (Use code SPOON15 to snag 15% off your tickets!)

But first, check out this Q&A below to learn a bit more about Suggestic and why Chapela envisions a future where you can get personalized recommendations in your kitchen, grocery stores, and even on restaurants menus.

Tell us a little bit about Suggestic and how it capitalizes on personalization.
Suggestic is a personalized nutrition platform, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that uses advanced technology to create and deliver customized eating plans that are individually tailored to each person. Suggestic helps users plus healthcare professionals and businesses to not only select a dietary plan that is right for their health goals but it then proactively suggests what to eat, even at restaurants, through Suggestic’s patented Augmented Reality (AR) technology.

Suggestic’s programs make it easy for its users, clients, and members to stick to their tailored dietary program and see results. Suggestic’s science-based approach to nutrition is designed to help all users find success in their programs. 

What are some of the biggest challenges in bringing personalized diets and nutrition to consumers?
The biggest challenge is that people have diverse body chemistries that react differently to foods so something that would usually be deemed as “healthy” may not always be from one person to the next. Also, people have trouble staying with an eating plan so we need to accurately determine how best to customize plans that consumers will follow. With AI, we can create personalized nutrition plans that best fit a person so that they can stick with their plan and ultimately be successful in their quest for a healthier and happier life. We have so much knowledge of food and we can take it to another level with the use of AI — it takes something very complex and makes it very simple and actionable.

We can work with each individual person to filter out foods specific to their diet, whether because of allergies, health concerns or personal preferences, so that people can easily see the options right for them. This type of tailored plan not only makes it easier for people to follow, but it also allows people to actually eat the foods they like as AI learns with a person, leading to greater success in sticking with a plan.

Why do you think that there has been a rise in interest around personalized nutrition over the past few years?
There is no one-size-fits-all diet that works equally well for everyone. Even though browsing social media you would think otherwise, based on all the “magic bullet” dieting programs now promoted. People are frustrated. They are only now discovering that they need to find out the nutrition needs of their unique biologies.

What do you think personalized food or drink will look like 5 years down the road?
Today we are seeing signs of several huge industries colliding. Technology is connecting the healthcare and wellness industries to food and nutrition options. 

In the next five years, we will see an ecosystem emerge that will allow for two different things to happen simultaneously: very high personalization and comprehensive food discoverability. 

First, we will be able to seamlessly stack all types of personalization, goals, preferences, and requirements. This will allow my food options to consider everything I care about and everything my body needs. It will connect all the information about myself, from my blood chemistry, genes and microbiome to my activity, sleep and food intake.

Second, we will be able to filter and sort out all the food options around us with this personalized profile. We will have all the restaurants, grocery products, recipes, and food delivery automatically being selected to match what we like best out of what is best for us.

In five years we will use technology to find food in the same way we use our GPS today to drive back home. It is not that we do not know the way home. It is that we will outsource the decision making process to an AI we trust and get step by step suggestions of which foods we can select. We will be living in a “one-click” send food world. 

Kaigo Raises $3M for Personalized Food as Medicine Delivery Service

This week KAIGO, a personalized meal delivery service, announced it had raised $3 million in seed funding (hat/tip FoodBusinessNews). Micromanagement Ventures and Mike Lee, the founder of MyFitnessPal, both participated.

Founded in 2014, KAIGO delivers personalized, health-optimized meals from local restaurants directly to individuals. First users complete a short online assessment to indicate their health priorities (better sleep, more energy during the day, weight loss, etc). A KAIGO medical partner calls you within 24 hours to get more insight into your goals and help the company construct a personalized health plan, which they form with a partner dietician. The company also works with over 1,000 medical providers to check out your medical records, to see your bloodwork and medical history (I’m assuming with your permission first).

After KAIGO draws up your nutrition plan they work with local chefs and restaurant partners to have them cook up meals for you, which are then delivered to your door (by KAIGO or by the restaurant, it isn’t clear). You also get periodic check-ins by the KAIGO team to make sure that your goals are being met.

So far, KAIGO only operates in New York and San Francisco. They’ll use their seed funding to expand into new cities, including Washington, DC and Los Angeles.

Honestly, this sounds like a very expensive — and inefficient — process. There’s a lot of hands-on work and the bit about working with local restaurants to cook and delivery the food has got to be costly. It’s especially hard to justify since there are plenty of other services out there offering personalized meal plans and recipes (Nutrient, Suggestic) or personalized prepared food/meal kit delivery (Daily Harvest, Snap Kitchen, Innit). You can also (duh) just cut out the middleman and order food from restaurants directly.

Then again, KAIGO could be a boutique offering. It certainly has boutique pricing: the service comes with a one-time $299 fee to cover personal assessments, plus a monthly fee of $249 to have the meals planned, prepared, and delivered. Plus the costs of the meals themselves. In short, it’s not for those on a budget.

The startup is also targeting individuals struggling with chronic illnesses, who might be willing to pay more to try something new if other specialized diets haven’t given them relief in the past.

Skepticism aside, KAIGO is certainly tapping into two bigs trends we’ve been seeing a lot of at The Spoon: personalization and food-as-medicine. Those are both topics we’ll be exploring in depth at Customize, our food personalization summit in New York on February 27th! Use code SPOON15 to snag 15% off tickets.

Chipotlanes, New Store Formats, and Personalization Are Driving Chipotle’s $1B Digital Business

Chipotle outlined big plans for its digital business, which surpassed $1 billion in sales in 2019, according to the company’s Q4 earnings call this week. 

The fast-casual chain saw digital sales in Q4 alone jump 78 percent to $282 million, and Company CEO Brian Niccol said on the call that digital orders made up one-fifth of Chipotle’s sales during the same quarter. He also recapped the company’s efforts around delivery, off-premises ordering, and other digital-focused initiatives, including the one everyone seems to be really excited about — the Chipotlane.

These are drive-thru lanes dedicated to customers ordering ahead via the Chipotle mobile app. Like digital drive-thru efforts from other chains, Chipotlanes are meant to speed up service for this particular order channel, which has seen wait times get progressively longer over the last several years. The tactic is clearly working: Niccol said on the call that Chipotle will more than double the number of Chipotlanes in 2020 “because our guests love the convenience and it strengthens our economic model by making our highest margin channel more accessible.”

The other big area of focus Niccol and Chipotle outlined on the call was the new store design, which the company unveiled in December and is trialing in a few different U.S. cities. This new design is Chipotle’s take on the express store format, which many QSRs and fast-casual chains are pursuing these days to cater more to the ongoing demand for delivery and takeout orders. These restaurants have fewer seats, and, in the case of Chipotle, digital pickup shelves where customers can simply grab their order and go. The company is currently monitoring the performance of the new store design’s initial locations.

Niccol hinted at personalization on the call when talking about the company’s loyalty program, which it has grown to 8.5 million members over the last few years. While he didn’t dive into much detail, saying only that “personalization and engagement are cornerstones of our evolving loyalty strategy.” But we’ve already seen what more personalization can look like in the restaurant world, from McDonald’s installing Dynamic Yield’s AI tech in drive-thru lanes last year to Taco Bell’s recent push to make recommendations via its app more personalized to each customer. 

Niccol said he expects it “to become a bigger driver in the future as we gain more experience gathering customer insight, while continuing to expand our digital ecosystem.”

Halla’s CEO is Trying to Netflix-ify the Grocery Aisle

Anyone who’s visited the cereal aisle of a grocery store knows that every time we shop for food, we’re bombarded with choice. Which product will be the best on for our tastes, our diets, and our family’s preferences?

That’s why I typically end up reaching for the same box of cereal (and jar of peanut butter, loaf of bread, etc.) every time. But some companies — like startup Halla — are trying to make grocery shopping a more individualized experience.

That’s why we can’t wait to hear Halla’s CEO Spencer Price speak at Customize on February 27th. To learn more about how Price is leveraging data to make grocery shopping a super personalized experience, check out his Q&A below. Then use code SPOON15 to get 15% off your tickets to Customize here!

Tell us a little bit about what Halla does.
Halla is a taste intelligence company that enables retailers to predict the preferences of their shoppers in real-time. Our enterprise APIs power highly-personalized shopping experiences across all retail environments, driving double-digit increases in basket size and customer retention for retailers across the globe.

There are lots of companies out there that facilitate online grocery shopping — how is Halla unique? 
We know that great recommendations lead to more purchases and better experiences, but existing options for retailers are costly, complicated, and ineffective.

Halla is different. We’re obsessed with understanding food. Because when we know food, we know people. And when we know people, we get to help retailers deliver delightful shopping experiences through deeper customer insight. 

Unlike anything else on the market, Halla is delivering food recommendations with more precision due to our proprietary data that’s able to break food items down to the molecule. With a deep understanding of each item we’re then able to make smarter recommendations based on the human experience, such as delicious food pairings or individual dietary restrictions.  

What are the benefits of a personalized grocery shopping experience, both for the retailer and the consumer?
Think about the Spotify ecosystem, versus Apple Music or YouTube. Think about the Netflix interface, versus any other streaming platform. When personalization is deeply integrated into the user experience, it leads to significant increases in conversion rates, customer retention, and all-around engagement.

So, shoppers will see only the items that are relevant to them, and will be inspired to discover new products — all while helping complete their cart as efficiently as possible. The retailer sees bigger baskets, happier customers, and has finally created a shopping environment that drives true shopper loyalty.

What do you think personalized food or drink will look like 5 years down the road?
While there are many efforts and initiatives in “standardization” — as opposed to personalization — like we see in protein bar brands, all-in-one shakes, and the likes of Soylent, there are still over 30,000 unique products in the average supermarket, and counting. The need for “product navigation”, “product discovery”, and personalization solutions will only continue to grow. How precisely this will manifest remains to be seen.

One choice that is easy to make is whether or not you should join us at Customize (hint: you should). Use code SPOON15 to get 15% off your tickets here.

Egyptian Food Delivery Startup elmenus Raises $8M to Battle Uber Eats

Egypt-based online food ordering platform elmenus announced today it has raised an $8 million Series B round (via wamda). The round was led by UAE-based VC fund Global Ventures and Egyptian fund Algebra Ventures, with participation from angel investors.

The startup raised a $1.5 million Series A from Algebra Ventures in 2017, as well as undisclosed pre-Series B investment mid-2019 from Julian Dames, the VP of DeliveryHero.

Founded in 2011, elmenus‘ online ordering platform lets users browse from local restaurants for delivery or just to discover where to dine out. The startup also states on its website that it provides personalized food recommendations, but how exactly it does that is unclear. I poked around their platform for a bit and it looked pretty similar to other food delivery sites I’ve used — listing restaurant options based on location with dish photos and diner reviews.

Even if it doesn’t have a unique personalization aspect, elmenus still stands out in the world of food delivery simply because of its location. Egypt actually hosts quite a few delivery players, including international giants like Uber Eats, Glovo and Delivery Hero-owned Otlob. Elemenus is one of the few companies that started locally and focuses exclusively on the Egyptian market (for now).

So far the startup operates exclusively in Egypt and has its own delivery fleet. According to wamda, elmenus will use its new funds to scale across the country.

Eight million dollars ain’t nothing, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what its competitors are working with. Glovo alone raised $167 million last year. Even in an area with so much untapped market potential (only 4 percent of Egyptians order to-go food online), it might be hard for elemenus to survive.

That is, unless it can find a way to stand out. Beefing up its personalization offering could be one way to do so. If elmenus is smart, that’s how it’ll use that fresh $8 million.

If you’re curious about how personalization is changing the meal journey, from food delivery to grocery shopping, you need to be at Customize this month in NYC! Use code SPOON15 for 15% off your ticket.

The Key to Your Perfect Diet Could Be Hiding in Your DNA

Our DNA contains the code that dictates how our body works — including, apparently, information about which foods we should (and shouldn’t) be eating.

Dr. Sherry Zhang is on a mission to help individuals eat healthier based on their unique genetic code. That’s why she created GenoPalate, the DNA-driven personalized nutrition company, and also why we can’t wait to welcome her onstage at Customize, our food personalization summit in NYC next month.

Before she hits the stage, we had the chance to ask Dr. Zhang a few questions about DNA vs. microbiome-based nutrition, data privacy and the biggest challenges towards harnessing the power of personal biology.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tell us a little bit about what GenoPalate does.
GenoPalate is a personalized nutrition platform. We believe that food and nutrition play a powerful role in our health and wellbeing. Our mission is to empower people to optimize their health through personalized nutrition insights.

The GenoPalate platform uses the latest research in metabolic health, genetics and nutrition to provide personalized insights to encourage healthier eating behaviors. From a simple saliva sample, our proprietary technology uses DNA to make personalized recommendations on the ideal intake of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. We make this actionable for our customers by providing a comprehensive list of foods that best suit their genetic nutritional requirements. 

What’s the difference between DNA-driven and microbiome-driven diet recommendations?
This is a hard question as we are NOT comparing apples to apples. When we test DNA (like ancestry or 23andMe and Genopalate) we are testing the blueprint of a human’s genome. The human genome is a 3.2 billion-letter genetic code that we all were born with. Within our genetic code or DNA we have many variants that define not only our food preferences but how our bodies will respond to or metabolise specific nutrients. For example there are variants that predict tolerance to lactose or caffeine metabolism. 

Another factor that may contribute to how our bodies respond to nutrients, are the bacterial, viral and fungal floras that live in our gut. These are known as our microbiomes. Microbiome companies are testing the RNA and DNA of the gut bacteria NOT of our human genetic code. This is an important distinction. Microbiome research, while promising, is still in its infancy.  Many studies are still being conducted to understand how nutritional interventions impact the microbiome and how they impact on human health. 

How do you navigate concerns around data privacy?
We at GenoPalate take extra care to keep customers’ genetic and personal information private and safe as we understand how important it is for us to deliver the best possible practices for customers’ data privacy. We implement de-identification along with encryption of each individual’s data to ensure secure storage and complete anonymous separation from genetic and personal information. Only automated GenoPalate product services have access to all of the information to fulfill each order and deliver each product to customers. As a business, we do not sell, lease or rent users’ personal information to third-parties without the user’s consent. Customers’ genetic information may be used by GenoPalate’s product development team to enhance services to customers. 

In this case, customers’ data will be de-identified and aggregated before analysis to preserve anonymity. We will continue investing measures that ensure responsible management of user data including transparency, consumer education, proper consenting and data security and privacy design and more by following the principles recommended by organizations such as Forum of Future Privacy. 

What’s one of the biggest challenges facing personalized nutrition?
I think one of the biggest challenges facing personalized nutrition is the question of how to create a contextual user experience in order to continuously drive a person’s success in healthy eating.

Human genetics is known to explain approximately 30 percent of the variations we have observed in our phenotypic traits such as weight and body mass distribution, glucose and lipids profiles, blood pressure and inflammatory biometrics. We also know that approximately 40 percent of the health phenotype outcomes are also driven by an individual’s daily lifestyle behaviors. 

What we yet need to tackle as a scientific community is to establish an effective way of harnessing the power of personal biology in the context of that person’s living environment. GenoPalate is up for the challenge and is seeking forward-thinking organizations to partner in our quest for helping people to reach and maintain their optimal health and prevent chronic diseases.

Watch Dr. Zhang dive deeper into the world of DNA-driven food recommendations at Customize on February 27th! Use discount code SPOON15 and Grab your tickets here before they’re gone.