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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

plant-based food

Alt-Protein Accelerator Big Idea Ventures Is Taking Applications for Its Next Cohort

Alt-protein startups, take note. Big Idea Ventures, an accelerator focusing specifically on the future of protein, is currently taking applications for its next cohort, which has locations in New York City and Singapore.

Part startup accelerator, part venture fund, Big Idea Ventures (also known simply as BIV) looks for companies making plant-based food products, exploring cellular agriculture, or coming up with new ingredients that could pave the way for more animal-free proteins in the food industry. For the $5.2 billion alt-protein space, creating a standout product will become more challenging for companies over the next decade as more versions of non-dairy cheese, plant-based seafood, and lab grown burgers come to market.

The two programs run concurrently. Ten companies are chosen for each, with both programs lasting five months long. Participants get a $125,000 cash investment and a $75,000 in-kind investment, as well as office space, mentorship opportunities, test kitchen facilities, and other resources. There is also potential for BIV to invest more in a company after the program wraps.

The overarching goal, as we noted last year, is to help companies identify and overcome challenges in their business, from finding the right mix of ingredients to getting a product to market and distribution. Companies interested in applying should already have an initial product that’s ready to scale.

 “Agriculture and animal farming is one of the largest contributors to global warming. If we can move people towards a more plant-centric diet that are delicious and easy choices to make, that’s going to have an impact,” Andrew D. Ive, Managing General Partner at BIV, told me last year.

As to differences between the two programs, there aren’t many. Part of the reason BIV chooses to host a program outside North America is so that it can connect startups to the right food producers, co-packers, and distributors, and also address some of those cultural nuances and preferences needed for companies to be appealing on a global level. For example, plant-based pork is far more likely to be a success in Asian markets over something like a Beyond burger. “If we’re gonna do this, we need to take into consideration what people eat on a regular basis,” Ive said.

BIV is taking applications for both NYC and Singapore. The final deadline is March 2, 2020, with the Cohort slated to kick off in May.

Motif FoodWorks Partners with University of Queensland to Revamp Texture of Plant-based Foods

For plant-based meat companies, successfully imitating the texture of real meat is one of their greatest challenges. Yesterday, Motif FoodWorks, a B2B animal-free ingredient development company, announced it will partner with The University of Queensland in Australia to help companies create better-textured meat alternatives.

Motif FoodWorks develops ingredients for plant-based foods using fermentation technology. It seems that now the company, a spinoff of Ginkgo Bioworks, is focusing on more than just the ingredients themselves, but how they’ll work together to create a realistic faux-burger, steak, etc. The initiative will last for three years.

According to a press release, the company will create new textures through a technique called in vitro processing, which is based on in-lab testing in test tubes, petri dishes, etc. Mike Leonard, CTO at Motif FoodWorks told me that they will explore “a range of relevant technologies and ingredients,” including microbial fermentation, to better “develop an understanding of the fundamental drivers of perception of plant-based meat analogs.” Basically, they’re trying to determine exactly how people experience the texture of meat and how to replicate that experience using non-animal ingredients.

Plenty of other alternative protein companies out there are trying to solve the texture problem. Redefine Meat and Novameat leverage 3D printing to emulate muscle fibers, while companies like Atlast Foods and Prime Roots use mycelium (mushroom roots). Leonard said that Motif would be experimenting with a wide range of technologies to replicate meat’s texture, including some based around their core fermentation technology, though he didn’t say whether it would include 3D printing or mushrooms.

As I’ve covered in my Future Food newsletter (you subscribe, right?), replicating textures is one of the biggest hurdles for companies developing alternative meats. With this partnership, Leonard said that Motif is hoping to “close the critical delta between the sensory experience of texture in meat products and their plant-based analogs.” If they’re serious about helping alternative protein companies on their R&D journey, they’re smart to start factoring texture into the equation in a serious way.

I Tried the JUST Egg Frittata at Le Pain Quotidien. It’s Another Win for Plant-Based Foods.

Quick service and fast food restaurants, from Burger King to Dunkin’, are clamoring to add plant-based options to their menus. You can now count Le Pain Quotidien among them, which teamed up with JUST for a chicken egg-free frittata that is now available at U.S. locations as of Wednesday.

The “Plant-Based ‘Egg’ Frittata” is made of the mung-bean derived egg substitute, roasted butternut squash, broccoli, caramelized onions and almond milk. Le Pain Quotidien feels so strongly about the plant-based version that it will replace its previous frittata.

I had the chance to try the JUST Egg frittata a week before it launched, and it’s clear why Le Pain put it on the menu: it’s delicious, and if I wasn’t told it was egg free, I wouldn’t have known. The way my fork slid into it felt natural, and nothing about the look and texture of the frittata would tell you that it was made with an egg substitute. It’s amazing how mundane, and I mean that in a good way, plant-based foods have become.

Many of other people who got a preview, which included nutritionists and influencers, came away with the same impression.

JUST says in a press release that the liquid version of its egg “has nearly as much protein as conventional chicken eggs, is free of cholesterol, saturated fat and artificial flavoring and its ingredients require considerably less water and emit fewer carbon emissions than chicken eggs.”

The company, which is also working on cultivated meat, has seen other restaurant partnerships hatch: restaurant chain Silver Diner and burger chain Bareburger (where you can also order an Impossible or Beyond Burger) will include JUST Egg on their menus. The company also announced that the liquid egg replacement will be available at Walmart and Kroger stores.

It’s been an impressive run for a product that only launched last year.

The Spoon Newsletter: Cinder Gets Sued; Food Blockchain Ripens; PicoBrew Ships

This is the post version of our bi-weekly newsletter. If you’d like to get it in your inbox, you can subscribe here.

Happy Friday, all! Catherine here. Our team’s hard at work putting the finishing touches on the Smart Kitchen Summit (you have your tickets, right?), but it’s been a busy couple of days for news as well.

First and foremost, a few days ago Chris Albrecht uncovered the story that Palate Home, the company behind the Cinder grill, was ordered by a court to pay $294,736 to Tony Fadell’s investment firm, Future Shape LLC. We’ve been following this smart grill, which delivers sous-vide-like precision cooking via a unique two-sided precision heating surface, for the last couple years. But like so many crowdfunded hardware companies before it, Cinder was hitting manufacturing roadblocks and delaying shipping dates to its backers. Which is why Chris looked into it in the first place — and found much more than he bargained for.

We’re not sure if this is a death knell for Cinder, though it certainly seems that way. Stay tuned for updates.

In positive news, Ripe.io, a company which is working to create the “blockchain for food,” just raised a $2.4 million seed round. Mike Wolf spoke with Raja Ramachandran, the company’s CEO and co-founder on his podcast last year. Here’s how he explained the concept behind his startup:

If a farmer wants to say I harvest strawberries these two days, well, they can say that, but do they say that to everyone? … That’s the beauty of blockchain. It manages the decentralized nature of the food business, so people can post data, they can protect it, they can share it, they can create records with it… In the end for the consumer, they basically get a longer record.

Ripe.io is capitalizing off of two trends: blockchain madness, and people’s desire for increased food transparency. If the company can successfully create the blockchain for food — something that others like Goodr and FoodLogiQ are already playing around with — then consumers can instantly know a plethora of details about their food: where it was produced, when it was harvested, whether it’s organic/GMO, etc. Ramachandran will be at the Smart Kitchen Summit (SKS) discussing blockchain’s potential within the food system, so join us there to hear more.

The ability to trace the origin of your food with 100% accuracy is a good thing, but what if you could bring the farm to you? That’s exactly what Freight Farms, a company which creates “Leafy Green Machines” — that is, climate-controlled vertical farms in shipping containers — is trying to do.

Excited to see new ideas for recreating the future of food and cooking? We announced our Startup Showcase winners this week, so you’ll want to check them out!

Jenn Marston wrote about their new Grown service this week, which helps Freight Farms customers manage temperature, water usage, and other aspects of the indoor farm units so that they can grow produce with super-limited space. Jenn’s optimistic that this tech could allow institutions — like public schools and hospitals — to have access to super-fresh, healthy greens (and more). While smaller scale than Freight Farms, Estonian smart indoor grow system Natufia raised $1.2 million this week.

The PicoBrew Z brewing system

In other news, Mike Wolf covered PicoBrew’s initial shipment of their Z Series, a modular brewing system that lets home beer creators scale up to make 10 gallons per brew. They may have delayed the Kickstarter for their Pico U, but this shipment shows that PicoBrew is still kicking — er, brewing.

Chris also covered NEXT Future Transportation’s new mobile lockers, which are yet another step towards a future in which autonomous vehicles deliver us our groceries and pizza along with our packages. For those who still want a retail experience in the future, however, the convenience store will probably still be there — it just might look different. Read Chris’ piece on Dirty Lemon’s new cashierless, honor system-run pop-up store to see how.

Finally, this week I wrote about all the food I tasted at last week’s inaugural Good Food Conference. It’s a smorgasbord of plant-based products, from vegan sausages to eggs made of mung beans. Check it out.

Smart Kitchen Summit is a mere three and a half weeks away, and it’s shaping up to be our best one yet. Just check out our program and speakers if you don’t believe me. Don’t get left behind — use the discount code NEWSLETTER to get 25% off of tickets (just click here to have the discount applied automatically via Eventbrite).

Have a great weekend!
Catherine

In the 09/14/2018 edition:

John Pleasants Thinks the Oven of the Future is Powered by Light

By Catherine Lamb on Sep 14, 2018 10:02 am
We at the Spoon have long been curious about Brava, the stealthy smart kitchen startup which recently debuted its first product: an oven which uses the power of light to cook food quickly and precisely, with low energy usage. See him at the Smart Kitchen Summit in October.

Walmart Acquires Cornershop, While Jet.com Gets in a New York State of Mind

By Chris Albrecht on Sep 14, 2018 08:50 am
Walmart announced yesterday that it is expanding its digital presence in Latin America with the $225 million acquisition of Cornershop, an online marketplace for on-demand delivery from supermarkets in Mexico and Chile. While that move continued the retail giant’s global spending spree, domestically, the company’s subsidiary Jet.com unveiled a revamped website featuring enhanced grocery delivery options.

Dirty Lemon’s New Pop Up is Part of a Convenience Store Revolution

By Chris Albrecht on Sep 13, 2018 03:48 pm
Dirty Lemon, a startup that sells fancy water infused with ingredients like charcoal, CBD and collagen for more than $10 a pop, made The New York Times today with its new pop-up store in New York that puts you on the honor system when you pay.

Mod Pods! NEXT Future Transportation Announces Mobile Lockers

By Chris Albrecht on Sep 13, 2018 12:19 pm
A lot of transportation in old sci-fi movies was pod-based. People would travel through futuristic cities in quiet, autonomous, sleek pods that picked them up and dropped them off. What those movies missed, and is now becoming a reality, are fleets of pods running around to bring us our packages, restaurant food and groceries.

A Plant-Based Tour of What I Ate at the Good Food Conference

By Catherine Lamb on Sep 13, 2018 09:00 am
From vegan sausages by Beyond Meat to mung bean scrambled eggs from JUST, here’s a culinary tour through all the plant-based foods I tried at the Good Food Conference last week.

FoodShot Global Launches Fund to Land Food Moonshots

By Chris Albrecht on Sep 13, 2018 06:30 am
We know that there is no shortage of food-related accelerators helping get the next generation of startups off the ground. But FoodShot Global, a new investment platform that launched today, doesn’t just want to get startups off the ground: it wants them to aim for the moon.

Court Ordered Cinder Grill Maker to Repay Tony Fadell’s Investment Firm $294,736

By Chris Albrecht on Sep 12, 2018 11:00 am
Palate Home, the company behind the Cinder grill, was ordered by a San Mateo court in August to pay $294,736 to Tony Fadell’s investment firm, Future Shape LLC. The default judgment compels Palate Home to repay a $250,000 loan to Future Shape plus $43,737 in interest as well as $999 in costs.

Impossible Sliders Roll Out at all White Castles Nationwide

By Catherine Lamb on Sep 12, 2018 10:18 am
Today Impossible Foods, the company famous for their plant-based “bleeding” burgers, announced today that it’s expanding its partnership with fast food chain White Castle. The Impossible slider is now available in all of White Castle’s 377 locations, from New York to St. Louis.

PicoBrew Ships Z Series, A Modular Brewing System for Aspiring Craft Brewing Pros

By Michael Wolf on Sep 12, 2018 09:00 am
PicoBrew announced this week that the first Picobrew Z1 has rolled off the production line and made its way to the customer, local food pioneer Ron Zimmerman of the Herbfarm. As you might recall, the Picobrew Z series is PicoBrew’s attempt to fill the gap between the home and pro markets with a modular brewing system.

Freight Farms Unveils Onsite Vertical Farming Service

By Jennifer Marston on Sep 12, 2018 06:00 am
Your average institution, be it schools, company, hospital, or university, typically doesn’t have the space or cash to consider an indoor farming initiative, even if it would mean putting fresher, more local greens into cafeterias and dining halls. That’s an issue Freight Farms looks to solve with the release of its new service Grown.

Six Trends We Might See In Food Tech In 2018

News publications making predictions for the coming year is as much a holiday tradition as eggnog, mistletoe and avoiding awkward political fights at the dinner table. As we put 2017 to bed, let’s take a look at trends that we might see in food tech in 2018. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is filled with topics we returned to time and time again throughout the year.

1. Alterna-Products Will Get More Mainstream. With growing concerns over how meat and dairy impact our planet, there are a ton of alternative products coming to mass market:pea-based burger patties that “bleed,” plant-based shrimp, and coconut milk ice cream, to name just a few. And with investment from accelerators, the whole alterna-space is just going to get better and cheaper.

2. Virtual Restaurants Will Pop Up Everywhere (and Nowhere). Data driven food delivery services such as UberEATS have convinced some real world restaurants to open up virtual ones. These delivery only offshoots can experiment with new cuisines and menu items without the cost of adding additional square footage.

3. Meal Kit Shakeup. The prepared meal kit delivery market is going through an evolution as one of its pioneers, Blue Apron, had a rough year, and more focused services are blossoming around specific markets such as kids, or just sending proteins. Then there are hardware players like Nomiku and Tovala looking to bring their full stack food solutions that can be paired with sous vide machines or smart ovens into more houses. Oh, and then there is Amazon, which may make same day customizable meal kits a thing this year.

4. The Further Instagrammification of Food. The meals you eat can no longer just be tasty, they also have to pop off the plate to impress all your Instagram followers. As Restaurant Business points out, look for “rainbow colors, vertical deserts, smoking cocktails” to be on the menu next year.

5. Artificial Intelligence and Robots Rise Up for Real. Robots are already flipping burgers and now even your face can help you order (both at CaliBurger in Pasadena, FWIW). But robots and artificial intelligence will become more mainstream throughout the food stack next year. From agriculture to reducing food waste, and from food aisles to food delivery, the immediate future is about to get way more high-tech.

6. Amazon, Amazon, Amazon. No company had a bigger impact on the food space this year than Amazon. It bought Whole Foods, giving the e-commerce giant an instant, nationwide, physical presence to better facilitate grocery delivery. It partnered with AllRecipes for shoppable grocery lists and launched an in-home delivery service. And, oh by the way, it just sold tens of millions of Alexa devices this past holiday to make ordering that much easier. But the interesting thing won’t be what existing markets Jeff Bezos and company will exert its influence over, but entirely new categories Amazon will create (visual recognition in your garden!).

What do you think will be the big stories in 2018? Leave us a comment and share your thoughts below.

Campbell Soups Up Its Healthy Side By Joining the Plant Based Foods Association

The Campbell Soup Company just announced its intent to join the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), a trade group representing the $3.1 billion plant-based foods sector.

The announcement follows Campbell’s decision earlier this year to leave the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a move mainly driven by conflicts over GMO labeling on products.

It’s one of several moves the soup giant has taken over the last few years in terms of answering consumer demand for healthier, more sustainable food products. In 2012, Campbell acquired Bolthouse Farms, and it has also moved into selling cold-pressed juices.

Meanwhile, the PBFA’s chief aim is to “ensure a fair and competitive marketplace for businesses selling plant-based foods.” Its member list is currently 88 companies strong and includes brands like Tofurky, New Wave Foods, and 22 Days Nutrition.

Campbell is the first major food company to join PBFA. It’s an obvious win for the plant-based foods sector, which grew 8.1 percent over the last year. The inclusion of a major food brand on its roster could also give the organization extra strength when it comes to opposing things like The Dairy Pride Act, which wants to ban non-dairy products like soymilk from using terms like “milk” and “yoghurt” on their labels.

That said, a lot of Campbell products wouldn’t qualify as “healthy” by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, under its Bolthouse brand, the company now manufactures plant-based milk. But Campbell also makes Goldfish crackers and packs extremely large amounts of sodium into its soups. It’s rather doubtful that joining the PBFA will change any of those types of products anytime soon. Rather, Campbell appears to be stressing the idea of consumer choice. As Campbell Fresh president Ed Carolan recently stated, “Working together with the Plant Based Foods Association, we can advance our shared goal of bringing more plant-based foods to consumers.”

So is the move to PBFA true commitment from Campbell to cleaner eating and more sustainable food production? Or is it just a case of a major food manufacturer dabbling in a particularly hot trend?

It’s probably both. In an ideal world, any major food manufacturer would make such moves out of pure principle and concern over consumer welfare. In reality, Campbell is a business, and businesses need to move products. More and more consumers are seeking healthier options for meals and snacks than ever before, and I can think of worse bandwagons to jump on in order to keep Wall Street happy.

Ultimately, it’s the products themselves that will tell us the most. Campbell will need more than just plant-based milk to convince us of its commitment to clean eating. I could see the company acquiring more brands like Bolthouse in the future, or working to reinvent some concepts around packaged snacks like Goldfish crackers.

If nothing else, the move will further fuel conversation about the role major food brands play in consumers’ lives and how much responsibility they should assume in terms of making healthy foods widely available. In this area, at least, Campbell’s has taken way bigger steps than most.

Image courtesy of flickr.