Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Podcast

Food Tech News Show: Blackbird Launches Pay, DoorDash Delivers Big Numbers

This week on the Food Tech News Show, we are joined by Kristen Hawley, long-time restaurant tech journalist who writes for Fast Company, Eater and her own site, Expedite.

The Food Tech News Show

Blackbird Launches Blackbird Pay

This week, Blackbird, founded by Resy and Eater’s Ben Leventhal, launched Blackbird Pay. Blackbird is a blockchain-based guest loyalty and payments platform designed to better connect restaurants and diners. Diners can use the app to pay at participating restaurants with stored credit card information or loyalty points, and Blackbird charges a 2% processing fee per transaction, lower than standard restaurant POS systems.

Andrew Simmons Ends Pizza Automation Experiment

Andrew Simmons announced the end of his Pizza Roboto project after investing over $300K. His post on Linkedin details the challenges he faced around spinning up new locations and the mixed success of his pizza subscription plan. This news coincides with RestoGPT launching a pizza subscription program based on Simmons’ plan.

DoorDash Sees Digital Orders Surge Despite Industry Headwinds

Amid financial pressures, DoorDash reported a 19% year-over-year increase in total orders and a 23% rise in revenue in its Q2 2024 earnings report. The company noted that digital ordering remains resilient compared to declines in other restaurant industry channels.

Yum Brands to Expand Voice AI Across Taco Bell Locations

Yum! Brands announced plans to expand Voice AI technology to hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thrus in the U.S. by the end of 2024, with future global implementation across KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Currently in over 100 Taco Bell locations, the company believes the technology will enhance operations, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times.

Amazon Unveils New Just Walk Out AI Model

Amazon revealed details of its new AI model powering the Just Walk Out platform, despite removing the feature from Fresh stores earlier this year, indicating the platform’s continued development and potential.

You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,, or by clicking play below. Don’t forget to like, rate, and review!

The Food Tech News Show: Gene-Edited Tomatoes & Rethinking Robots Restaurants

On this week’s episode of the Food Tech News Show, longtime podcaster, former host of NPR Marketplace, and all-around nice person Molly Wood joins Carlos and Mike to discuss the food tech stories of the week.

Here are the stories covered in this week’s show:

Tune in to The Spoon’s new dedicated weekly Food Tech News Show! You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can just click play below!

The Food Tech News Show: Food Tech Funding Down in 1H 2024

The Spoon has launched a new podcast!

As listeners of the Spoon Podcast know, it’s been both a long-form interview show and a news show. Since those who listen to interviews aren’t always the same as those who want their weekly dose of food tech news, we thought a dedicated news show made sense.

Meet the Food Tech News Show podcast! You can subscribe to the new The Food Tech News Show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, iHeart Radio, and via RSS.

On this episode, Michael Wolf and Carlos Rodela welcome Peter Bodenheimer, a longtime food tech investor and operator, to discuss the current state of food and ag tech funding. In this episode, they delve into:

Tune in to The Spoon’s new dedicated weekly food tech news show!

Those who would like to watch the video version of the show can check it out below.

The Food Tech News Show

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.

From Smart Toasters to Cookbox Mash-ups: The Story of Revolution Cooking

If you follow food Instagram or TikTok, chances are you’ve seen the touchscreen toaster from Revolution Cooking over the past couple of years. The company made a name for itself by creating the world’s most high-end, tech-enabled toaster, and just this past CES, it announced its second-generation toaster with Wi-Fi.

The CEO of Revolution, Tom Klaff, never thought he’d make toasters for a living. As a long-time tech entrepreneur, Klaff has spent his career building education software and telecom companies, but one day, his business partner Bruce Levenson told him about an idea for a new type of toaster, one with a new approach to heating the bread. Wanting to learn more about the toaster business, Klaff went to the housewares show in Chicago and saw that every bread crisper used the same type of heating element that’s been used for most of the past century.

When he returned from Chicago, he told Bruce he was in, but that he wanted to think bigger than just toasters. Tom thought that the heating technology, which combines infrared heating with algorithmic cooking optimization for specific types of food, could not only help create a new type of toaster but could also be applied to ovens. In other words, the heating technology could be a platform.

In this conversation with Tom, you can hear the entire story of Revolution, from those early days when they decided to add a touchscreen to his meeting with Oprah to this January’s launch of the company’s first non-toaster product, a countertop cookbox mashup of an appliance called the Macrowave.

Click play below to listen or hear our conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast: Overcoming Obstacles To Build Kitchen Tech Hardware With Ovie’s Ty Thompson

Ty Thompson and the rest of the Ovie team recently passed a major milestone: They shipped their first hardware product.

The product, a consumer food waste management system, was over half a decade in the making. Along the way to market, the founding team faced numerous challenges around funding, finalizing the product concept and design, building prototypes for manufacturing, and finding the right manufacturer to work with.

Ty talks about all of these challenges and the lessons learned, including:

  • Battling mission creep around the product’s vision
  • How to find the right minimum viable product to get it into production
  • What you need to do (and what you shouldn’t do) when looking to find the right manufacturing partner
  • How to balance your life and your day job while hustling to build a startup

And much more!

You can listen to the full episode by clicking play below or you can find it in the usual podcast spaces such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Podcast: Why Are CPG Brands Freaking Out About Ozempic?

On this week’s Spoon Podcast, SuperGut CEO Marc Washington joins me to talk about why new GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy keep CPG brand CEOs up at night.

These new drugs, which got their start as a new class of pharmaceuticals that help control type 2 diabetes, have become very popular in recent years as weight loss miracle drug. They are hugely effective in suppressing appetites and reducing the overall calorie intake of those taking them, so much so that some speculate that they could have a significant impact on the overall demand for food if, as predicted, tens of millions begin to take them in coming years as prices come down and they become available in more accessible formats. 

Marc’s company, SuperGut, creates a natural alternative to GLP-1 drugs in the form of supplements, snacks and bars. His journey to become CEO of SuperGut was born out of a personal loss and a chance meeting with Dave Friedberg, the CEO of The Production Board. 

You can listen to our conversation by clicking below, downloading to your device, or heading over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Podcast: The Anti-Tech Grocery Store & Food Tech News of the Week

The Spoon Podcast is back after a summer hiatus with a food tech news wrap-up discussing some of the most interesting stories of the week!

In this episode, Spoon contributor Allen Weiner and I talk about:

You can listen to the full episode by clicking below or by finding The Spoon Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! And while you’re at it, do us a favor and leave us a review!

As mentioned in the show, the Spoon is once again leading the charge for food tech at CES, the world’s biggest tech show. If you are interested in showcasing your future food or food tech innovation, head over to The Spoon’s CES page for more info.

Also, on October 25th, we’ll be bringing leaders at the intersection of food and AI together for a day of conversation. Please use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets to the Food AI Summit.

Podcast: How One Operator is Reinventing His Restaurant With Technology

When Andrew Simmons decided to buy a restaurant in January 2020, little did the long-time entrepreneur know that in just a few months, he would be forced to close his doors due to COVID. 

But instead of giving up, he knew he had to get creative to survive. Survive he did, and when he reopened his doors, he kept tinkering, trying to figure out how new technology could make his restaurant more efficient. 

Andrew’s been an open book during the process, open-sourcing his learning as he navigates his journey via posts on Linkedin and a blog. He shares what works and what doesn’t, providing a potential blueprint for other operators thinking about how technology could change their business. 

During this podcast, Andrew and Mike talk about:

  • How the installation of a pizza robot from Picnic completely changed how he does business
  • How one piece of game-changing technology, like a pizza robot, forces other changes and adoption of new technology throughout the restaurant’s workflow
  • The impact of new technology on his unit price for pizzas 
  • How analytics software helped him realize his dine-in business was not profitable and how it changed his thinking about how he ran his restaurant
  • How he was forced to rethink how he used employees through the use of technology and how the employees (and former employees) have reacted
  • His pizza subscription concept and how he believes it can help him pay for opening new restaurants
  • Andrew’s plans to launch a 100-unit restaurant chain built using off-the-shelf restaurant technology

If you are considering using technology such as robotics for your restaurant, this episode is a must-listen! You can listen to the conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or click play below.

Podcast: Talking AI & Food With Evan Rapoport

In this week’s podcast, we talk food and AI with Evan Rapoport.

Over the past decade, Evan has led teams in Google Research and other organizations, looking at how AI could impact biodiversity and change. During our conversation, we talked about a project called Tidal, in which he and Google used AI technology like computer vision and applied it to aquaculture, and discussed the impact of AI more broadly on the food system and how Evan thinks newer technology, like generative AI, might have an impact sooner than we think on the world of food.

You can find the full conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, or just click play below!

Podcast: Becoming a Kitchen Tech Reviewer With Wired’s Joe Ray

In this week’s episode of the Spoon Podcast, we catch up with Wired’s Joe Ray.

Here at The Spoon, we’re fans of Joe’s kitchen tech reviews, where he cuts through all marketing blather and hyped-up features and tells the reader exactly why he or she should (or shouldn’t) buy a product. 

In this episode, we take a look back at how Joe got started in food, why he picked up one day and went to France to become a writer, his tutelage under the famous restaurant reviewer François Simon, and his approach to kitchen technology journalism.

We also talk about the current state of kitchen tech, the smart kitchen, and where we see it all going.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking play below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SideChef’s Kevin Yu Eyes Next Phase of Growth After Raising a $6 Million Series B

I first encountered SideChef’s CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At the time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded just a couple of months prior, and I was beginning to explore kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.

In November, Yu traveled to Seattle to participate in the inaugural Summit and subsequently became a regular attendee at SKS events. After some time had passed since our last catch-up, I invited Yu onto the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and inquire about his vision for its future.

I first encountered SideChef’s CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At the time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded just a couple of months prior, and I was beginning to explore kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.

In November, Yu traveled to Seattle to participate in the inaugural Summit and subsequently became a regular attendee at SKS events. After some time had passed since our last catch-up, I invited Yu onto the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and inquire about his vision for its future.

Originally, SideChef was a recipe app designed to assist users with cooking. In those initial years, SideChef and similar companies like Innit and Drop/Fresco concentrated on connecting various appliances and developing a tech-driven guidance system for kitchen use.

“We started as just a recipe app to teach a person how to cook,” said Yu. “But then that grew out, and it was like, ‘Hey, wait for a second’, we can help you with not just how to cook, but we can also help you with meal planning, we can help you get your groceries, we can connect that into a smart kitchen device and make that automatic as well, too.”

As SideChef formed partnerships with appliance brands, retailers and CPG brands also expressed interest in connecting and digitizing the shopping experience. This interest intensified with the onset of the pandemic. Consequently, Yu and SideChef focused on shoppable recipes, as it was a more straightforward revenue generation method.

“I think shoppable recipes themselves are just the tip of the iceberg,” Yu commented. “We sent out over 3 million online orders to our retail partners last year through this experience.”

The company plans to use its new funding to leverage the infrastructure it has developed over the past decade. Image recognition technology is one area that could help them do this, as it has potential applications across the entire food ecosystem, from inventory management to automating cooking settings on smart kitchen appliances.

“We believe image recognition is a catalyst-type technology that we hope to continuously build upon the partnerships that we have,” Yu stated.

I’ve been somewhat down on the smart kitchen recently, as it seems companies—especially big brands—have not been innovative. When I asked Yu his thoughts about this, he acknowledged the issue but attributed it to a normal stage in market evolution.

“I think part of the plateau you’ve observed is because some companies, after taking their first swing, have felt that it’s not worth it to try again right now,” said Yu. “Maybe they don’t want to be the leader in this area. Or maybe they don’t have a confident route or sometimes even a confident group to be able to leave those charges internally.”

Despite the obstacles encountered by some players in the smart kitchen industry, Yu remains optimistic about the future of smart kitchen innovation.

“This is about unlocking the value and entering the next chapter, which is where most of this additional investment funding will be directed,” Yu said.

You can hear my full conversation with Yu below.