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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Halla Raises $4.5M for Its Food Recommendation Platform

Halla, the AI-powered production recommendation service for grocery retail, announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in Series A1 funding, led by Food Retail Ventures. This brings the total amount raised by Halla to $8.5 million.

Halla’s platform integrates with a grocer’s existing digital commerce solution to provide customized product recommendations and substitutions for out of stock items to consumers. But Halla’s platform doesn’t just rely on previous purchases to make its recommendations. The company says it uses more than 100 billion shopper and product data points to predict what a shopper is looking for. Halla’s product video embedded below illustrates how Halla’s the system looks at all kinds of data about a shopper as it makes a recommendation in real time.

Grocery has been the beneficiary of a ton of funding this year, with $10 billion going into the sector as of July this year. Most of of the funding and attention has been around speedy grocery delivery services, but money has been doled out to startups working up and down the grocery stack. Hungryroot, and online grocer that uses machine learning for predictive recommendations, raised $40 million last month. In April, Trax raised $640 million for its computer vision-based inventory management system, and Shelf Engine raised $41 million for its perishable inventory management platform.

A big reason for all this money flowing into grocery is the pandemic. Fears around COVID-19 sent record amounts of people into online grocery shopping last year, creating new logistical and fulfillment issues for retailers. But the pandemic also highlighted flaws in our existing grocery supply chain, as evidenced by the panic hoarding and empty shelves that happened at the beginning of the outbreak. All of this is to say there are a bunch of new issues for grocery retailers to solve post-pandemic, which means plenty of opportunities for startups.

Halla said that a “top-5 U.S. grocer” is currently running Halla in more than 1,100 e-commerce storefronts. Halla will use the new funding to double the number of stores it’s in, and double its headcount by 2022.

Mmuze Expands its AI-Powered Voice Shopping Platform to Groceries

Though we have a number of Amazon and Google voice assistants scattered throughout my house, the only shopping we’ve ever done is when my 8 year old son once ordered hot chocolate via Alexa, mostly because he thought it was neat. And my family isn’t a fringe case, voice shopping has been slow to take off with surveys showing people are concerned about privacy, order accuracy, or are just not interested in buying stuff by speaking (raises hand).

Mmuze (pronounced “M-uze”) is looking to change all that with its conversational AI technology that allows retailers to offer shopping by voice or text. The company has been working with retailers like Jordache and Perry Ellis and today announced that it is expanding into grocery. Through Mmuze’s APIs, grocery stores can offer voice/text shopping through their own mobile app, web site or smart speaker app/skill.

“The problem with most voice technologies happening today,” Ran Zfoni, CEO and co-founder of Mmuze told me by phone, “is they are not designed for retail, so they are generic. They intend to solve many different cases.”

To challenge this generic approach, Zfoni told me that the first thing Mmuze does is create a domain expertise around a particular vertical. “A shopping dialogue for pasta is not the same as ordering an Uber,” Zfoni said.

There are two parts to obtaining this domain expertise. First is the basic level of understanding a grocer’s catalog of products. What they are, how much they cost, different brands, etc. The second layer is bringing in data from the social web to understand how people are using these products to better understand a shopper’s intent.

For example, a shopper could be ordering hot dogs, hamburgers and buns, so Mmuze’s chatbot will ask if they are hosting a barbeque because it understands that those items are often used at cookouts. If they are, Mmuze can then suggest other items such as charcoal, or it can access your purchase history to see if you want to re-order particular items.

Additionally, Mmuze can also act as a regular shopping list. The technology can work across platforms so you could add to your list of groceries to get throughout the day as you remember or run out, no matter what platform you are using. You can then complete your purchase and have the groceries ready for pick up or delivery.

Mmuze for Grocers

AI-powered recommendations is a hot topic right now. Halla is another startup using machine learning to make better recommendations for grocery retail apps. While it’s a different type of retail, over in the fast food world, Clinc raised $52 million last month for its conversational AI for drive-throughs, and earlier this year McDonald’s bought Dynamic Yield to have their menus make smarter recommendations.

Founded in 2014, the Tel-Aviv-based Mmuze started as part of a Microsoft accelerator and was also part of the eBay Innovation Lab. The company has raised $4 million in funding. According to Zfoni, Mmuze is focused on the U.S. and Europe and is working with unnamed grocery retailers in tests. Mmuze will have a usage-based pricing model, but didn’t disclose any specifics at this time.

If Mmuze’s technology works as promised, perhaps it could give voice shopping a shot in the arm. But the biggest barrier to getting grocers to adopt the technology could be the grocers themselves. As Trung Nguyen, VP of eCommerce for Albertsons said at our recent Articulate food automation summit, the retailers don’t just want great technology, they also want easy implementation. If Mmuze can get that piece as well, then they’ll definitely have something to talk about.

McDonald’s Acquires Dynamic Yield to Make Menus More Netflix-y

McDonald’s announced today that it has acquired personalization platform Dynamic Yield to make the fast food giant’s menus more technologically dynamic. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources told TechCrunch the price was more than $300 million.

According to the press announcement:

McDonald’s will utilize this decision technology to provide an even more personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items. The decision technology can also instantly suggest and display additional items to a customer’s order based on their current selections.

So it’s kinda like a Netlix, only it recommends Big Macs and chicken nuggets.

Mickey D’s said the technology had already been tested in several locations last year and will roll out at drive throughs in the U.S. throughout 2019. Additionally, the technology will be integrated into other customer screen experiences like in-store kiosks and mobile web app as well.

This type of dynamically generated content is one of the strengths of electronic menus as it can present and potentially better upsell items it knows people typically buy. McD’s can also make the purchasing process more efficient (i.e. present breakfast items prominently in the morning) to ideally sell more stuff.

No doubt a behemoth like McDonald’s acquiring Dynamic Yield will speed up adoption of advanced ordering and personalization tech, and spur others in the space to do the same (that is, if McDonald’s can get its franchisees on board).

In fact, drive throughs and kiosk ordering have already been experiencing a bit of a renaissance with QSRs. Long John Silver invested heavily in revamping its drive throughs as it looks towards fully automating the experience. Good Times Burger & Frozen Custard in Colorado is using AI to take customers’ drive through orders. And in-store ordering kiosks at Caliburger let you pay with your face.

Based in New York, Dynamic Yield had raised $83.3 million dollars.

“The Hookup” Matches You with Your Ideal Coffee Bean Mate

Finding a soulmate can be hard — but what about finding your coffee soulmate? A new app from Trade Coffee Co. wants to help java lovers of all stripes discover the coffee of their dreams.

Dubbed “The Hookup” (cringe), the service starts by asking users answer 6 basic questions about their coffee experience level, preferred brew method, desired roast level, and coffee order (black, cream, sugar, etc.). As a snobby ex-barista, I was surprised to see the option for ground coffee (grind it yourself, guys!), but hey — I guess can’t blame Trade for trying to capture a wider audience.

After submitting their answers, users get a custom coffee recommendation from one of 50 different roasters. They can either purchase the coffee through Trade, or sign up for a subscription service which will deliver tailored coffee options ever 7, 14, or 21 days. All coffees cost between $12 and $20 — pretty average for specialty brews — and shipping is free. After tasting the coffee, users can submit feedback to the Hookup, which will then adjust their profile and inform future coffee shipments.

Photo: Trade Coffee Co.

Based on my answers, I was recommended an Ethiopian coffee from San Francisco-based roaster Sightglass as “The One.” The beans are $19, which is on the high side but not unusual for specialty coffee. After entering in my payment information Trade Coffee Co. offered me the option to let something called “Probot” manage my next order and give me recommendations and shipping updates over text.

In addition to coffee beans, Trade Coffee Co. also sells coffee brewing equipment and offers how-to tutorials for a variety of brew methods, from French Press to Pourover. Interestingly, in researching this article I discovered that the site is owned by JAB Holding, the coffee-hungry corporation which also lays claim to Peet’s, Intelligensia (which is prominently featured on the Trade site, hm…), Keurig and Panera, among others. Trade offers a new channel for JAB to reach haute coffee consumers, and also draws in more customers with its promise of curation and personalization.

In that way, The Hookup puts me in mind of wine discovery and recommendation apps, such as Wine-Searcher and Vivino. Like wine, specialty coffee can be intimidating — not everyone knows exactly which roast they like, or what country produces their favorite single origin. The Hookup is an easy, fun way to discover some new coffee beans in a super low-touch way.

While its services might be a bit scattershot and “mainstream” for true coffee connoisseurs — and a bit pricey for those who just drink it for the caffeine — I’d say The Hookup is actually a pretty helpful service for the majority of java drinkers (silly name aside). It would be a great service for people who want to up their coffee game but aren’t sure how to start, or those who already like specialty coffee but don’t want to spend the time or energy seeking it out.

If you’re curious about how technology is changing the way we grow, source, discover, and drink coffee, don’t miss Nate Gilliland of Bellwether Coffee’s solo talk at the Smart Kitchen Summit this October, entitled “From Soil to Sip: Disruptions in the Coffee Value Chain.” Get your tickets here!