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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Tech-Powered Retail is Flourishing in the Food Industry. Everywhere Else, Not So Much

When B8ta launched in 2015, I loved the idea. What wasn’t there to like about a highly experiential, tech-powered retail concept where consumers could try out cool new gadgets and companies could get invaluable early feedback about their products?

The same with Amazon Books, which opened the same year. I mean, sure, it almost seemed cruel that the dominant e-tailer was going to head to head with Barnes & Noble on their turf, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t intrigued to see how the tech giant might rethink physical goods retail.

Fast forward to this year, and within the span of a couple weeks, we’ve learned both B8ta and Amazon Books are closing their doors.

Contrast this with the world of food retail. Everyone from Amazon to Walmart to upstarts like Nourish & Bloom are employing cutting-edge technology like AI, robotics, and more to power new food shopping experiences. So why is it that tech-powered food retail is flourishing while other retail concepts seem to struggle?

Part of it may be due to changing consumer habits post-COVID. B8ta founder Vibhu Norby talked about this when explaining the company’s struggles with Modern Retail:

“Although foot traffic began to tick back up, “a lot of specialty retailers like us, we had a much slower recovery curve,” Norby said. “A lot of landlords – they were looking at percentages, looking at averages…trying to determine who they should give concessions to.” 

That slower-than-expected recovery led the company to close 15 of its stores roughly a year ago to cut costs, even though b8ta was still on the hook for leases. “We didn’t really have a choice…part of the plan was to negotiate settlements of different types with the landlords,” Norby said. Eight stores in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Texas remained open. 

In other words, physical goods retail had struggled for years and COVID just made things much worse, killing walk-in traffic during the worst part of the pandemic and permanently reducing traffic during the long and slow recovery.

Another big reason is that most retail industries outside of food have already been cannibalized by e-commerce. Items like books and electronics, which is pretty much all Amazon Books sold. Of course, it has to be noted that Amazon itself is as responsible for the death of physical goods retail as anyone, all of which makes the Amazon Books concept seem something of a self-indulgent thought experiment. But thought experiment or not, it does say something that a company as inventive and tech-forward company as Amazon couldn’t make physical retail work.

Finally, it may have a lot to do with how entrenched physical retail food shopping is, even two years into a period of massive growth for online grocery shopping. The reality is that even after grandma and grandpa finally tried Instacart, most people, young and old, continue to shop for some or all of their groceries at their local store. That’s for many reasons, whether it’s the difficulty of selling fresh food online or the last-minute nature of many dinner plans. Still, I imagine the biggest reason is this: Consumers like to see, touch, smell, and taste the food before buying it.

I still think there’s a future for new retail concepts, but potential operators should tread carefully and make sure it’s not an industry where consumers can easily buy the product on Amazon or elsewhere.

And, if possible, sell some food.

Carrefour Teams With AiFi to Launch Cashierless Convenience Store in Paris

French retail giant Carrefour announced today the company has teamed up with AiFi, a maker of machine-vision powered checkout tech, to launch a cashierless convenience store called Carrefour Flash.

Unlike Amazon Go or other cashierless platforms that require an app, smart shopping basket, or biometric check-in, AiFi’s technology utilizes a network of cameras on the retailer’s ceiling that monitors a shopper as they move through the store and pick items up off the shelves for purchase. The computer vision’s AI creates a keypoint tracking system that creates a unique digital avatar for each customer. The system identifies each avatar by measuring the unique distance between the customer’s elbow and their hand. Because the system doesn’t require a unique biometric identifier such as a palm, facial or retinal scan, it ensures customer privacy despite using biometric tracking.

As the customer picks up items around the store, the AiFi system creates a virtual shopping cart. The system utilizes a network of 60 HD cameras and over 2000 sensors built into store shelves to track a shopper’s activity and assign it to their avatar. Once done, the customer walks up to a payment terminal to see their shopping basket and total bill within a few seconds.

This move by Carrefour is just the latest example of a retailer embracing tech that frees shoppers of checking out via a cashier. The wave of cashierless shopping formats, which kicked off in earnest with Amazon’s launch of their Amazon Go store in Seattle in early 2018, has only picked up steam over the past year and a half. One reason for the surging interest is the growing expectation from customers for low-contact ways to shop during the pandemic. The other primary driver is persistent labor shortages as food retailers deal with the high turnover of frontline workers; cashierless store concepts give them a way to operate without hiring and training new cashiers.

The Carrefour innovation team incubated and fine-tuned the new concept over the past year at the company’s headquarters in Massy, France. At launch, the new Paris store will have a total of 900 items for sale.

You can get a sneak peek of Carrefour Flash in the video below:

AiFi x Carrefour: Shopping in a flash with Carrefour Flash 10/10

Cooler Screens Expanding its Dynamic Screens to Stores Nationally

Cooler Screens, the company that turns the doors of grocery coolers and freezers into full-motion display screens, is expanding outside of Chicago to more stores across the U.S. AdWeek first reported the news last week, but since we are halfway through the year, the story seemed like a good opportunity to check in on one of my food tech predictions for 2021.

Back in December of 2020 I predicted that grocery and convenience stores would become more like Vegas, thanks to big, bright screens from companies like Cooler Screens and AWM Smart Shelf. Cooler Screens raised $80 million from the likes of Verizon Ventures and Microsoft in October of 2020 and at that time had its technology up and running in 50 Walgreens stores across the Chicago area.

Cooler Screens had planned on rolling out its screens to 1,400 Walgreens this year, but as the company told AdWeek, those expansion plans were delayed because of pandemic-related production issues. Having said that, the company has already expanded its presence to 100 stores across a number of different U.S. cities. In addition to Walmart, Cooler Screens has also signed up CVS and Kroger as customers. With the expansions, Cooler Screens anticipates 50 million shoppers will engage with its screens by early August.

The appeal of technology like Cooler Screens and AWM Smart Shelf is pretty straightforward. These screens and displays turn otherwise dead real estate into dynamic ad spaces. Why have a plain ole see through glass cooler door when you could display what’s inside on a screen alongside sales promotions, upselling on complementary items (get a pizza with that soda!), and full-motion ads that can generate additional revenue?

While 50 million shoppers is a lot of eyeballs, given Cooler Screens’ delay, I don’t think our grocery and drug stores will become the flashing, Vegas-like showrooms as I had predicted. I still believe this technology will continue to proliferate, but I might have to bump my prediction timeline to 2022.

Beyond Meat Boosts European Retail Presence

Plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat announced today that it is bolstering its presence at retail stores across Europe this spring.

In its press announcement, Beyond said that its products are already available at roughly 122,000 retail and foodservice outlets in more than 80 countries around the world. The new European distribution includes:

United Kingdom – Beyond Meat products recently launched in Sainbury’s and Waitrose, and will be available in 445 new retail stores throughout the UK.

Germany – Beyond Meat will be expanding its product offerings in more than 1,000 new retail stores via Kaufland, Tegut, Famila, and Real.

Austria – Beyond Mince will be available in nearly 1,500 new retail stores including SPAR, BILLA and BILLA PLUS.

Switzerland – Beyond Meat will be distributed to 155 Migros stores.

The Netherlands – Last month, Beyond Mince started selling through nearly 1,000 Albert Heijn and Jumbo stores.

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of a report last week Beyond’s chief rival, Impossible Foods, is preparing to go public this year. Impossible has yet to enter the European market, as regulators there raised flags over its use of soy leghemoglobin (heme). Beyond Meat is already publicly traded and its European expnsion will help solidify its first-mover position over there before Impossible potentially ramps up its own global ambitions after any IPO.

Beyond Meat has been making some big moves all around this year. In addition to its retail expansion in Europe, the company recently opened up a manufacturing facility in China, the company’s first outside of the U.S. Beyond also signed a big global distribution deals with McDonald’s and Yum Brands.

Trax Raises $640M for its Computer Vision-based Grocery Inventory Management

Trax, a computer vision company that helps physical retailers and CPG companies with inventory management, announced today that it has raised a $640 million Series E round of funding. The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and funds management by existing investor BlackRock. Other investors include OMERS and Sony Innovation Fund by IGV. This brings the total amount of funding raised by Trax to more than $1 billion.

The Trax system uses a combination of camera installations, shelf-scanning robots and computer vision to monitor products on store shelves. Product Images are sent to Trax’s cloud-based machine learning system to analyze and identify when inventory is low on store shelves, or when items are misplaced.

Trax is also used by CPG companies to help them audit store shelves to ensure they are getting the placement they paid for.

Trax, which launched its Retail Watch service in the U.S. back in October of 2020, isn’t the only company using computer vision to help stores manage inventory. Cashierless checkout systems like Grabango and Trigo promise similar, constant shelf monitoring and visibility through camera installations and advanced computer vision. And robots from Simbe and Bossa Nova offer less installation-intensive solutions.

Trax is certainly striking while the funding iron is hot. Grocery related startups have raised a bunch of money in 2021. In addition to the raft of grocery delivery startups that have secured big raises, companies that are helping physical grocery retailers are also raking in cash. Stor.AI, which helps grocers deploy online shopping services, and Shelf Engine, which helps grocers with inventory forecasting, both raised significant rounds last month.

How Tech is Putting the Convenience Back in Convenience Stores

It’s hard to believe now, but back when I was a kid, going to 7-Eleven was a treat. It was like destination shopping. Where else could you get a Slurpee in a commemorative Star Trek cup, a pack of baseball cards and a box of nerds?

What I can buy at a convenience store like 7-Eleven may not hold sway over me any more, but as a technology reporter, the ways I can get convenience store items now is something I’m paying attention to.

Like every other retail sector, convenience has had a rocky year thanks to COVID-19. According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, for the two-week period ending Sept. 27, dollar sales at convenience stores were up 4.8 percent year-over-year, but overall trips to convenience stores were down 12.6 percent. Beer and packaged beverages drove most of that growth, while foodservice remained depressed.

That traffic to convenience stores is down is not a big surprise. I mean, people aren’t exactly road tripping a lot during this pandemic. The pandemic also explains the boost in beer sales, as we could all use a drink.

But the convenience sector is responding to these troubled times with what appears to be an accelerated wave of innovation. Consider:

Convenience stores are ramping up delivery.
Third party delivery services like Instacart and DoorDash both now offer delivery from convenience stores. Heck, DoorDash is building its own ghost convenience stores. 7-Eleven is making a concerted push into pickup and delivery, even making deliveries to parks and beaches.

Convenience stores are going cashless.
Mastercard recently announced a partnership with Accel Robotics to deploy cashierless tech at retail, and Circle K is among the first customers. Giant Eagle’s GetGo Market+Cafe is using Grabango for a cashierless location. A startup called Skip is focused on convenience stores for its cashierless checkout. And, of course, Amazon Gos continue to roll out across the country.

Smaller, cashierless convenience stores create new opportunities.
Because they can operate without humans, you are seeing diminutive convenience stores pop up with smaller footprints. AWM Smart Shelf is powering a convenience store built into an apartment complex. And the Zippin Cube let’s retail brands create pop-up convenience stores inside places like stadiums.

At the end of the day, all of these technologies are putting more convenience in convenience stores. I can have quick items brought to my home (or park). The ability to walk in, grab what you want and leave without standing in a line will speed transactions up. And smaller stores will be pushed into smaller places in more locations. It all adds up to a pretty fast evolution of that entire category.

Now I just wish they would bring back more of those commemorative cups.

WaitTime’s New Crowd Management Tools Could Help Stadiums Re-Open

It’s only now that there is serious talk of re-starting some professional sports. What that looks like remains to be seen, but one thing is pretty certain: we won’t be jamming tens of thousands of people together in one place to cheer on a team, at least not right away. Any return to “normal” will be gradual and start with way fewer people, all of whom will need to be kept appropriately socially distant. To help with this slow re-opening, WaitTime has developed two new tools to help building administrators manage crowds of people.

Spoon aficionados might remember WaitTime as the company that makes what is basically a Waze for concession stand lines. But with stadiums closed, there hasn’t been much need to find the shortest line for hot dogs.

So the company has introduced two new products: one that calculates how many people are in a certain space, and one that maps out crowd densities in different parts of a building.

Using a ceiling mounted camera, computer vision and AI, WaitTime can tell building staff how many people are entering and exiting a particular space like the bathroom (the camera is only mounted on the outside of the exits, not in the bathroom itself). It may sound odd, but the number of people allowed into a bathroom at a given time could be regulated going forward to help maintain space and stymie the spread of infection. If too many people enter, building staff can temporarily stop access to that particular spot.

The other new WaitTime tool analyzes live footage from CCTV cameras already installed at a location to create heat maps of crowd density. This can help building managers figure out where too many people are gathering too close and take appropriate measures.

As you can imagine, these crowd management tools could find a life outside of stadiums and into our everyday experiences, like the grocery store. We already saw supermarkets limit the number of people allowed in a store at any given time during this pandemic, and if we need to do so again, WaitTime’s software could automate keeping track of how many people are shopping at once.

“We have a lot of interest from grocery stores and retailers,” WaitTime Founder and CEO, Zack Klima told me by phone this week, “Because everything has to do with occupancy tracking.”

As states start to open up, we’re seeing how you can’t necessarily trust the wisdom of the crowd. But with WaitTime’s new products, stadiums and other gathering spaces can be wise about any crowds they do attract.

We Tried the Plant-based Chicken Nuggets from High Tech Startup Rebellyous

Even though I technically have more time to cook during quarantine, there are some days when my motivation to scrounge up a meal is exactly zero. On those days, I turn to my freezer — frozen burritos, pre-made meals, and ravioli are always ready to go when I need them. Now I have a new staple to add to my freezer: plant-based chicken nuggets from Rebellyous Foods.

If you’re not familiar, Rebellyous is a plant-based meat company that’s reinventing manufacturing technology to make meat alternatives more scalable. After launching in 2017, the Seattle-based startup began selling its first product, a plant-based chicken nugget, to hospital and office cafeterias.

But with COVID-19 essentially closing down their marketplace, Rebellyous quickly pivoted to begin offering its nuggets on retail shelves. Last week the vegan nuggets hit the freezer sections of several small retailers in the Seattle area. A pack of 30 nuggets costs $5.99. The plant-based nuggets have a protein content comparable to regular chicken nuggets and are meant to be just as easy to prepare — whether in a corporate dining hall or a home kitchen.

A bag of Rebellyous plant-based nuggets. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

This week I was able to put that assertion to the test when I received a sample of Rebellyous’ frozen nuggets. I reached for the nuggets when I was feeling especially hangry, hoping that they wouldn’t take forever to cook. The package suggests three cooking methods: Bake, Pan Fry, or Deep Fry. It explicitly notes not to consume the nuggets raw or microwave them, which I assume would be bad for their texture.

I decided to bake my nuggets. I preheated the oven to 425°F, shook out a some nuggets onto a bare baking sheet, and popped them into the oven. Eight minutes and one flip later, and the nuggets were ready. They did stick to the baking sheet a little bit, so next time I would line the pan with parchment paper.

I’ve tasted Rebellyous’ nuggets before, so I knew what to expect. But in the past they’ve always been prepared by an air fryer; I was skeptical that my oven would provide the same crunchy exterior.

Happily I was wrong. The nuggets had a crisp, crunchy coating and a juicy interior that almost exactly mimics the nuggets I grew up eating in my elementary school cafeteria. It’s almost uncanny. The nuggets were tasty enough that I didn’t even feel the need to use a dipping sauce, though a side of barbecue would have been delicious.

Rebellyous’ nuggets post-bake. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

I just enjoyed one serving, which is six Rebellyous nuggets. One serving has 160 calories, 7 grams of fat and 14 grams of protein (Rebellyous uses wheat protein). The serving didn’t look like a whole lot on my plate, but they actually filled me up quite nicely. Since they have a relatively low calorie and fat count, you could double the serving size or just eat them as a snack.

Rebellyous is certainly heading to retail at an opportune time. Sales of plant-based meats have increased dramatically during the pandemic, as meat prices spike and people search for healthier foods. A handful of plant-based companies have also raised funding over the past few weeks, including Rebellyous itself.

Rebellyous is actually cashing in on three food trends right now: plant-based meat, comfort food, and frozen food. Consumers are looking for food that keeps well, prepares easily, and satisfies. Rebellyous ticks all of those boxes, and has the bonus that it’s kid-friendly (a boon for parents working from home).

I may not be a kid, but after trying them I’m a fan of Rebellyous’ nuggets. The fact that they cook in ten minutes, require no prep, taste satisfying and provide a hearty serving of protein means that they’ve definitely earned a spot in my freezer rotation.

Rebellyous’ nuggets are only available in the Seattle area for now. If you buy a pack, please leave us a comment and let us know what you thought!

JUST Partners with Michael Foods to Grow Foodservice Sales of Plant-based Egg

JUST announced today that it is is expanding the sales footprint of its vegan egg substitute by teaming up with Michael Foods. Michael Foods is a subsidiary of CPG giant Post Holdings and one of the largest processors of value-added eggs in the world.

With the new partnership, Michael Foods will be the sole manufacturer, supplier and distributor of JUST Egg to its existing foodservice and B2B customers — those who already buy Michael Foods’ egg brands, such as Abbotsford Farms and Papetti’s. It will begin to roll out JUST Egg starting this fall in select locations.

Made from mung beans, JUST Egg currently comes in two iterations: a liquid for scrambles, and a pre-cooked folded egg patty. Both are meant to cook up just like a chicken egg and contain comparable protein, with no cholesterol.

According to FoodDive, roughly 90 percent of JUST Egg’s sales in the U.S. come from grocery stores. The Michael Foods partnership will allow JUST to massively expand the foodservice footprint of its plant-based eggs in the U.S. In addition to restaurants, Michael Foods also caters to large venues like cafeterias, hospitals and stadiums.

Photo: JUST Egg

It’s an… interesting time for JUST to juice up its foodservice business, to say the least. Most crowded venues — like concert halls and stadiums — are shut down for the forseeable future and restaurants are operating at reduced capacity, if they’re open at all.

The point of the Michael Foods news is that JUST is putting fuel in its engine to expand rapidly across multiple channels — and geographic regions. Last year the company acquired a factory in Minnesota to increase production. In March they announced a group of new global manufacturing and distributions partners, from South Korea to Colombia. And just last week, the company announced that it was working with Emsland Group, a German leader in plant-based protein ingredients, to help them scale in Europe.

By partnering with Michael Foods, JUST is clearly thinking (far) ahead to pave the way for more sales when major venues and foodservice establishments open again. Some states are slowly opening up restaurants, but large-scale reopenings, especially for big venues like stadiums, seems far on the horizon.

We’ll have to wait and see if JUST’s partnership with Michael Foods pays off post-pandemic.

Impossible Foods Will Be in Nearly 1,000 Retailers Starting Tomorrow

As of tomorrow, you’ll have a lot more opportunities to buy Impossible Foods’ meatless “bleeding” burgers. The company announced via a press conference on Facebook Live today that it will roll out its flagship plant-based beef product to 777 supermarkets in California, Indiana, Illinois and Nevada on April 17. All stores are part of the Albertson’s family, which includes Safeway, Jewel-Osco, and Wegmans. Impossible’s CCO Rachel Konrad noted in the conference that the expansion will put Impossible in almost 1,000 grocery stores nationwide.

This news comes just a few months after Impossible announced a $500 million Series F round — “the largest fundraising round for a food tech company in the history of the world,” according to Konrad. Impossible currently has a total of $1.2 billion in funding.

The plant-based beef will be sold in 12-ounce packages which will cost $8.99 to $9.99, depending on the retailer. Konrad also noted that the product might be available in several different sections of the grocery store — you might find it in the meat section, vegan section, or even the frozen section.

While Impossible has been planning to expand its retail footprint since it first launched in Southern California last fall, it’s no surprise that they’re making a big push now. In fact, Brown stated that the company had actually accelerated the launch in response to the coronavirus. However, he also admitted that COVID-19’s effect on the restaurant industry was challenging for Impossible’s foodservice partners — all 15,000 of them. “It’s been devastating,” Dennis Woodside, the President of Impossible, added.

In an effort to pad sales, Impossible worked with the FDA to allow its restaurant partners to sell uncooked 5-pound bricks of Impossible Foods beef directly to consumers. But that’s a short-term fix, and more a way to help the restaurant augment their sales than anything else.

The time is ripe for Impossible to start concentrating on its grocery presence. “We think retail is going to be a very large business,” said Woodside, noting that the company has added a second line at its manufacturing facility specifically to cater to grocery.

During the conference, Woodside also weighed in on the fact that COVID-19 is also disrupting manufacturing supply chains left and right. Meat production, specifically, has been disrupted by factory shutdowns due to employee sickness. Woodside made a point to contrast that with Impossible’s manufacturing setup, which is automated and therefore “much easier to keep people apart” than in meat processing plants.

Brown also touched on a point that’s been a favorite of alternative meat companies ever since the pandemic hit. He stated that COVID-19 was introduced to the human population through the consumption of wild animals, and that “our reliance on animals as a source of food is not only an environmental disaster… but is at the root of some of the largest public health risks to the human population.”

There’s some pushback against that argument. But one thing that’s not in question, at least for this reporter, is that Impossible burgers are delicious. Sadly since I’m based in Seattle I won’t be able to purchase any Impossible Beef on my next masked grocery run — but at the speed that Impossible is expanding, I have to bet that time isn’t too far away.

Experiential Retailer b8ta Furloughs Workforce, Cuts Corporate Staff Due to Coronavirus

With the exception of grocery, the COVID-19 crisis has hit every retail sector hard as consumers cut back and, in many cases, are forced to stay in due to mandatory shelter-in-place orders.

One of the early casualties of the tsunami is b8ta. The experiential retailer announced this week it would furlough its entire retail workforce and cut its corporate staff in an attempt to weather the storm brought on by coronavirus. The moves, announced in a letter to employees by company CEO Vibhu Norby, were effective last Friday.

In his letter, Norby said furloughed store employees would get paid through March 28 and receive a $1,000 relief checks (part-time employees get $500). Norby also said those corporate employees not laid off would get mandatory pay cuts.

The company’s business consists of both its own flagship retail stores (approximately 25 at the end of 2019) as well as its “retail-as-a-service” platform that powers experiential retail experiences for other retailers such as Macy’s (an investor) and the relaunched Toys R Us.

I’ve always been intrigued by b8ta’s take on retail, which utilizes a model that essentially rents space to product companies (similar to a consignment model) and provides brands granular data about retail customer interactions with their products. Products are often kitchen or food related, such as the Aveine wine aerator or the Hurom slow juicer, and companies such as Thermomix have sometimes used b8ta storefronts as a way to showcase product features and get user feedback.

Norby indicated that b8ta hopes to reopen stores in coming months and welcome back retail employees. The company raised $50 million in funding late last year, so it would appear they have enough of a war chest to weather the coronavirus storm. It’s kinda of a bummer they couldn’t use some of that cash to continue paying its employees past March 28, but it appears the company’s focus is on ensuring its long-term survival by slowing its burn rate through the crisis.

Beyond payroll, the company no doubt has to continue rent payments in upscale retail locations in places such as New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. As well, many of the products sold at b8ta’s own stores are higher-priced, discretionary products, so the company is likely forecasting decreased demand well into 2021 as most consumers deal with financial uncertainty due to the economic fallout from COVID-19.

In a piece of related news, company President and cofounder Phillip Raub announced he would step away from a full-time role at b8ta. He hinted that he has something new he is working on and would share details soon.

Merryfield Raises $3.5 M, Set to Launch App That Rewards Clean Label Purchases

Merryfield, a soon-to-launch app that rewards shoppers with gift cards for buying clean label products, announced this week that it has raised $3.5 million in a seed round.

Merryfield, which will launch on iOS in April, was founded by David Mayer, a former healthcare private equity investor, and Joe Dickson, former director of quality standards at Whole Foods Market. The app curates a list of packaged goods products that meet Merryfield’s set of clean label standards, with participating companies paying membership fees to Merryfield as well as the costs of the points when shoppers buy their products.

The platform is retailer agnostic — all Merryfield users need to do is look at the app for clean label products when shopping and then scan their receipts that include any qualifying purchases. Points will then be added to their accounts that can be used for gift cards from brands such as Adidas, Amazon, Sephora, Starbucks, Target and Whole Foods.

Dickson told The Spoon during a phone interview that Merryfield chose to go the app route instead of a package label sticker because it easily allows shoppers to research products and track shopping lists.

“It takes hours to go down the aisles to figure out what brands people should trust — that’s why we’re here,” he said. “We want to incentivize people to try new brands and for continuing to choose those products. We’re looking to thoughtfully curate the brands and products to focus on the true innovators and standard bearers.”

Merryfield’s appeal to brands is that it can be difficult and expensive for individual companies to create their own loyalty programs, a necessity amid increasing competition and rising customer acquisition costs in the food space, Dickson said. Speaking of members, Merryfield boasts of well known food companies: Applegate Natural & Organic Meats, Beyond Meat, Califia Farms, Good Culture, GoMacro, Health-Ade Kombucha, Justin’s, Once Upon a Farm, Thinksport, RightRice, Stonyfield Organic and Vital Proteins. Merryfield said in a press release it is looking to add six to eight additional brands covering different product categories ahead of its April launch.

Merryfield will eventually be available on Android devices, and Dickson said his team is looking into possibly including ecommerce purchases. The Boston-based 2-year-old startup is a public benefit corporation that donates 1 percent of its sales directly to No Kid Hungry.

The CPG industry is increasingly leaning toward cleaner labels, but as Dickson pointed out, average consumers either have to rely on label claims or conduct their own research to find products that meet their needs. A third party that verifies products may be welcomed by consumers, especially with the promise that their purchases also lead to rewards.