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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

SKS europe

SKS 2018: A Growing Community Accomplishing Big Things

Every year after Smart Kitchen Summit, I do a couple things:

  1. Catch up on sleep.
  2. Process and distill all the insights, conversations and connections made during the past few days.

And this year, with over 600 attendees, 80 speakers and 30 sponsors at our flagship food tech event, there were a whole lot of interesting ideas to digest.

So now that I’ve caught up on sleep, I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned during these action-packed two days.  While I will no doubt continue to connect the dots from the lessons learned last week — and gain additional insights as I watch the videos of the sessions I missed (stay tuned for those!) — here are some early observations about the trends on display at SKS 2018:

Products are shipping

Onlookers check out the second generation June oven

At the first SKS in 2015, many of the early conversations were about next-gen cooking devices that had yet to ship. Compare that to today where companies like June are on their second generation product, and big appliance brands have deep integrations with software platforms from the likes of Innit and SideChef, and we are seeing a market that is less about theory and more about what happens when you put these products in the hands of actual consumers.

Innovation across the food system is interconnected

While some conversations about the future of the kitchen may start with looking at connected appliances, SKS showed us the future of food and cooking spans new delivery formats, AI & robotics, food retail, home design and much more.

We heard from startups making AI platforms to create highly personalized new flavors for CPG companies. Executives from restaurants, big food, appliance, and software companies talked about how their companies are taking part in a rapidly changing meal journey. We heard from home designers working with technology providers to create new kitchens that incorporate intelligence within the fabric of the home.

The big takeaway here is that all of these stops along the journey to the plate are not isolated, but part of a bigger interdependent whole.

Business models are crystalizing

The Wall Street Journal’s Wilson Rothman talks to Malachy Moynihan

One of the biggest challenges in new markets is figuring out how companies will make money. Because of this, at this year’s SKS we dug deep into how business models are changing with a bunch of amazing talks and conversations from those forging a new path. We heard from the President of BSH Appliances about transitioning one of the world’s largest appliance makers to a services-oriented company, from ChefSteps on the path to becoming a food delivery company, and about lessons learned by the former head of product behind both the original Amazon Echo and the Juicero.

After hearing from these leaders on stage and discussing their business models in the hallways and backstage, I’m am convinced those pioneering the future of food are figuring out new and unique approaches that are informed by the past — but break conventions when and where necessary.

Existing markets morph slowly (with occasional ‘big bang’ jolts of innovation)

One thing I try to keep in mind is markets don’t change overnight. Existing product categories  — whether they are packaged food, appliances, restaurants or retailers — evolve as new alchemies of technology, business model innovation, societal changes, and company cultures bring about long-term change to a given market.

Pablos Holman talks about the future of 3D printed food

Occasionally, however innovation evolution is catalyzed by those that help us see into the future, and this year at SKS we heard about a few of these big-bang jolts of innovation. Whether it starts with a maker who hacked together a home sous vide circulator in 2012, a serial inventor working in a well-funded research lab where he convinces Nathan Myhrvold of potential of our 3D printed food future or Amazon’s reimagining the future of the grocery store, we were shown the potential of accelerating innovation through singular visions.

Innovation is happening globally

Hirotaka Tanaka talks about Japan’s food tech market

We took our event international last year with Smart Kitchen Summit Japan, and this year we went fully global by taking the event to Europe. This global nature was on display in Seattle this week with startups from all over the globe showcasing their ideas and products, appliance and food goliaths sponsoring our event, and speakers from all over the world discussing their ideas on stage

We are exploring stories at SKS and The Spoon

One of the realizations I’ve had since starting the Smart Kitchen Summit in 2015 is that our job is to help food innovators share their stories. We do that throughout the year by telling stories at The Spoon of creators doing exciting work. We also engage in conversations with them on our podcasts where we can learn more about their work.

We also like to have the stories we discover shared from the SKS stage. Stories resonate most when shared by the person who lived it, and it’s through thoughtful conversation, questions, and connections that new chapters are added.

Thanks to all those who made SKS 2018 possible and a special thanks for those who came to SKS and shared your story. For the rest of you, we can’t wait to hear your story, share it with our community, and maybe even have you on stage for SKS 2019!

Got a good food tech story to tell? Let us know.  And if you want to participate in our FoodTech Live at CES, drop us a line. 

Video: Convenience Is the Future of Food Retail

After Christian Lane‘s first business, which he built at the age of 19, folded, he got the idea to launch a new endeavor in the smart kitchen field. Which, as he’ll tell you, was not always easy going.

Despite the challenges (and his self-described ‘retail rollercoaster’), Lane eventually succeeded in building Smarter: a connected kitchen company which sells WiFi-enabled kettles, coffee makers, and a camera which can identify 80% of what’s in your fridge.

In this TED-style talk at the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe, Lane makes some bold predictions about the future of retail — especially in the kitchen. His presentation had plenty of laughs and didn’t shy away from the real-life issues food startups struggling for a piece of the market will face in the future.

“We are in denial about what is happening, and how our industry is being revolutionized by technology,” said Lane. “We need to fast forward to integration.”

So how do we do that? According to Lane, simplification is the key to success. “It’s convenience that powers retail,” he said.

Watch the video below to see his full talk.

If you want to see more exclusive talks from top food tech innovators, make sure to join us for the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle on October 8-9th!

Video: The Berlin-Based Startup Forging the Future of Water

The Startup Showcase at the Smart Kitchen Summit is always a crowd favorite, and our first ever SKS Europe show was no exception. This June, eight innovative startup leaders took to the stage to pitch their ideas for a product/app/system that they believe will revolutionize the kitchen of the future.

We were so impressed by their pitches, we decided to share the videos of the finalists’ pitches with you. First up, it’s the winner of SKS Europe’s first Startup Showcase: Mitte. Moritz Waldstein, co-founder and CEO of the Berlin-based startup, took the stage to tell the SKS Europe crowd about the future of water.

“30 years ago, bottled water didn’t exist,” he said. And 30 years hence, because of its environmental cost and inefficiency, he’s predicting that bottled water will be a thing of the past. Instead, people will get “healthy” water — that is, H20 that’s pure (free of bacteria and micro-plastics) and has essential minerals — at home.

How will they get it? Through Mitte; the company’s eponymous countertop appliance which turns tap water into mineral water. They claim their purification system (patent pending) is about 60 times cleaner than other filtration systems, and doesn’t need to be replaced every few months. After it’s purified, the water runs through one of Mitte’s three mineral cartridge options, each with a distinct mineral composition and taste (one is supposed to imitate Evian, another Vittel).

According to Waldstein, healthy hydration is a 200 billion industry. Mitte is optimizing on this trend as well as the global retreat from single-use plastic.

As of now, their product is pretty niche. I could see them eventually adding in a carbonizing component (capitalizing off the seltzer fad) or even flavor pods to their system, upping the customization aspect of their product. While Moritz said that they’re initially introducing Mitte into the home, I think that the countertop system would do especially well in an office environment. Their first products are set to ship later this year.

Watch the full video below to see Mitte’s winning pitch.

If you have a startup changing the way we eat (or drink), take note! Apply to be part of our Startup Showcase at SKS North America in Seattle this October for a chance to win the $10,000 prize.

Video: For Big Food, ‘We’re Past Innovation and Onto Disruption’

Tyson Foods produces a massive one out of five pounds of protein consumed in the United States. Barilla isn’t any slouch either, with its 30% dry pasta market share in the US and 10% worldwide.

That’s a whole lotta chicken and pasta, so when execs for the investment arms of these two food giants took the stage last month at Smart Kitchen Summit Europe, you can bet all were listening intently to see what they had to say about the future of food and cooking.

The panel featured Thomas Mastrobuoni, CFO of Tyson Ventures, and Michela Petronio,  Director at Barilla’s investment arm, Blu1877, who took the stage to discuss food tech and connected kitchen investment in our closing panel which was moderated by Beatriz Romanos of TechFood Magazine.

The three had lots to say about technology, the food business and how they are investing in the future as these two worlds increasingly intersect.

Mastrobouni talked about one of their recent investments and how it’s a sign that technology is having the same disruptive impact on food now it had on media and finance over the past decade.

“We’ve said innovation, that boat has sailed, and we’re on to disruption now,” said Mastrobuoni. “The startups that we’re focusing on are, in some ways, out to get us. For the largest protein company in the US to invest in a plant based protein and two cultured meat investments… for us to go out and do that sends a message that the technology is starting to hit the food industry.”

There are lots of other great insights in the video, including discussion of why companies like Barilla and Tyson decided to launch their own investment arms, why they are interested in the connected kitchen and many more, so you’ll want to make sure to watch the entire session below:

If you want to hear more from VC’s and investors in the connected cooking space, join us at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle this October!

Video: Regional Perspectives on the Connected Kitchen Market

At Smart Kitchen Summit Europe last month, a topic on everyone’s mind was the future of the connected kitchen market.

In fact, we had a whole panel devoted to analyzing the regional perspectives of the smart kitchen marketplace: Chris Albrecht of The Spoon moderated the conversation between Holger Henke of Cuicinale, Robin Liss of Suvie, and Miles Woodroffe of Cookpad, Ltd.

The speakers explored the evolving role of voice assistants, regional perspectives across Europe, Asia and North America on the smart kitchen, and what the consumer really wants (to save time and money).

Watch the full video of the panel below.

If you want to hear more deep-dive analysis on the connected kitchen from people in the business, join us at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle this October!

Video: The New Era of Personalized Flavor

Personalization was a big theme at Smart Kitchen Summit Europe: in nutrition, taste profiles for dining out, recipes, and more.

One of our hit panels ‘The New Era of Personalized Flavor’ explored this idea with Daniel Protz of FlavorWiki, Johan Langenbick of FoodPairing, and Alexandre Bastos of Givaudan, moderated by Luke Dormehl of Digital Trends.

The panelists talked about how millennials are demanding a more individual dining experience, personalization in the smart kitchen, and how flavor is king.

So what’s happening next? “Personalization is going to go more mainstream,” said Bastos. “Not just personalized flavors, but personalization in general.”

Watch the full video of the panel below.

Want to join us at the next Smart Kitchen Summit event in Seattle this October? You have two days left to snag Early Bird tickets.

What is the Future of Food Delivery? Dan Warne of Deliveroo Has Some Thoughts

At the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe a few weeks ago (miss you, Dublin!), disrupting the meal journey was a big theme. And one of the biggest things changing the way we eat is food delivery to our homes.

I had a chance to discuss this shift with Dan Warne, Managing Director of Deliveroo in the U.K. and Ireland, during a Fireside Chat entitled “New Possibilities in Home Food Delivery.”

I was especially excited to talk with him about Deliveroo’s Editions project, a concept that helps to distinguish the company in an uber-crowded food delivery market (pun intended), and one reason we chose Deliveroo as one of our Food Tech 25.

If you didn’t already know, Editions is essentially a curated hub of cloud kitchens. Deliveroo uses customer data to place delivery-only restaurants in areas with unfulfilled demand. People get a larger swath of delivery options, and food entrepreneurs can open up establishments with significantly reduced overhead and less risk.

Editions is so successful, according to Warne, because it has been able to optimize both the hardware and software of running a delivery-based food establishment. “The restaurant can dedicate everything to the food,” he said. Which means that the food has to be really good, since there’s nothing else to hide behind.

“We [also] see it as an opportunity for us to aid the industry by bringing down costs,” he continued. For example, Deliveroo is working with an eco-friendly utility producer as well as a London-based app called Placed, which helps cut labor costs.

The topic of food delivery came up a few times throughout the day at SKS Europe — though not always in a favorable light. After all, companies working to get people cooking at home more often (connected kitchen appliances, guided cooking apps, etc.) should be diametrically opposed to a service that just brings food right to the door. Right?

Warne doesn’t see it that way. “Food delivery . . . has become a compliment to eating at home,” he said onstage. “We see ourselves as very much supporting the eat-at-home experience.”

“The use case of getting food delivery at home is fundamentally different than the social experience of going out to a restaurant,” he continued. Or, presumably, than the experience of cooking at home with your family, or the satisfaction of making a meal from scratch.

Deliveroo now works with around 10,000 restaurants across the U.K., has 25,000 delivery drivers, and operates in 12 different markets. “We are continually surprised with the appetite in every consumer set,” said Warne. “At first, we saw Deliveroo becoming a billion dollar business… now we now seeing it being much, much bigger.”

So what’s next for Editions, and Deliveroo on the whole? Robots — maybe. “We have a few engineers working on robotics,” said Warne. “There’s a bigger opportunity there since there won’t be the same regulatory challenges that there are with, say, drones.” Which some unnamed food delivery companies are currently piloting.

Watch the video below to see Warne’s full fireside chat on the future of home food delivery.

There’s only four days left to get your Early Bird tickets to SKS! Join us for more conversations on the future of food and cooking (or not cooking) — register here.

FoodPairing Unveils FlavorID, A New Tool for Taste Personalization

Of the overarching trends that emerged at the first ever Smart Kitchen Summit Europe last week in Dublin, a big one was personalization. At the reception the evening before the event, FoodPairing wow-ed the crowd with a robot that made cocktails based on people’s individual taste preferences (spicy, sweet, floral, herbal, etc.). We at the Spoon were pretty impressed with the boozy results — definitely something we’d order again.

The next day, at a panel on the new era of personalization in food, FoodPairing founder Johan Langenbick unveiled a new solution for individualized food recommendation. Dubbed FlavorID, their service draws from over 8,000 different aromas and taste molecules, as well as 600 dietary descriptors, to develop a sort of flavor fingerprint for each individual.

Since they launched in 2009, FoodPairing has been developing a digital flavor database (the world’s largest, according to their press release) based on the aromatic profiles of over 2,500 ingredients. By synching this tech with individual consumer’s behavior — such as food experiences, preferences, and genetic predispositions — they can create a specific flavor identity (or “passport,” as their website calls it) for each user. “FlavorID was the missing link in our technology stack and portfolio of solutions,” said Langenbick.

This new tool will be used to create hyper-personalized recipe suggestions, menu recommendations, and meal plans linked to health goals and dietary restrictions.

Langenbick explained that they planned to partner with 3rd party apps, such as smart kitchen appliances, e-grocery services, mHealth apps and more, to bring FlavorID’s recommendations to the consumer. This will make it free for consumers to use. While FlavorID will be embedded in these other services, Langenbick said that they will also have their own mobile app so that consumers can access and control their personal data.

So where will this data come from? “The first input is, of course the 3rd party application in which FlavorID is embedded,” said Langenbick. But he and his team are also exploring other sources which do not require actual data input or questionnaires, such as purchased goods history, as tools to build out individual taste profiles.

FoodPairing is currently piloting a few use cases for FlavorID and told The Spoon that they expect to announce their first partnerships soon. Whether or not the service lives up to its lofty goals of granular recommendations right from the get-go, however, it’s a strong indicator that food personalization will become more and more present in our daily lives. And more and more companies, from Flavorwiki to dishq to PlantJammer, are leveraging this trend as a tool to better predict what we want to eat.

I could see a future where everyone has a flavor “fingerprint,” which restaurants, grocery e-commerce sites, and food delivery services can access to give uber-personalized recommendations, something like the personal food profiles Mike wrote about last year. Maybe someday Amazon will be able to look at this fingerprint to predict exactly what you want for dinner — and then have corresponding groceries, meal kits, or straight-up food delivery waiting for you on the kitchen counter when you get home from work. Services like FlavorID could play a large role in these futuristic meal journeys.

Thoughts On Dublin: A Look Back At Smart Kitchen Summit Europe

We held the first Smart Kitchen Summit in an old cannery.

Part of the reason was it was affordable. Events are big investments, and we are in many ways a startup; when I founded SKS, it was just a crazy idea about getting the people who were working on the future of cooking and food together in the same place for a day and to start a conversation.

But to be honest, I also liked the idea of having an event about the future of cooking and the kitchen in a hundred-year-old building that had its roots in food. As nearly 300 people gathered between those exposed beams and brick walls to talk about the future back in November 2015,  we were reminded it’s necessary to be mindful of the past behaviors, traditions and cultures that have shaped our food experiences as we discussed how innovation will impact every aspect of the meal journey.

And so when we began planning to take SKS across the Atlantic, I thought what better place to hold our first European event than at Guinness Storehouse? The idea of talking about the future of food and drink in an iconic 20th-century brewery was exciting, but I also like the inherent tension of a place steeped in history while modernizing to create a better experience for the consumer.

In a way, it’s that tension between old and new that’s at the heart of the food tech and what makes it such an exciting space to explore, something we were reminded of last week in Dublin as the day unfolded.

The conversations, discussions and demonstrations made it clear that the future of food and the kitchen is still being established in diverse regions across Europe. Below are some key takeaways from the day – you can also check out some of the pictures from SKS Europe here.  And, if you’d like to connect with many of the same execs, make sure to attend our flagship event in Seattle on October 8-9th.

The Changing Meal Journey

“50 years ago, if you wanted to eat, you had to cook,” said the BBC’s LuLu Grimes on a panel discussing the reinvention of the recipe. “You don’t have to cook anymore.”

This is true. Whether it’s the abundance of food delivery options, more automated cooking technology or dining out, consumers today have many more options at their fingertips and will only have more in the future.

But what about using technology to get more of us into the kitchen? There was a general debate happening both on stage and over coffee on whether it was the job of technology to make cooking easier and more enjoyable or if tech could someday just take over the role of chef entirely. But the one question we kept revisiting was: how could innovation make cooking more approachable?

Chef Angela Malik at Smart Kitchen Summit Europe

According to chef Angela Malik, it’s by thinking more inclusively – we need to be making anything used for cooking or preparing food that can work with diverse ingredients and foods. Particularly in a region as diverse and varied as Europe, with a long list of cultures and traditions around food. Audiences will feel compelled and connected to an appliance or product that feels like it could fit into their lifestyle.

Other speakers felt the development of guided cooking will make preparing food at home less intimidating. Jon Jenkins of Hestan Smart Cooking talked about how the arrival of software and precision heating technologies will make cooking outcomes better, which ultimately will make people want to cook.

Personalization Will Drive The Kitchen Of The Future

Another recurring theme we heard during the day is new ways to create more personalized meal experiences are fast approaching.

Onlookers watch Tailor Made cocktail robot at SKS Europe opening reception

“Unearthing the right recipe for the right person at the right time is where technology is going,” said Kishan Vasani of Dishq.  Convenience is the end game, said Vasani, but with personalization at the center of it. Groups like FoodPairing and FlavorWiki are trying to capitalize on these trends by capturing data points about taste and flavor and creating algorithms that leverage data combined with personal preferences to create meals that have the right nutrition and the right flavors for you.

Food, Kitchen and Cooking Are Platform Opportunities

While big companies like Amazon and Google are creating broad horizontal platforms around AI, conversational interfaces and IoT, a number of companies see the unique and multi-varied nature of our relationship with food as an opportunity to create vertically focused platforms. Drop’s Ben Harris spoke about how the kitchen is the “heart of the home” and how they’ve built a company around focusing on the food making journey.  Innit’s Ankit Brahmbhatt spoke about how the beauty of the kitchen is it’s complicated and definitely not binary, which means there will never be just one solution to figure out the meal journey every day of the week.

Google’s Devvret Rishi, meanwhile, spoke about how Google has identified food as an important space and talked about how the company is working to find ways in which Google Assistant can be plugged into the meal journey.

Innovation Happening In Companies Big and Small

I always enjoy hearing about an entrepreneur’s journey, especially when it’s told with a little humor and lots of authenticity. Christian Lane recalled his roller coaster journey from the heady early days as the Dragon Den’s youngest-ever entrepreneur (19 years-old) to building the first prototype for what would eventually become Smarter with the last 90 pounds in his bank account after the crash of his first company.

Christian Lane talks about his entrepreneur journey into the smart kitchen

We also heard from the eight early-stage companies in our Startup Showcase. From AI-driven meal personalization apps like PlantJammer to hardware/food delivery service offerings like Mealhero, to the Showcase winning effort of Mitte which was focused on healthier & more efficient mineral water usage at home, it was inspiring to hear the stories of these driven innovators trying to bring change to the kitchen.

Whether its in a certain category or trying to create an entire ecosystem for the kitchen, innovation is not just small companies.  We heard from those responsible for driving change at Electrolux, BSH Appliances and V-Zug and how these companies are changing decades-old practices as they transition their business towards the digital kitchen. Mario Pieper who leads digital strategy at BSH Appliances (Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau brands) talked about the importance of external *and* internal changes that must be addressed while legacy enterprise organizations work to keep up with the pace of disruption and the new players looking for partners and often times competition.

Similar to our first SKS in the U.S., kitchen appliance brands in Europe are eager to lead the conversation in the space, understanding the key role they play in the consumer kitchen but also recognizing the increasing role of digital content, connected platforms and grocery and home commerce brands. One startup founder during a networking break questioned why the larger grocery and retail chains were not on stage looking at how they plan to keep up with the future of food and the kitchen. “They aren’t sure what it means for them yet,” he remarked.

My guess is in the future they will be. Much like in Seattle and SKS Japan, I expect SKS Europe will continue to grow and incorporate more perspectives as we explore how the interlocking pieces across the entire food system recreate the meal journey. I hope to continue the conversation in Seattle and Japan and I hope you will join me.

Meal Planning Startup Recipeat Launches at SKS Europe

Last night at the opening reception of the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe the eight finalists of our Startup Showcase showed off their companies to the crowd over pints of Guinness. One, the London-based Recipeat, took the opportunity to unveil their startup.

Recipeat is a smart, digital cookbook and meal planning tool that’s “more than just a Kindle for recipes,” said founder Peter McCurrach. It stores recipes that users either enter in themselves or import from the internet, and can also create shopping lists from selected recipes.

At its core, McCurrach sees Recipeat as a tool to help busy families plan and cook their meals quickly and efficiently. “Everyone has really different food goals: counting calories, reducing meat intake, sticking to a budget, etcetera,” explained McCurrach. He hopes that families will use Recipeat to plan their weekly lineup of meals, synthesize shared shopping lists, and reduce in-home food waste.

One thing that distinguishes Recipeat from other meal-planning and guided cooking services like eMeals or Innit is its hardware component. McCurrach has developed a small screen, about the size of a Kindle reader, which is intended to live in the kitchen and assist in the meal planning, grocery ordering, and cooking process.

He told the Spoon team that he hopes his device will last a decade. Which is an ambitious timeline, especially in the age where people trade in their iPhone for a new model seemingly every couple of months — but also a nod to analog recipes, which McCurrach says have yet to be ousted by digital ones.

McCurrah is the sole employee of Recipeat. As of now, the company is bootstrapped and hopes to bring their product to market by the end of this year. 

Recipeat does not yet have a website, but if you want to learn more contact Peter McCurrach at peter@teamrecipeat.com.

Meet Angela Malik: Chef, Disruptor, and Food Tech Influencer

Angela Malik is the wearer of many hats. A self-described “food innovator and design thinker,” Malik has, throughout her career, worked in Michelin starred restaurants, launched her own cooking school focused on Asian cuisine, and consulted for corporate catering companies. She’s also currently part of the London Food Board, where she advises Mayor Sadiq Kahn on food strategy for the city.

Really, though, Malik is someone with a welcome (and underrepresented) voice in conversations around food innovation: she’s a professionally trained chef who fully embraces tech, and wants to use it to make what we eat more sustainable, more equitable, and more collaborative.

Malik will be presenting a 15-minute TED-style talk at Smart Kitchen Summit Europe in Dublin next week, but we spoke with Malik over on the SKS Europe blog so you can get to know this culinary engima.

P.S. Early Bird tickets are on sale now through June 30th for Smart Kitchen Seattle! Come join us on October 8-9th to join the conversation about the future of food and cooking. 

Q&A with Thomas Buerki, CEO of DigiMeals

It’s hard to believe, but Smart Kitchen Summit Europe is less than 2 weeks away! So it’s time to get to know another finalist who will be presenting at our Startup Showcase: DigiMeals.

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, DigiMeals creates custom digital interfaces to help users take advantage of smart kitchen tools — and help brands bridge the gap to connect with consumers. Their platform lets people surf and select recipes, order ingredients for through grocery delivery, and monitor their connected appliances.

Head to the SKS Europe blog to learn more about how DigiMeals is aiming to bring on the smart kitchen revolution, and the particularly tricky parts of getting a food tech startup off the ground.

And if you want to meet the DigiMeals team in person and see their tech in action, register for Smart Kitchen Summit Europe in Dublin on June 11-12th!