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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

SKS17 Series

Toast Wants To Make Going Out To Dinner Better For Everyone – Even The Servers

Steve Fredette, Aman Narang and Jonathan Grimm’s venture into entrepreneurship first began while waiting for their drinks in their favorite after-work bar. The wait seemed never-ending and the three engineers decided among themselves that there had to a be a way to improve the customer experience in bars and restaurants. MIT graduates and naturally gifted tinkerers, they began to imagine all the ways they could potentially improve the dining out experience by removing common pain points, like splitting checks or updating menus. From there, Toast was born.

Toast is a full-service, cloud-based, point-of-sale system created for the restaurant industry. It streamlines every element of running a successful restaurant – front-of-house, back-of-house, online orders, loyalty programs – and syncs them for easy access and quick changes. Toast provides real-time data, across multiple locations, to zero in on what’s working and what’s not, so owners can pivot when needed. In addition to their platform, Toast offers hardware that easily integrates their solution into a variety of terminals or tablets.

“In a world where consumers expect on-demand everything – television, meal delivery, car rides – businesses cannot afford to be slow,” says co-founder and president, Steve Fredette. “Toast brings efficiency, convenience and an exceptional customer experience to the restaurant industry at a time when the demands are higher than ever.”

Addressing the unique challenges only found in the restaurant industry is part of Toast’s service model. “Every member of the Toast team, no matter what their area of focus, has some level of restaurant experience on their resume. Toast is designed for restaurants, by people who know, love and have worked in restaurants,” says Steve. This attention to detail is found in every aspect of the platform’s user experience – from their customizable POS interfaces that include table setup, menu setup and kitchen workflow, to real-time POS customization like adding tickets directly to a kitchen’s display screen to reduce back and forth time from servers, to post-service reporting that dial down on every aspect of the restaurant’s sales and efficiencies. Toast brings the power of data analytics and insights to restaurant ownership and management to allow for more streamlined operations and better customer experiences.

When restaurant patrons can air their grievances as they wait for the check via Yelp or Facebook, a positive experience is more necessary than ever before. By simplifying and optimizing all operations, owners can transform their teams into nimble guest experience gurus. This allows the focus to transfer back to the diner, resulting in a more attentive server, shorter wait times and splitting checks with ease.

“Restaurants tend to function in a state of organized chaos,” says Steve. “From front-of-house to back-of-house, dining in to take out, and customer service to the customer experience, every interaction is interconnected. With Toast, we want to build on that by tapping into the restaurant supply chain with real-time, data-driven insights to reduce inefficiencies, improve interactions and elevate the guest experience.”

So what’s next for Toast? The company has already raised $101M in Series C funding, with plans to hire 1,000 employees by 2018 and were just named one of the world’s top cloud companies in the Forbes Cloud 100. The Toast leadership team is also looking beyond their current model for ways to further customize and curate the restaurant going experience.

“Toast is thinking bigger (and more conveniently) when it comes to food, and is already playing with ideas that will generate more speed and personalization from consumers’ favorite restaurants, bars and food trucks,” Steve adds. “Toast knows what is possible and is building a platform that can get there.”

At Smart Kitchen Summit, Steve Fredette will speak on how restaurants can leverage technology in the front and back of house along with other industry leaders in the Day 1 breakout session Tech Please: How Restaurants Can Leverage Technology In Front & Back Of House. Don’t miss Steve and check out the full list of speakers and register for the Summit, using code TOAST to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Carley Knobloch Wants Tech In The Kitchen To Be More Accessible

With the emerging popularity of smart home devices across every room of the home and the popularity of voice control devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home leading adoption, the media has become saturated with experts looking to educate consumers on how to use tech in their own homes. Of all the smart home gurus, Carley Knobloch might be one of the most well-known because of her practical, education-oriented approach and tone. Carley’s mission is to help people improve their relationship with technology and sift through the buzzwords to form their own opinions on connected living – one tap or swipe at a time.

Carley’s media legacy began with her blog, a carefully curated resource filled with product reviews, news and guides. The site’s aesthetic mirrors Carley’s approach to talking tech – simple, sleek and modern. The technology is not at the forefront but rather, a tool to help tell a greater story on how connected living can look. It’s not wires and bulky black boxes, but instead functional, stylish smart home living products and accessories that make life just a little bit easier.

In addition to her blog and social media pages, Carley is a regular contributor to the Today Show and CNN, and is the Technology consultant and host for HGTV’s annual smart home. Carley sees her role as specifically to educate those new to smart tech. “I’m helping the later-adopters and the smart-curious folks out there unpack what’s going on in this exciting space, and how it can improve their lives now, and in the future,” she says. For Carley, speaking to this audience is a unique position to

“I’m helping the later-adopters and the smart-curious folks out there unpack what’s going on in this exciting space, and how it can improve their lives now, and in the future,” she says. For Carley, speaking to an audience of mostly homeowners (with a heavily female audience) every day that is excited about the smart home and what it can do means helping them get started with products that make sense and are priced right. They want to buy products that are addressing their needs and solving real problems.

“When I started my blog and media career, there weren’t a lot of women— who run a home, a family and a business—  talking about technology. Most tech experts were speaking to the early-adopters and enthusiasts,” says Carley. “I set out to create an approachable conversation about tech in the home and the kitchen that everyday people could relate to: What’s going on? How does it affect me? Is it time to adopt? Will I be able to use it?”

Creating this open dialogue with her followers has helped Carley steer the industry conversation and better understand the issues that are directly impacting the adoption rate of smart home technology – in or outside of the kitchen. Many companies and manufacturers are taking a “rapid fire” approach to developing technology, without focusing on the end-user experience or adaptation.

“I think that ultimately, consumers are looking for the right price, and the right application: a layer of technology that will make their lives easier, not harder,” says Carley. “They are eager to figure out what technology is right for them in the kitchen and beyond— many are wary because the industry to date has been like the wild west with everyone firing products into the market that may not be ready or require a big learning curve.”

So where does Carley see the smart home conversation heading for product developers and manufacturers? “Manufacturers should be holding themselves to high standards, as early ambassadors for this product vertical,” she explains. “They have to get more right than they do wrong, or it will be hard to change consumer’s minds later.”

Now in her second year at Smart Kitchen Summit, Carley wants to help tackle conversations on how the IoT is affecting big brands across the appliance industry and will lead a fireside chat with Kenmore/Sears and GE leadership charged with this very task.

Don’t miss Carley at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and register for the Summit, using code HGTV to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Making Traditional Food Prep Smarter With Vitamix

Vitamix is a household name is the kitchen; in 1949, founder William G. Barnard demonstrated the Vitamix blender in the first U.S. infomercial in the early days of television. Since then, Vitamix has worked to uphold William’s mission, developing kitchen food preparation tools as technology continues to mature and provide new capabilities. As COO, much of Tony Ciepiel’s work is thinking about how the market is evolving and how Vitamix can lead in bringing new technology to traditional kitchen prep devices like the Vitamix Ascent Series.

The company’s smart blender series builds on the traditional Vitamix blender and adds emerging technology and capabilities such as built-in timers and wireless connectivity. “As we began designing and planning for the launch of the Ascent Series, we asked ourselves how we might add value for our customers through intuitive design and maximum ease of use,” said Ciepiel. “Among other things, that line of thought drove us to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into the containers for our Ascent Series blenders.”

Through NFC, the blender can detect what size container has been placed onto the base and will change blending program parameters accordingly. Those parameters include ramp-up times and blade speeds as well as the overall length of a blending program. “That was really a breakthrough moment that brought us to the forefront of intelligent technology within the blending space. We intend to remain there.”

In addition to the Ascent Series product, Vitamix has plans to launch an app that gives customers control over their blenders and what they can make. The app includes the ability to design blending programs that can then be uploaded to the blender to provide users the ability to customize programs to meet their needs. The app pairs those programs with recipes that go directly to the blender. Vitamix allows users to access those recipes but also works with their Perfect Blend Smart Scale, to let the user know exactly – down to a fraction of an ounce – how much of each ingredient to load into the blender container, and can scale the recipe to desired volume or calorie count.

“When you combine that level of automation, product intelligence and connectivity, you impart the expertise of professional chefs to the novice user, which in turn creates unparalleled joy of use and a real feeling of accomplishment,” said Ciepiel of the app.

But how are consumers reacting to this kind of technology? Tony sees it as both an opportunity and a challenge. “One of the interesting challenges we face as an industry is giving consumers a compelling reason to invest their time and money into learning how to integrate “Internet of Things” features into their daily lives,” said Ciepiel. “We’re in a unique position to evolve a product that people already love for its convenience and reliability…. we need to help our customers understand why we’re integrating new, connected technology into our products, and why it’s more than worth their time to come along for the journey.”

Vitamix recognizes that a unique approach is needed when addressing the future of kitchen technology and communicating its benefits. Through in-depth research, they’ve been able to gain a better grasp on the voice of their customer and from that research, are working to develop products that can be woven seamlessly into customers lives.

“It’s not just creating technology for the sake of technology, but rather creating products that directly fulfill what customers want and help them achieve their personal goals, whatever those may be. This will inevitably include more connected, high-tech products in the kitchen as time goes by,” Ciepiel acknowledged. “The industry needs to create and agree upon technical communication standards sooner rather than later.”

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Don’t miss Tony Ciepiel of Vitamix at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and register for the Summit, using code VITAMIX to get 25% off ticket prices.

Neato Robotics Machines Are Coming To Clean Up After Dinner

Giacomo Marini isn’t afraid of the robot future – in fact, the company he leads is betting on it. Neato Robotics was founded by Standford alums Joe Augenbraun, Linda Pouliot and JB Gomez through the Stanford Entrepreneur Challenge and officially launched in 2010. The idea behind the company – that robots are just as capable of performing chores as humans – Neato has been working to develop advanced robotic technology for for vaccums in order to alleviate the stress and drain of modern life.

Neato has enjoyed success as a startup against rivals like Roomba and they have a heavy focus on intelligence and proprietary technology to create a self-cleaning vacuum with the smarts of a self-driving car. In fact, the company is the first and only group making robot vacuums with laser SLAM technology, best known for its use in the Google self-driving car, to map and navigate. Marini claims this technology is uniquely suited for indoor navigation and allows the robots to operate with precision in the dark.

Robotics and machine learning are two hot areas in Silicon Valley at the moment – and Marini is no stranger to success in the tech mecca. A co-founder of Logitech, Marini was part of the team that moved the Swiss-based company to Palo Alto in the early 1980s and credits much of the computer accessory company’s growth to that move. Marini went on to stay in Silicon Valley and run a venture capital firm and eventually join Neato as CEO in 2013.

Neato sees their vacuums playing an important role in making the clean up after meal prep and dinner much simpler. “Gone are the days when spilling flower on the floor while you cook would mean hauling out the heavy upright vacuum,” adds Marini. “Now you can simply use your voice to tell your Google Home or Amazon Alexa to start your Neato for you.” Neato recently added chatbot functionality for Facebook, jumping on another trend of using chatbots to control our homes – meaning you could shoot your vacuum a note to clean up the kitchen after dinner’s over from the backyard. 

Marini believes that the continued focus on user experience has been an essential component in the increase in connected device adoption. And – he points out – as the complexity of what our devices can do increases – that experience must remain the same. “As the capabilities of this technology become more complex, it’s imperative that the devices remain simple to interact with, so that our relationship with them feels natural and compelling.”

Ultimately, Neato Robotics wants to make products to give people more time. If we have tech to help us shop more efficiently and cook good food at home more simply, we should also be able to use tech to clean up, right? Marini agrees, saying “We’re at a pivotal point when the speed of emerging technologies make the human potential seem limitless. Our mission is to allow people to spend more their spare time on things that really matter – their passions, work, loved ones – and not on housework.”

Don’t miss Giacomo Marini, CEO of Neato Robotics at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code NEATO to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Amanda Gold Wants Smart Kitchen Companies To Think About The Consumer First

Amanda Gold spends a lot of time thinking about ways companies are succeeding – and failing – when it comes to delivering new technology in the kitchen. Gold Culinary, her Bay Area based consulting firm, works with food tech and food manufacturing companies, restaurants and other culinary businesses to more effectively bridge the gap between corporate, tech-minded companies and a consumer base that is passionate about food.

Amanda’s first experience with the divide between food technology and consumer understanding began in an interview about a seemingly crazy new device for the kitchen. “During the interview, the co-founder started telling me all about the product and spent about 15 minutes talking about the cool technology inside it – there were cameras built into the top and sides, weight sensors across it – but I didn’t understand where the value add was,” says Amanda on the conversation. “Yes, this is all great, but how does that make a better piece of salmon?”

This question sparked the realization for Amanda that she was in a unique position to help technology companies better communicate their products and solutions, and their value to consumers in the kitchen. As a 12-year veteran of the food section for the San Francisco Chronicle (with her last two years focused on food tech) Amanda knows the food and restaurant industry. A trained chef, Amanda’s practical experience in the kitchen lends a hand in her ability to see emerging food technology from both the business and consumer perspective. “We’re helping companies in the industry tailor their product or content so that it makes sense from an everyday standpoint, not just as a once-in-a-while cool machine,” says Amanda. At Gold Culinary, Amanda offers strategy, recipe and content development, product testing, and training for food industry giants like Hidden Valley and Soy Vay.

Through her work, Amanda has seen a common thread in addressing the reality of connected living from the food industry’s perspective. “There’s still a disconnect between what’s cool versus expensive and what’s helpful versus realistic,” she says. “Though there are certainly plenty of companies that are doing it right, it’s important to recognize that most people might ultimately choose just one or two smart devices, so it’s essential that what they do choose makes life easier and more streamlined. Ideally, it will also get them back in the kitchen on a more regular basis, especially if the process, once they get there, is simplified.”

Outside of Gold Culinary, Amanda’s pursuits include working as the executive producer for Food Network chef and host Tyler Florence’s Wolf it Down podcast. Although Wolf it Down is not strictly a food tech podcast, it does focus on every aspect of the kitchen and what’s current – including discussion around the smart kitchen. A recent episode, for example, featured an interview with food tech innovators Hestan Cue and Chefsteps on the future of technology in the kitchen.

Amanda and Gold Culinary’s mission is an important one to the smart kitchen space. As technology grows and more consumers seek out new gadgets to simplify life in the kitchen, so does the need for companies to better align their messaging with consumer product knowledge and understanding. Amanda sees herself as the mediator between the two parties, simplifying and streamlining consumer understanding.

“I love the communities that are being built around specific devices and their content. I think in many ways that’s a bonus that nobody would have predicted. I am at the core simply a content creator who is interested in helping companies tell their story, both through the recipes and food-related content they provide and in the way they market themselves,” explains Amanda on her work with Gold Culinary. “There are many ways to tell a story and that story needs to be constantly changing in the smart kitchen space. Now, more than ever, that’s incredibly important to understand.”

Don’t miss Amanda Gold of Gold Culinary at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code GOLD to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Next Gen Grocery: The Future Market Looks At The Future Of Food

Mike Lee spent time as a kid marveling at concept cars at auto shows in Detroit. “This huge auto industry institutionalized the tradition of creating a non-production model concept whose sole purpose was to show the world what that company was dreaming about for the future.” Lee grew up and went searching for that kind of tangible look at innovation in the food world – and couldn’t find it. So he founded The Future Market, a futurist food project that looks at the ways food might be produced and consumers might shop for food in the future. Through concept products, specialized events, working shops and live engagements, the Future Market aims to be at the center of conversations around what our food systems will look like many years from now.

The Future Market focuses on two core areas of work – one is helping big food companies partner with startups and embed innovation into their own companies to act more like startups. Their innovation food platform, Alpha Food Labs, is a project designed to work with large corporations and food producers to help them maneuver faster through rapid prototyping projects.

If you were in NYC this past June, you might have seen a live demonstration of Future Market’s other big area of work: a conceptual grocery store of the future. The Future Market’s grocery store of 2042 looks like this: you walk into a market, filled with foods of the future – synthetic food, nontraditional forms of protein, sustainable and local produce – and a food ID system that knows your food preferences and nutritional needs through real-time biometrics matches you with products that are perfect for your health profile and palate but also meet your budget and are sustainable.

A little intrusive? Maybe – but food is core to life and what we put in our bodies, whether healthy or unhealthy, impacts not just how we feel today but our future health and well-being. People are bombarded with what’s considered healthy and what’s not and are often confused about what choices to make. And we’re seeing more companies come to the table to try and provide personalized nutrition options based on our own DNA. The Future Market is analyzing these trends and working to show consumers how these technologies might actually make eating and shopping more straightforward.

But Lee isn’t just interested in showing consumers what the future of food looks like, he wants to enable more cooperation across industries working in the smart kitchen to drive innovation.

“There is no open-source, uniform data standard whereby every food manufacturer can record the nutritional info, ingredient lists, processing methods, and ingredient provenance information into. That may sound like a really unsexy thing, but it prevents so much innovation from happening in the smart kitchen space,” comments Lee. “Imagine the web without HTML—every site used a different, proprietary coding language to create web pages. The internet would be a mess of incompatibility. It’s the same challenge if you want to create a smart fridge that understands all the ingredients within every item inside of it. If we had a uniform data standard that all food companies shared, smart fridges would be so much smarter.”

Don’t miss Mike Lee, at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code FUTUREMARKET to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. 

Nima’s Founder Wants Us To Know Exactly What We’re Eating

Food allergies are a common problem for over 15 million people in the U.S. – so common, in fact, that one in three kids suffer from at least one allergy. These can range from uncomfortable symptoms to life threatening reactions. When Shireen Yates was in college, she suffered from a variety of symptoms and illnesses without understanding the cause. She wondered if it was something she was eating and started avoiding certain foods, including ones with gluten. But outside of her own kitchen, she couldn’t control what was in her food or even verify if things marked “gluten-free” were truly free of the allergen.

“I thought, ‘Why can’t I take a small sample of this food and test it for gluten to have the power of data in my own hands to make a more informed decision?’ The idea of Nima was born then.”

Nima’s flagship product is a portable, handheld gluten sensor that allows anyone to place a small piece of food they are about to eat into a chamber and test it for traces of gluten on the spot. The magic of Nima lies in the technology inside the Nima sensor – a chemical reaction that occurs on the spot that determines if gluten is present or not – and its application to other food allergens is what has investors so excited.

“There’s no reason it can’t be used for dairy or peanuts and there’s nothing stopping them from going to pathogens either,” Brian Frank, food tech VC commented. “In other words, if there’s something there that can be detected, it’s possible the Nima form factor could be used to detect it.” Frank isn’t a Nima investor, but he’s hit on the key excitement around the tech that Yates and her team are developing. Though not officially on the market, Nima’s been blogging about their progress with measuring peanut particles in food and their journey to tackle a common and sometimes fatal food allergy.

Nima also wants to create a community of users who can share their gluten detection data, allowing people to benefit from Yelp-style reviews of restaurants and food on the go and giving them the information to determine whether or not they feel good about eating a particular dish. Using the Nima device – or any tool to test food before mealtime – requires a behavior change for consumers. How to use the device and get accurate results and what to do with that info is all part of the ongoing education the Nima team is working on with their users.

“We are unveiling hidden ingredients and delivering this unprecedented data in the palm of your hands. Ultimately, we are bringing peace of mind to mealtime. Nima is like a little sidekick that can take the first bite before you do and give you one additional data point to make a more informed decision about eating,” says Yates.

Don’t miss Shireen Yates, co-founder and CEO of Nima at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code NIMA to get 25% off ticket prices.

StoreBound Combines Content With Innovation To Reinvent Retail

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. 

Evan Dash is no stranger to retail. From executive experience at top brands like Macy’s to leading consumer electronics and kitchenware brands, Dash has spent his career thinking about what modern consumers look for in a new product. Seven years ago, on a trip to the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan with his kids, Dash realized how many great ideas never become reality and had an idea of his own. “Everyday people have incredible ideas all the time. They range from outlandish inventions to the simplicity of a “Why didn’t I think of that?” product. Each product has a story,” Dash commented. He decided then to create a company that would help people – and eventually other companies – bring their ideas to life and get them in front of consumers all over the world.

Today that company – Storebound – has launched dozens of products in over 20,000 stories around the world and has recorded over $100 million in sales to date. But Storebound isn’t just another go to market firm; they focus on pairing innovation with simplicity to create products that the next generation of consumers are going to want to grab off the shelves. And their secret sauce for knowing what millennial buyers want? Social media, of course.

Storebound has built significant social media followings on Instagram, particularly around its brands and the market area they are selling in. For example, their homegrown houseware and small appliance brand Dash has over 300,000 followers on Instagram – a platform where they share a myriad of recipes in popular short-form videos. So why is a retail brand focusing so much on content development?

Dash says of the self-named brand, “Our singular focus is to develop products that make it easier for you to prepare and eat real food at home so that you can feel your best. We give you the tools and the support to make delicious healthy meals and we’re committed to helping you live life unprocessed.” While social might act as the support element for Storebound, it also acts as a helpful focus group and research tool, letting their team know how Millennials are thinking about cooking and shopping.

Each product Storebound takes to market has a different story, audience and purpose. Where some brands look at adding “smart” to the front of a product name to add features, Storebound looks to take an unconventional approach to create fun, quality products that simplify tasks.

“Our focus isn’t on selling products – that’s secondary. We focus on building communities of enthusiastic users. Our Instagram following is more than most of the heritage retailers we sell to and exponentially greater than all the market share leaders in our industry put together.” – Evan Dash

Storebound also focuses on bringing new concepts to market in the kitchen and home space, including 3D food printing. Two years ago, Dash and his team launched PancakeBot, the first 3D food printer designed specifically to create pancakes. A unique although slightly impractical idea for everyday use, Dash insists the device wasn’t meant to change the way you make pancakes regularly.

“Rather than pushing an agenda of PancakeBot being an essential kitchen product, we took a more practical approach. We understood that while not quite designed for commercial kitchens and extremely expensive for the average home kitchen, PancakeBot is the perfect teaching aid for children interested in technology,” adds Dash. The Storebound team works with STEM programs around the country to use PancakeBot as a way to showcase food printing technologies in schools.

As for where Storebound fits in the smart kitchen?

“We’ve taken a less conventional approach to “smart” than others in our industry. We believe in products that simplify the task at hand. We blend simplicity with design, quality and the necessary content to get the intended benefit from our products.”

Don’t miss Evan Dash, CEO of Storebound at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code STOREBOUND to get 25% off ticket prices.

SKS17: Barilla Wants To Be The Expert On Food Science In The Smart Kitchen

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first event to tackle the future of food, cooking and the kitchen with leaders across food, tech, commerce, design, delivery and appliances. This series will highlight panelists and partners for the 2017 event, being held on October 10-11 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. 

When you think about technology and innovation, the first thing that comes to mind probably has nothing to do with spaghetti. But for food makers like Barilla, thinking about the future of the food they create means thinking a lot about technology and how it will impact the design, production, cooking and consumption of their products.

They even have a Chief Technology Officer.

Behind the scenes, Barilla has – without much fanfare to date – been engineering partnerships and strategies that will allow them to take a leadership position in the food tech conversation. In the movement to create more visibility around supply chains and how food is produced, Barilla has partnered with Cisco in a “field to fork” pilot project that creates digital footprints for every food item that gets created. With complex supply chain technologies and delivery systems, it’s often hard for the end consumer to know where every element of their meal came from. Barilla aims to change that.

“Great work is going on about adapting new technologies to the foods as we know them. But what if we could imagine foods that are wholesome, natural and delicious that can work synergically with the technologies to come?” commented Victoria Spadaro Grant, Barilla’s CTO and 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit speaker.

Barilla is on the hunt for ways to use their vast technical knowledge in areas like food science, food engineering and industrial processes for foods. Last year, the company debuted a 3D printer for pasta – using the same high-quality ingredients the Italian gastronomy leader is known for – to show how technology will fundamentally shift the way food is made in the future. They also want to examine what partnerships with kitchen appliance makers might look like – and how the food they create might “talk” to the devices that are used to prepare them for consumption.

We asked Spadaro Grant why Barilla considers the smart kitchen an important space. “Barilla would like to become the Italian gastronomic “sparring partner” for appliance inventors. We are inspired by good food that is also sustainable and we want to explore ways that marrying gastronomy and technology can help drive the future of food.”

Don’t miss Victoria Spadaro Grant, CTO of Barilla Group at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit. Check out the full list of speakers and to register for the Summit, use code BARILLA to get 25% off ticket prices.

The Smart Kitchen Summit takes place thanks to our sponsors; if you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities, reach out to the SKS team to discuss options.