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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Sonic

Food Tech News: New Mushroom Oat Milk, Eco Bricks and Koji Ravioli

Califia Farms adds “mushroom milk” to product portfolio

Califia Farms makes non-dairy milk, creamer, yogurt drinks, cold brew coffee, and the company announced a new milk product this week. The new product is a barista-style oat milk that is blended with Cordyceps and Lion’s Mane mushroom powders. Apparently, the mushrooms do not affect the naturally sweet flavor of oat milk, but just add the supposed health benefits of these mushrooms. One 32 oz carton retails for $5.99, and can be found on the company’s website and Whole Foods.

Photo form Mondelez Philippines’ website

Mondelez and Plastic Flamingo are creating eco-bricks from plastic packaging

Multinational food and beverage company Mondelez has partnered with Plastic Flamingo, a group that aims to keep plastic out of the ocean, in the Philippines to turn plastic packaging waste into functional bricks. Mondelez Philippines invested an undisclosed amount into this project, and plans to upcycle at least 40 metric tons of plastic packaging waste. The bricks will be used to create temporary housing in cases of natural disasters.

Prime Roots launches new koji-based ravioli products

Prime Roots produces a variety of plant-based meat alternatives and meals made from koji, a type of fungi. The company announced this week that is due to launch new ravioli products that are filled with a variety of plant-based meat and seafood alternatives. The ravioli will come in five varieties, including plant-based lobster, chicken and black truffle, bacon and butternut squash, chicken pesto and sun-dried tomato, and Italian sausage. The new products will launch on March 20th, which is National Ravioli Day, and will be available for purchase on the company’s website.

Food Tech News: GROW Impact Accelerator 2021 Cohort, US Plastic Pact Sets 2025 Goals

Welcome to the weekend, and the weekly Food Tech News round-up. This week, we gathered news regarding GROW’s 2021 food and ag-tech cohort, the US Plastic Pact’s goals, Sonic’s international expansion, and Kind Healthy Snack’s free dietician program.

GROW Impact Accelerator accepting applications for 2021 Impact Accelerator Program

GROW is a Singapore-based agriculture and food tech accelerator backed by AgFunder, and it recently announced that it has opened its application for the 2021 cohort. Selected applicats will receive mentorship, funding of $200,000, and access to the accelerator’s network. The program is open to food tech and agriculture tech start-ups and will be held virtually for now. Applications close on February 28th.

Photo by tanvi sharma on Unsplash

US Plastic Pact sets goals for 2025

The US Plastic Pact, led by The Recycling Partnership (TRP) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is comprised of 84 public and private sector stakeholders in the plastics value chain. The pact recently set forth its upcoming goals for the next few years, which includes ensuring all plastic packaging is 100% compostable or recyclable, taking action to compost or recycle 50% of all plastic packaging, and guaranteeing that at least 30% of plastic packing is comprised of recycled content or bio-based content. The US Plastic Pact aims to achieve these goals by 2025.

Screengrab via Sonic

Sonic unveils plans to expand internationally with new model

Sonic’s president shared that the fast-casual restaurant chain currently has plans to expand internationally with an updated restaurant design.Sonic didn’t say which countries will be on the list, but the expansion will roll out in the next few years. Sonic debuted an updated restaurant model last summer, which included wider car docks, different drive-thru formats, and an “order ahead” option through its app.

Image via Kind Healthy Snack

Kind Healthy Snacks launches Kind RD Connect to link consumers with local dieticians

Kind Healthy Snacks, known for its bars and granola, recently announced the launch of its new platform called Kind RD Connect. The platform aims to assist customers who are looking to improve their diet and will match them with local registered dieticians. Three thousand, 15-minute virtual call sessions where customers can ask nutrition-related questions will be offered completely free of charge. Kind RD Connect is currently available and will be running until February 18th.

Jimmy John’s Parent Company May Be Opening Its Own Ghost Kitchens

Inspire Brands, which owns Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, and other restaurant chains, has filed for trademarks meant for ghost kitchens, according to Restaurant Business Online.

The company filed “Inspire Kitchen” and “Alliance Kitchen” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January, and both filings mention “food delivery” and “delivery of food by restaurants.” The filings also name-drop ghost kitchens themselves, stating that the concepts will provide “restaurant services, namely providing ghost kitchens and commercial kitchens for use in the preparation of meals and beverages for consumption off premises.”

That Inspire is filing trademarks suggests the company is exploring not just ghost kitchens, but its own ghost kitchens. A growing number of restaurants now utilize the concept, which allows businesses to manage and fulfill delivery and takeout orders without overburdening in-house restaurant staff. To date, however, the vast majority of restaurants have teamed up with third-party providers like Zuul Kitchens, Kitchen United, and DoorDash Kitchens, who provide space, equipment, and other infrastructure to restaurants.

A smaller number of chains have launched their own ghost kitchens. Fat Brands, for example, is outfitting its own in-house kitchens to double as ghost kitchens. Starbucks teamed up with Alibaba’s Heme Supermarkets to operate ghost kitchens in China. 

Since Inspire Brands owns multiple brands, it’s not hard to imagine a setup where one single facility can house kitchens for Jimmy John’s, Arby’s, Sonic, and Inspire’s other restaurant chains. Throw in one of Middleby’s recently launched out-of-the-box ghost kitchen concepts, which helps companies build out and equip their facilities, and you’d basically have a self-sustaining ghost kitchen that doesn’t need a major third-party provider like Kitchen United or DoorDash to operate.

That’s rather speculative on my part, since Inspire told Restaurant Business Online that it was “not ready to comment” on the trademarks. However, more restaurants exploring ghost kitchens means we’ll see more approaches to the concept as it moves forward. The most scalable, economically feasible solution — whether that’s teaming up with a third-party kitchen provider, operating one’s own facility, or something else — is yet to be determined.

National Restaurant Association Attacks Cyber Threats With a New Tool

Restaurants are as vulnerable as any business when it comes to cybersecurity and data breaches. We saw that last month, when at least 5 million credit card numbers were swiped from Sonic Drive-In customers.

In a timely move, the National Restaurant Association has responded by publishing an update to its 2016 Cybersecurity 101 guide and tool (PDF), titled “Cybersecurity 201: The Next Step” (PDF).

The tool is a kind of primer on the five steps of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework: Identity, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Gartner has predicted that half of all U.S. businesses will use this framework by 2020.

Cybersecurity 201 is considerably longer than its predecessor, and is focused specifically on restaurants and the actions they can take to protect themselves. It lays out four hypothetical “attack” scenarios and the actions restaurant owners should take in response.

Not that these types of scenarios are fictional in any way. As new technologies make their way into the hospitality industry, and as establishments accept more and more digital payments, businesses grow more and more vulnerable. Arby’s and Chipotle were both attacked this year, as was Whole Foods. And those were just the big ones. You don’t have to be a nation-wide chain to get hacked. Many of restaurant-industry attacks are focused around the POS system, which also happen to be one of the most difficult types of threats to protect against. And a restaurant without a POS system these days is a rare find.

Cybersecurity 201 was designed for restaurants of all sizes and types. The tool walks readers through restaurant industry-specific action steps around the NIST Framework. Every suggested action is rated on a scale of one to five in terms of importance, with five being “urgent.” Currently, 17 items are considered urgent, including having a consistent response plan, monitoring the physical environment (aka, guidelines for day-to-day operations at the restaurant), and identifying internal and external threats. The guide wraps up with a handy glossary of terms.

Restaurant Business Online, meanwhile, has published six tips for restaurants to consider when it comes to security at their establishments. Of all the tips, “understand that you can’t eliminate risk” highlights one of the most important points about cybersecurity: technology and guidelines may be evolving to combat attacks, but those attacks are evolving right alongside them. Acknowledging that and committing to a plan of constant assessment is perhaps the smartest thing restaurants can do right now.

Sonic eventually acknowledged the attack and posted information on what affected consumers could do. That’s cool and all, but patrons have the least amount of control over the situation when their favorite restaurant gets attacked. Hopefully Cybersecurity 201 can help restaurants assume more of the responsibility for these attacks—before they happen.