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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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BringMe Combines Food Delivery And The Sharing Economy

Food delivery is a hot sector right now – from meal kits to grocery delivery and everything in between, the market still garners the most investment dollars in food tech despite a dip in 2016 from the previous year. But the convenience and ubiquity of food delivery have a long way to go. In most areas, outside of large cities, grocery delivery is monopolized by one or two major grocers, limited choices and options for consumers and third-party delivery apps don’t work with just anyone. The problem is mostly scale – startups and major companies start in larger markets to prove their concept and grow and then they’re able to spread.

But one startup may have a more grassroots, sharing economy-minded solution to the food delivery model. BringMe was founded by a group of students in Fairfax, VA who wanted to pair people’s wants and needs with other people’s desire to make quick and easy money. If you’re someone who wants something delivered, you place a request in the app for the thing you need. It might be your order at the Thai restaurant a few miles away or items from the grocery store. You pay for the items via the app and you list what you’re willing to tip.

Anyone who’s interested in becoming a deliverer can respond to your request, and upon delivery, get paid via the app. Sound familiar? It’s a version of the Uber model – give people an easy platform on which to connect, and let them negotiate the details. There is even less oversight with BringMe, who doesn’t seem to set minimum tipping although it does make suggestions. And if you want to be a “Bringer” as the company calls them, you do have to fill out an application which requires you have a smartphone, some mode of transportation and a “clean record.” And although it seems like the model Uber Foods is working towards, in some ways removing the regulatory and political challenges Uber faces in the transportation sector, BringMe has some advantages.

Right now, the model is secluded to the Fairfax area, where the students reside, but it has the potential to expand giving the grassroots nature of the infrastructure. And the delivery isn’t limited to food – though it’s possibly the largest use case – and BringMe says the only things it *won’t* deliver are illegal or restricted items like drugs, alcohol and prescriptions. You could imagine a strong use case for adoption across college campuses and in suburban areas where public transit is weak and the need for more convenience are high. The company says it has Bringers on hand to deliver 24/7, providing that the place you’re ordering from is also open during those hours.

Ben & Jerry’s delivery at 1 am from the local convenience store anyone?

Intel’s Efforts To Connect Collectors To Their Wine

Close to a decade ago, households with wine collections and cellars to house them had only a few choices: spend tens of thousands of dollars on a wine management system and hire someone to catalog every bottle in your collection or lose track of most bottles in your collection. And for wine enthusiasts, losing track of what you own is like throwing money out of the window because each wine has its own “drinking window” and once it’s passed, the wine loses value and drinkable potential.

Today, access to information about wine – whether it’s the wine you’re drinking at a restaurant or wine you personally own – has never been easier to find. But the issue of collection storage and management remains – this is where Sommely comes in. Created by Uncorked Studios, a design & engineering firm and backed by Intel, Sommely is smart inventory management system that comes with “smartcaps” to fit over each bottle of wine and a companion app and database. As you acquire new bottles of wine, you catalog them in your system and pair them via Bluetooth with a smartcap, then placing the cap on your bottle. You can record information like its, year, vineyard, where you purchased it, anything memorable behind the bottle, when to drink it and with what types of food you might considering pairing with it.

The smartcap acts as a sort of guide or flag, especially if you have a large wine collection stored cap-side out in wine racks. The app lets you find wines you own based on whatever criteria you’d like and then activates the smartcap to light up once you’ve selected it, for easy access. You can also tap the smartcap and your app will display that wine’s info, negating the need to pull the bottle completely out.

While not all of us have wine cellars at home or large wine collections to manage, the idea that Intel is putting resources into smart beverage management systems is intriguing. For the full story, visit Beverage Daily.