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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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With New Contest, Tupperware Looks To Discover The Future of Food Containers

Every couple months, I go into my fridge and throw out all the forgotten and fuzzy food.

It’s a guilt-inducing process – as it should be – and every time I search for those containers with festering science experiments inside I think there has to be a better way.

Of course, there is an obvious one – buy less, eat what I have – but I am also left thinking about how someday, technology will assist me in reducing my and my family’s food waste.

As it turns out, food container giant Tupperware is thinking the same thing.

That’s because they’ve just launched a design crowdsourcing contest to find a way to use IoT technology to create a better food container. The contest, which will give away a total $10 thousand in prizes to the top three entries, is being run in partnership with Giddy, the crowdsourced design and ideation startup that spun out of the same folks within GE who brought us FirstBuild.

Tupperware’s wish list of considerations for this new product is long. The contest guidelines (pdf) not only ask for designs that would create a product that is “easy to use but technically advanced” and “approachable but have features complex enough to provide real value”, but also “non-disposable and meant to be used again, again and again” and “affordable enough for the product to be within the budget of most consumers.”

In other words, the dream product. That’s not all that surprising – it is a design contest for a new and better food container after all – but what’s interesting is the emphasis the contest puts on products that are easy-to-use for the “Silver generation (55+).” One of the two personas described include a grandma named Catherine who, among other things, is “adventurous and enjoys being the first in her circle of friends to try new technologies” and is “tech-savvy, using social media and the internet frequently.”

Bottom line:  Tupperware wants to create the product of the future while not alienating older users who likely make up a big chunk of their customer base.

Tupperware’s not alone in looking for out of the box thinking in food containers. The competition for new ideas is heating up as startups like Silo and Ovie explore using IoT technology in new ways, while big players like Samsung and Amazon are investigating ways to use tech to better understand what’s in the fridge.

The contest, which goes through January 8th, could help Tupperware get some innovative new ideas for the future. However, if you’re hoping to get a peek at some of the new ideas generated by the contest, you’re out of luck: Unlike past contests run by Giddy, Tupperware wants to keep all the entries secret.

I can’t really blame them. It’s getting competitive out there.

Tupperware is Fine and All, but A New Wave of Smart Food Storage is Here

Last week at the Smart Kitchen Summit, Israeli startup Silo unveiled its smart kitchen storage solution which combines vacuum seal tech with specialized plastic containers and Amazon Alexa. Check out the video below to see it in action.

This week, the company launched their Kickstarter, reaching their $80,000 goal in 22 hours. Early backers can get the Silo vacuum base plus four storage containers for $165, and prices increase based on container size and quantity. That’s not cheap, especially considering that you’ll need to buy all new containers to sync with the Silo. However, for families that shop in bulk at Costco and the like, Silo could definitely help them save money — and reduce their food waste. If all goes well in the manufacturing (and as we know, that’s a bit “if”), Silo will ship to its first batch of backers in July of 2019.

The fact that Silo reached their Kickstarter goal in less than a day illustrates a hungry market for kitchen storage systems. Because plastic containers are fine, but we’re living in the era of the smart kitchen — and food storage is one area where we’re seeing some serious innovation. Here are a few companies leading the charge:

 

Ovie
Ovie makes LED tags which you can affix to your food containers to monitor how long that particular item will last. A green tag means your food is good, yellow means it’s nearing expiration, and red means do not eat. The startup launched their own Kickstarter back in May, where it also surpassed its funding goal by over 50 percent.

Though it doesn’t actually facilitate food freshness, Ovie is like Silo in that both use voice to help you track the lifespan of your food. They originally tried to sync it with Alexa, but developers weren’t satisfied with the gadget skill. That means Ovie requires a separate wifi-enabled hub to facilitate voice interaction, though the startup is working to make their tags talk with smart assistants.

 

PantryChic
Dry goods storage company PantryChic pitched onstage at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase, where they captured our attention with their system of connected cannisters and dispensing unit. Together, the two can keep track of your dry goods inventory and portion out precise amounts of each ingredient (see video above for an example).

When Chris Albrecht caught up with the PantryChic team at the International Housewares show in March, they said they would be shipping in August. August has come and gone, and no word on PantryChic, despite multiple attempts to reach out. While that’s certainly worrisome, the enthusiasm around the product — including from our team — shows that there’s certainly a demand for smart dry goods storage.

 

Stasher
Outside of the (resealable) box, Stasher‘s reusable silicone bags make a great alternative to single-use plastic baggies. The company makes resealable bags that they claim are “safer, more flexible, and more sustainable than plastic.” They can be used for sous vide, or as storage to keep snacks, kids’ lunches, and perishable ingredients fresh. Stasher made waves earlier this year when the founder went on Shark Tank and walked away with $400,000 from investor Mark Cuban.

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In researching companies for this piece, I was excited to see so many companies working to disrupt plastic containers, single-use plastic bag, vacuum sealer, and other food storage methods that are practically screaming for a reboot. Many of these new solutions, however, are just that: new. Most of them haven’t even shipped to their backers, which means we’ll have to wait and see if they can follow through on their promises — before they turn stale.

After Years Of Development, PantryChic Smart Dispense System Nears Production

Like many parents, I encourage my kids to get into the kitchen to try their hand at baking cookies, cupcakes or other pastries every now and then. While the benefits of raising young cooks far exceeds any downsides, one of the few complaints I have about my kids’ culinary exploration is the mess of ingredient bags and measuring cups left in their wake, at least until I make them grudgingly head back into the kitchen to clean up after themselves.

All of which has often had me wondering why we haven’t come up with a better way to store and manage ingredients.  In some ways, ingredient storage and management has been stuck in time, benefitting from arrival of low-cost and handy storage systems from the likes of Tupperware and OXO, but yet to benefit from the application of modern technology to streamline the dispensing and measurement of ingredients.

But that will change if Nicole and Christopher Lee have any say in the matter. The married couple have been busy working on the PantryChic storage and dispense system for the past four years, and after a number of starts and stops that included product tweaks, raising funds and the arrival of twins (and a new baby on the way), they are finally pushing the product into production and expect to ship it this year.

I caught up with Christopher at the Housewares Show in Chicago this week to get a tour of the PantryChic system and get an update on the company. According to Christopher, the PantryChic company has had two patents issued and has two more on the way. He also said they are getting significant interest not only retailers and potential consumer product companies who want to license the PantryChic technology, but also from companies specializing in professional and industrial applications who see the PantryChic as a way to enable precise measurement and inventory management of sensitive materials like pharmaceuticals.

As the PantryChic nears production, the company is working on fleshing out the product’s fuller story, including developing an app that guides users through a recipe, as well working on third party platform integrations to enable replenishment of ingredients.

Those looking to get their hands on a PantryChic won’t have much longer to wait. Christopher told me they’ve secured funding and found a manufacturer and expect the PantryChic to ship this year.

You can check my video interview with Christopher above.

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