Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Sweden

Swedish Grocery Delivery Service Vembla Raises 6M SEK

Vembla, a Swedish delivery service for groceries and other goods, told The Spoon via email today that it has raised 6 million Swedish Krona (~$704,000 USD) from angel investors including Tuomas Kukkonen (FMCG entrepreneur in Finland), Michael Wolf (ex CEO of Swedbank), Manfred Aronsson (ex. CEO Discovery Networks).

Similar to Instacart here in the U.S., Vembla is an app that partners with local grocery stores in Sweden. Customers shop at stores on the Vembla app, while Vembla “shoppers” go in and pick up the order and deliver it. The startup promises to deliver orders in an hour.

According to the press announcement that Vembla sent, online grocery shopping in Sweden hit 5 percent of total sales in 2020, up from 2 percent in 2019. That growth is projected to continue to hit nearly 7 percent of total sales in 2022 (Source: Industry reports, DI, Nordea).

We aren’t that well versed in the Scandinavian grocery market, but it stands to reason that the COVID-19 pandemic would have a similar effect in Sweden as it has here in the U.S. Even though Sweden has been more lax in its approach to tackling the virus.

Domestically, the pandemic pushed online grocery shopping to record heights this year. Over the next five years, online grocery shopping is projected to take up 21.5 percent of all grocery sales in the U.S.

The bigger question for pure delivery plays like Vembla and Instacart is how long retailers will rely on them. Right now, third-party delivery services can help with the crush of new customers. But over the long haul, will retailers want to keep handing over the customer relationship to an outside delivery service, or do more investment to bring delivery in-house?

What Sweden’s Quirky Food Tech Scene Could Mean for the Rest of the World

From parental leave policies to sustainability initiatives, Sweden is typically considered one of the most forward-thinking nations on earth.So it’s no surprise the country consistently pops up in food tech conversations, often for unusual projects that seem quirky at first glance but can actually tell us a lot about how tech is changing the way we eat.

Like making customers do what’s essentially a blind taste-test to see if they can tell the difference between a plant-based burger and the real deal. The famed Impossible Burger isn’t available in Europe right now, but that didn’t stop Burger King from using Vivera’s plant-based patty to create a version of its Whopper — and betting customers can’t discern the difference between it and a regular meat-based one.

To drive that point home, BK in Sweden launched the “50/50 menu” at the beginning of July where customers order BK’s signature burger and have a 50/50 chance of getting a meat version or the plant-based version. The only way to tell which is which is to scan a QR code on the wrapper.

It’s a gimmick, to be sure, but as my colleague Catherine Lamb pointed out, it’s also a way to get better data on plant-based offerings: “It will get a record of every consumer’s reaction to the sandwiches, and be able to quantify how often people are actually duped by the vegetarian alternatives.”

More data like this could give Burger King a realistic picture of how much customers actually want plant-based fast food — a useful lesson for businesses in any part of the world.

Or you could just hand your customers a picnic blanket. That’s what McDonald’s in Sweden did earlier this summer to promote its initiatives around delivering to public spaces via geofencing technologies. Customers scan a QR code on the picnic blanket to shoot their geographic information to a third-party delivery service, who will deliver a McDonald’s meal from the chain’s nearest location.

The idea isn’t specific to Sweden: companies like Domino’s and 7-Eleven also deliver to public locations rather than a numbered addresses. But there’s something more attention-grabbing about scanning a picnic blanket than simply logging into an app. PR stunt though it may be, it suggests a whole new avenue of possibilities when it comes to using everyday objects and settings in life to ramp up the food delivery business.

On a more ambitious level, come September 3, restaurant-goers in Stockholm will be able to experience what science, technology, academic research, design, and cooking look like when bundled together to form a single sustainable restaurant.

Restauranglabbet (“the restaurant lab”) will test numerous sustainability measures under one roof, from curbing food waste to cooking with more local, sustainable ingredients to measuring carbon footprint and using only eco-friendly materials in furniture design and production.

We won’t know how successful the project is until Restauranglabbet’s doors open on September 3, but no doubt there will be pieces of restaurant innovation coming out of the lab the whole world should take note of.

Elsewhere, a company in Stockholm called Diaz & Swahn is experimenting inside and outside the restaurant with how sound can affect the way food tastes to people. And a company called Local Food Node makes a digital platform that allows users to connect with local food producers by creating nodes that function as delivery and pickup spots for the food.

Will we be seeing QR-enabled picnic loot and sound-centric restaurants in the States anytime soon? Probably in part, particularly when it comes to building a more sustainable restaurant and finding new avenues for food delivery. In any case, keep your eye on Sweden one to watch for finding more innovative, scalable ways to integrate tech meaningfully into our food lives.

Oatly Brought the Oat Milk Craze to America. Now They’re Hustling Not to Lose Their Grip

Chances are if you’re going to a fancy coffee shop, you’ll have the option to swap the cow’s milk in your latte for almond, soy, or oat milk.

If you haven’t heard of the last option, you’re kind of behind the times (don’t worry, that was me until recently). Oat milk is on a path to soon usurp almond milk as the top alterna-milk in coffee shops around the U.S. According to Nielsen, oat milk sales grew by 50 percent from 2017 to 2018, while almond milk sales grew only 11 percent.

Oat milk lovers can thank one company in particular for kickstarting the oat milk craze to the U.S. Ironically, they’re from Sweden.

Founded in 1994 in Malmo, Oatly was developed by brothers Bjorn and Rickard Oste, who were looking for a sustainable alternative to dairy milk. They began experimenting with oats and later patented their oat milk production process. In 2001 they launched a consumer-facing brand.

Oatly may have been around quite a while, but recently it has been experiencing meteoric growth. When I spoke to Bjorn Oste on the phone (who’s now on the board of Oatly’s parent company), he told me it took the company 18 years to reach a billion kronor (~$104 million) in sales. In the past year, they’ve doubled that number.

Oatly’s sales really started to climb when they made their way into the U.S. in 2016. They originally started out in coffee shops, but now their business is split 50/50 between cafés and retail. Oatly products are now in over U.S. 1,500 grocery stores including Whole Foods and Target. It’s also in over 2,500 coffee shops.

Unsurprisingly, Oatly’s explosive uptick in sales has brought its fair share of problems. The company is currently struggling with product shortages. To address this demand, Oatly — which is so secretive about its technology it doesn’t like to outsource production to copackers — recently cut the ribbon on a plant in New Jersey: its first in the U.S. They’re already building another plant in Utah set to open early next year.

“When we launched [in the U.S.] it was very hard to predict growth,” said Oste. “It’s been a shocking reception.” In fact, Oste told me that the non-dairy market is actually bigger here than in Oatly’s native Europe.

Photo: Oatly.

Oatly’s entrance into the U.S. was also strategically timed to take advantage of the growing alternative protein market. “We’re seeing a paradigm shift towards plant-based consumption,” Mike Messersmith, General Manager of Oatly, told me over the phone. He explained that Oatly waited to enter the U.S. until they thought that the market was strong enough to support their product.

And strong it is. Nielsen data indicates that sales of plant-based milk beverages rose 9 percent in 2017-18 and took in $1.6 billion. This growth is driven by flexitarians who are eschewing dairy milk for health or environmental reasons. Oatly is lactose-free and also friendly for those with nut allergies. It’s also markedly more sustainable than dairy from a cow and also takes much less water than almond milk, which attracts ethically-motivated Gen Z and millennial consumers.

As always in the alternative protein space, taste is king. A product can be sustainable as all get out, but if it doesn’t taste delicious in your coffee or poured over your cereal, it’s not going to make it. “Customers want to choose plant-based options without feeling like they’re compromising,” Messersmith said. With its creamy, latté art-friendly milk, Oatly seems to have nailed the taste and texture aspects.

Other companies are quickly trying to cash in on oat milk’s popularity. PepsiCo launched its own line of the beverage through Quaker Oats, and major brands like Califia Farms are also selling the oaty drink.

I haven’t taste tested every oat milk out there, but judging purely from what I’ve seen Oatly truly does seem to have at least the coffee shop market cornered (when it’s in stock). According to Oste, they have an advantage because unlike other companies, they have complete control of the entire production system. They even have founded a company which creates new non-GMO oat varieties that have higher protein and fat contents.

Oatly doesn’t seem to have any interest in making an “Almondly” or “Soyly,” either. Oste told me that over the years retailers had asked them to expand their repertoire and branch out into other milk alternatives, but he wasn’t tempted. “Pretty much anyone can make soy or almond milk,” he said. But when it comes to oat milk, “[we] own the space.”

For now, that might be true. Now Oatly has to ramp up production to maintain customer loyalty. With their first U.S. factory newly up and running and their second underway, it seems like they’ll be able to.

Next up, Oste hinted that the company might bring some of their other oat-filled products — like ice cream, savory spreads, and heavy cream — to the U.S. With the dairy-free ice cream market alone projected to hit $1 billion by 2024, I’d say that’s a pretty smart move.

Are Soy Burgers Enough to Tempt Meat Lovers? Sweden’s Oumph! is Counting on It

There’s a new plant-based burger in town, and its name is Oumph!

And by town, I mean Europe. The latest offering from Swedish company Food for Progress, the new Oumph! burger (pronounced “Oomph!”) is soy-based — like Oumph!’s entire plant-based product lineup — and gets its red, beefy color from beets.

In fact, after speaking with Oumph! marketing director Henrik Åkerman, the burger seems to be made only out of soy and beet juice.

I haven’t tried the Oumph! burger yet and don’t know what sort of technology goes into transforming their products. However, my gut tells me that with an ingredient list like that (read: basically just soy) it’ll be hard to stack up to other meat-like vegan burgers, like Beyond and Impossible. The latter two companies have spent years tweaking their burger recipes in labs, harnessing technology and different ingredient ratios in an attempt to make plants taste better than beef from a cow. Impossible even went so far as to genetically engineer heme to emulate the taste of blood. I’m skeptical that a burger made out of what seems like just soy with some beet juice for color could tempt people away from beef in the same way.

Some of Oumph’s other offerings [Photo: Oumph website.]

The Oumph! burger debuted last week in Stockholm’s Fastfood & Cafe, and will roll out in Scandinavia, the U.K. and Singapore early this spring. According to Åkerman, a two-pack of quarter-pound patties will retail for around €3.5 ($3.95). Compared to Beyond, which costs £5.50 ($7.00) for two patties, that’s a steal.

The company intends to sell the new plant-based burgers both through retail channels and in restaurants, though they have yet to reveal any specific partners. However, they currently sell their other plant-based products in supermarkets throughout Scandinavia, as well as in Tesco and Whole Foods stores in the U.K., so we can safely assume the new Oumph! burger will make an appearance over there during the next few months.

If so, that means that in the U.K. they’ll have to compete with Beyond, which debuted in Tesco at the end of 2018. But there’s plenty of room for more vegan “meat” offerings. Demand for plant-based food is on the rise: according to Mordor Intelligence, between now and 2023 the European plant-based protein market will increase at a CAGR of 7.1 percent.

Grocery stores are taking note of the growing demand for plant-based foods. In fact, Tesco recently increased its vegetarian and vegan offerings after observing that sales of refrigerated and frozen plant-based products rose by 50 percent in 2018.

“Beyond and Impossible have done a great job, but there is definitely room for some competition,” Åkerman told me. I’m just not sure if soy will be giving them much of a run for their money.