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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Tyson

Do Consumers Trust Big Food to Make Their Plant-Based Meat? Does It Matter?

When we released our story about Nestlé launching a meat-like, meatless patty dubbed the “Incredible Burger” last week, it sparked some… backlash from our audience. (To be clear: We welcome comments!) Here are a few examples:

https://twitter.com/rebarrett/status/1079005375674834946

Basically, some readers were skeptical that they could trust Nestlé — which, like most Big Food companies, has a less-than-perfect reputation — to make plant-based food sustainably. These reactions made us at the Spoon wonder: as an eating trend (like plant-based food) goes mainstream, will consumers buy products regardless of the company that makes them?

At first, maybe not so much. During a conversation about the evolving plant-based meat market, The Spoon founder Mike Wolf speculated that earlier in the adoption curve people tend to be more value-driven, seeking out certain products motivated by the ethics of the manufacturing process, the sustainability quotient, or the reputation of the parent company. Early adopters often put more value in the ethics and mission of a product, like how Impossible Foods is out to save the planet by reducing meat consumption.

As Big Food companies like Nestlé concentrate on the meat alternatives space, early adopters might be skeptical of their motives and, therefore, their products. However, as you get to what Wolf calls “the Costco consumer” — one who’s more driven by more by price value than by, well, values — the company behind the product might not mean quite as much. These mainstream consumers aren’t buying the product to make a values statement: rather, they’re selecting it because of its reduced cost, good taste, or maybe even branding. In general, they won’t boycott a product because they don’t like the ethics of the company who makes it.

This sort of apathetic consumerism might grate with the more woke shoppers. But in a weird way, it shouldn’t. Young startups are all well and good, and have been doing a great job drumming up consumer interest in meat-like meat alternatives. However, if plant-based (and, down the road, cell-based) meat has a prayer of actually disrupting the industrial meat industry, Big Food pretty much needs to be involved.

Of course, how they get involved is important, too — in no way should Big Food companies get carte blanche. They shouldn’t use their sizeable market muscles to force out startups who are on a mission, or stifle new companies. Environmental concerns are also top of mind: plants may be more sustainable than meat, but Nestlé still has to be conscious the makings its ingredients, manufacturing processes, and packaging as sustainable as possible.

Tyson Foods has a 5 percent stake in Beyond Meat. (Photo: Beyond Meat.)

All this to say, some people — especially early adopters — might not like how Big Food companies entering the meat-like meat alternatives market with their Incredible burgers and vegan hot dogs. That’s perfectly alright. These objectors don’t have to get their plant-based protein from major CPG companies; there are plenty of other delicious options which, at least from the outside, seem to have the ethical upper hand.

But giant CPG companies like Nestlé have the manufacturing power, global reach, and distribution channels that can help plant-based meat go from (relatively) niche product to mainstream food staple: one that costs the same as or less than conventional meat. In order for alterna-meats to really catch on, they have to be within reach for the “Costco consumer.” And that pretty much inevitably means working with Big Food — even Nestlé.

Do you agree? Is getting Big Food involved the only way that meat alternatives can go mainstream? Sound off in the comments or on Twitter @TheSpoonTech! 

With the Growth of “Bleeding” Burgers, How are the Tofurky’s of the World Faring?

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods forever changed the plant-based meat industry when they rolled onto the scene with vegan burgers that looked, cooked, and tasted like the real thing. A veggie burger used to mean a patty made of black beans, quinoa, and a few vegetables. It was usually reserved for vegetarians and vegans, and many carnivores didn’t see a reason to go near it.

But now there’s a new consumer group in town: the flexitarian. Flexitarians are working to cut down on their meat consumption, and, for a growing number, that means turning to plant-based meats to replace the real thing. That’s exactly who Beyond and Impossible are targeting. Their meat-like burgers (and, in Beyond’s case, chicken strips and sausage) are specifically meant to appeal to consumers who don’t want a black bean burger but something as close to a beef burger as you can get without the cow.

Recently I got curious: If meat-like meat alternatives are all the rage and catalyzing huge growth in the plant-based meat category, how are the OG, less “sexy” veggie burgers and soy-sausages faring? The Boca burgers? The Tofurkys? The Field Roast sausages?

According to Erin Ransom, Director of Marketing for Tofurky, these early vegan food companies are doing quite well for themselves right now. She explained that the growing popularity of plant-based foods, spurred by media darlings like Beyond and Impossible, has translated to increased demand for the veteran vegan meat companies, too.

Dan Curtin, President of Greenleaf Foods, which includes vegan meat companies Lightlife and Field Roast, also acknowledges the impact that Beyond and Impossible have had on the plant-based meat category. “What [they’ve] done is bring attention to this category and help support it,” he told me over the phone.

Photo: Field Roast sausages.

On one hand, that growth is great for the plant-based meat industry. It means that vegan proteins are more widely accessible (and appealing) to people across the country, not just in urban areas. On the other, that uptick in demand translates to pressure on the manufacturers to increase production. Tofurky, for example, is having difficulty filling their orders. They’re not alone: companies like Beyond Meat have also been experiencing difficulty keeping their products on shelves. “It’s a unique conundrum,” said Ransom.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for plant-based meat companies to fulfill demand. But, as Ransom told me, it probably won’t be a single solution. Existing players will build more production facilities. Supply chains will become more sophisticated, and technology more efficient. Investment will (continue to) pour into the space. More small startups will enter the market. So will Big Food, including industrial meat companies, who can help amp up production capacity for plant-based meats and also ensure good product placement on retail shelves.

Though they may be grateful for the influence of Beyond/Impossible, that doesn’t mean veteran vegan meat companies will try to copy their meat-like products exactly. “We’re not chasing the ‘bleeding anomaly’ [of the Impossible burger],” Ransom told me.

But the effects are clear. Tofurky is working to ensure their newer products, from shredded “chicken” to vegan ham, have the same taste, texture, and mouthfeel as animal protein. Earlier this year Boca Burgers reformulated and rebranded their classic veggie patty, making their burgers bigger and “meatier” to appeal to flexitarians. Lightlife’s website claims its products are “meat without the Middleman.” They may not be trying to make a bleeding burger, but they are definitely trying to make a meat-like burger.

One thing I wonder is how vegetarians and vegans feel about all this. If they don’t want to eat meat in the first place, will they want to eat plant-based meat that is trying to act like meat? Or are companies like Field Roast and Boca alienating their original consumers as they reformulate to appeal more to flexitarians?

As of now, most of these vegan meat veterans still offer classic products like black bean and quinoa burgers. But if flexitarianism continues to grow (and I don’t see why it wouldn’t) vegan meat companies will likely continue to shift their image to become meat companies. The meat just happens to be made out of plants.

Video: For Investors, the Food Space is “The Next Big Thing”

“As investors, we always look for the next big thing… and the food industry is the next big thing to get involved in.”

That’s how Brian Frank, founder of FTW Ventures, kicked off the food tech investment panel at the 2018 Smart Kitchen Summit. He was joined onstage by Carmen Palafox, partner at Make in L.A.; Tom Mastrobuoni, CFO of Tyson Ventures; and the Spoon’s Ashley Daigneault.

Indeed, it seems like the time is ripe for investment up and down the food supply chain. Like, for example, the shift towards meat alternatives; a growing consumer demand with which protein giant Tyson Foods is very familiar. But instead of simply staking out their territory, Tyson, which produces 35 million chickens per week, decided to capitalize on this trend and invest in its disruptors: from plant-based Beyond Meat to cell-based Memphis Meats.

“We look at technology from two angles; how applicable is this to our supply chain, or how disruptive is this to our supply chain going forward?” said Mastrobuoni. “We all diversify.”

Palafox agreed that timing is a key aspect of investment. “A lot has to do with cultural shifts and the way that people are thinking about food safety,” she added. For example, her firm, which focuses on hardware, recently invested in Pathspot, a device which scans restaurant employees’ hands to test for pathogens. “They’re trying to change culture from within food chains.”

Of course, not all food innovations work seamlessly (cough, meal kits). During the panel, Frank admitted that he had accidentally stolen a shopping bag from the Amazon Go store. “Amazon spends millions and millions of dollars to develop a system to track you in their store, yet they don’t track the bags,” he said. “And this is where I think that technology as a service for these things is still evolving.”

There are a lot of other really rich observations and smart takeaways in this panel, plus some smart insight into food system investment. Check out the video below to hear what this diverse group of investors is most excited (and worried) about in the food tech space, and how they think we’ll all be sourcing, cooking, and eating food in the future.

Defining Strategies For Investing In Food Tech

For more videos of panels, fireside chats, and startup pitches from the 2018 Smart Kitchen Summit head to our YouTube channel!

Video: Plant-Based, Cellular, and Sustainable — What is the Future of Meat?

Cell-based meat (also known as “clean” and “lab-grown” meat) is set to hit the market by the end of 2018, even though the FDA and USDA are still figuring out how to regulate it. At the same time, plant-based meat companies are seeing unprecedented levels of consumer interest and investment, even from Big Meat companies.

Watch as our panel from the 2018 Smart Kitchen Summit, featuring Tom Mastrobuoni of Tyson Ventures, Christie Lagally of Seattle Food Tech, and Thomas Bowman of JUST, Inc., explores the challenges and opportunities of the future of meat: plant-based, cell-based, and otherwise.

Plant-Based, Cellular & Sustainable: Exploring The Future of Meat

Look out for more videos of the panels, solo talks, and fireside chats from SKS 2018! We’ll be bringing them to you hot and fresh out the (smart) kitchen over the next few weeks.

Oscar Mayer and Tyson Jump Into the “Is it a Sandwich” Debate

The debate over what makes a sandwich a sandwich is a tried and true one. And while we all may have our own personal breaded hill on which we’ll die, two food giants jumped into the fray recently to re-ignite the debate just in time for family bickering gatherings at Thanksgiving.

First up is Oscar Mayer which declared earlier this week that hot dogs are a sandwich. As you turn green and potentially hulk out with rage, it’s just that type of reaction that Oscar Mayer seems to be, err, relishing.

As part of it’s bold, divisive proclamation, Oscar Mayer doubled down and practically said “Come at me, bro!” as the company taunted people on twitter set up a hotline for those riled up to call and argue about it. (The hotline was only open for 24 hours).

Of course, you have to take this sort of corporate rabble rousing with 420 mg of salt. This is, after all the company that released “Bacoin,” the bitcoin knock-off earlier this year.

While I don’t agree with Oscar Mayer’s take, at least a hot dog comes wrapped with bread on either side. Jimmy Dean, a division of Tyson Foods, just decided to chuck that notion altogether with its bit or corporate stuntery.

In a blog post yesterday, Tyson announced the launch of Jimmy Dean Delights Egg’wich. Think of it as a triple-layered-package of protein. This vegan nightmare has turkey sausage nestled between two slices of… egg frittatas.

The blog post goes on to petition Merriam-Webster to update their definition of sandwich, but honestly that feels like a step too far and just joking the joke at that point. We get it, Tyson.

Both bits of corporate tomfoolery were in advance of yesterday’s National Sandwich Day, a real thing, btw, and were meant to drum up some free PR. So well played, giant meat corporations, well played. Your move, Subway.

Innit Partners With Tyson To Bring Packaged Food Giant Into The Smart Kitchen

By selling one in every five pounds of chicken, beef or pork in the US, it’s safe to say that Tyson Foods is responsible for a whole bunch of the food that goes onto consumer plates.

And now, if smart kitchen platform company Innit has its way, consumers will soon be cooking all that meat (and maybe eventually some of the lab-grown stuff) with the help of QR codes, Google smart displays and connected appliances.

That’s the vision anyway that will be on display this weekend in New York City as the company demos an integration developed by Tyson at the Food Loves Tech conference. According to Innit CEO Kevin Brown, the company will show off its integration with GE ovens and a Google smart display.

The demo will start “with a QR code on a package of Tyson protein, connecting via Google Assistant to Innit, and sending an expert cook program to a GE oven (that is) tailored to that SKU,” said Brown via email.

It makes sense that Innit, who has been busy partnering with big appliance brands like GE, LG and Electrolux over the past year, now has its sights set on packaged food brands. The company, which acquired Shopwell in 2017 and recently relaunched that platform at Smart Kitchen Summit, has a huge database of CPG information that it can tie directly to optimized recipes.

As for Tyson, partnering with a company like Innit makes sense as well. Through Innit’s integration with Google Assistant, packaged food brands like Tyson can get recipes and integrated advertising onto what is a rapidly growing installed base of smart displays. This deal could also allow them to create cook instructions optimized for specific appliance brands (350 degrees in a GE oven might be slightly different than 350 degrees in LG or Whirlpool) and have them sent directly to the oven.

The news caps off a busy time for Innit. Not only did they launch their app into the UK this past week, they will also unveil the first fruits of their partnership with small appliance division of Philips. The company will show how a Phillips air fryer is discoverable within the My Appliances section of the Innit app and how a home cook has access to “appliance-aware modular meals with video guidance on how to use the appliance,” according to Brown.

Stepping back, the move to integrate packaged food providers into the connected kitchen marks a step forward in the space as companies like Innit try to tie together the various pieces of the cooking journey. At the Smart Kitchen Summit last month, one of the issues brought up on stage was the need for greater connections between the various platforms to enable more seamless digital-powered cooking experiences. While fragmentation isn’t going away anytime soon, the connection between food and appliance is an important one and it will be interesting to see if other big CPG brands get on board with the connected kitchen.

Tyson Is Trying (Successfully) to Take Over the Protein Market. Is That a Bad Thing?

Last week, food traceability company FoodLogiQ announced that protein giant Tyson Foods will use its tech to improve food safety and increase transparency.

Tyson, which produces roughly one out of every five pounds of beef, chicken, and pork consumed in the U.S., plans to use FoodLogiQ’s tech to streamline supplier management and track their product throughout the supply chain. This could be valuable in the case of a recall of a contaminated product, but it’s also a useful branding tool for them in the age when people want to know everything about their chicken, from where it was raised to whether or not it had many friends.

This move in and of itself isn’t surprising, or even that remarkable. Tyson Foods is also an investor in FoodLogiQ and is already working with the Durham, North Carolina-based startup on their blockchain for food pilot. But it does illustrate Tyson’s mission to dominate the protein market throughout the supply chain.

Clearly, they’re doing pretty well. Not only does the corporation produce more meat than anyone else, they’ve also been investing pretty heavily in plant-based meat alternatives and cultured meat companies. This May, they led a $2.2 million seed round for Israeli clean meat company Future Meat just a few months after making an undisclosed investment in cultured meat company Memphis Meats. Tyson also nabbed a 5 percent stake in plant-based protein company Beyond Meat in 2016, and made a follow-up investment the next year.

Tyson Ventures CFO Tom Mastrobuoni shed some light on this investment strategy at the Smart Kitchen Europe in Dublin this June: “We’re on to disruption now,” he told the audience. “Some of the startups we’re investing in are out to get us.”

Investing in their competition is a smart move for Tyson. By diversifying their company, they’re hedging their bets; now and in the future, they want to be seen as a company that was on the cutting edge, not lagging behind. And as demand for plant-based protein grows, along with interest in forthcoming “clean meat,” their new investment strategy is getting them kudos and a ton of (chiefly positive) press.

Beyond Meat’s plant-based sausage patties.

Despite the buzz they’ve been generating about their alterna-meat investments, Tyson clearly isn’t done with its carnivorous ways. Last week they acquired meat supplier Keystone Foods — who most notably sold chicken for McDonald’s nuggets — for $2.1 billion.

On one hand, as Food Dive pointed out, this is a no-brainer. After all, Tyson Foods is known, first and foremost, for chicken production. Acquiring a company which supplies chicken to the second largest fast-food chain in the world makes sense. But it clearly illustrates that they’re not looking solely to alterna-meats for the future. Buying Keystone Foods is another step in Tyson’s journey to become the reigning global protein power; it seems like the company doesn’t particularly care which type of protein(s) that includes.

A logical investment for Tyson would be Seattle Food Tech, a startup working to industrialize the plant-based meat industry so that meat alternatives can be made at cheaply and at a large scale. We broke the news in April that the company had raised a $1 million seed round, and they were one of TechCrunch’s 10 favorite startups from the latest Y Combinator batch. They’re still pretty small-scale right now, but that would probably mean Tyson could get in at a decent price, and provide Seattle Food Tech with a way to scale its manufacturing process.

If we want to know what Tyson will do next, look to the consumer. As interest in food delivery, smart kitchen appliances, and food waste repurposing grows, Tyson has also started to invest in those spaces. Consumers have a growing interest in plant-based protein, but they’re also eating more meat than ever before. As long as people want chicken nuggets from, well, chickens, Tyson will give it to them.

Their “throw it at a wall and see what sticks” approach isn’t a bad one. In fact, their willingness to experiment and invest in newer companies — especially ones that seem to compete with them directly — is admirable, and displays some serious agility for such a large company.

It’s also unique. A few of Tyson’s competitors are also widening their scope to include meat alternatives, though none quite so thoroughly. Most notable is Cargill, which is the third-largest meat producer in the U.S., also invested in Memphis Meats. The fourth and fifth largest meat producers, Smithfield (which was acquired by the largest pork producer in China in 2013) and Hormel Foods have made no significant investment in alternative meat companies.

Tyson, which is the largest meat producer in the country, is also the one willing to experiment the most and invest in a wide range of their competitors. I think that their ability to keep a finger on the pulse of consumer trends — and then take action to get in on them — will keep them on top.

If you want to hear CFO of Tyson Ventures Tom Mastrobuoni speak more about Big Food investment strategy, join us at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle on October 8-9th! Get your tickets here. 

Tyson Leads $2.2 Million Investment for Israeli Startup Future Meat

Tyson just announced a new name on the list of alterna-meat manufacturers it backs: Future Meat.

Tyson co-led the Israeli based startup’s $2.2 million seed round, in which the Neto Group, S2G Ventures, BitsXBites, and Agrinnovation also participated.

Future Meat manufactures animal fat and muscle cells for meat without ever having to actually raise and slaughter animals, and without genetic modification. Right now, this is a fairly expensive process: current production costs are $10,000 per kilogram, according to the company’s Chief Scientist, Yaakov Nahmias.”We redesigned the manufacturing process until we brought it down to $800 per kilogram today, with a clear roadmap to $5-10 per kg by 2020,” he said in a press release. 

If Future Meat can make that cost efficiency a reality, it could very well be an enormous advantage for the company in terms of how it stacks up to competitors. And as one expert noted earlier this year, price and taste are two crucial factors for any company looking to make an impact in alterna meats.

The company is also looking to get away from using fetal bovine serum, which is widely known as the key to lab-grown meat right now. No doubt some of the new funds—which Future Meat says are for engineering activities and biological research—will go into developing an alternative element. Future Meat is currently looking for engineers, chefs, and scientists.

The company is one of a growing number of startups and initiatives making alternative forms of meat a reality. Memphis Meats, another Tyson investment, also makes lab-grown meat and raised an undisclosed sum at the beginning of 2018. And last summer, JUST (formerly Hampton Creek), said it would bring lab-grown meat to market by the end of this year. There’s also Integriculture, who not only makes clean meat but is also trying to develop “agricultural-scale cell culture” for uses beyond food.

Meanwhile, it seems there’s a “clean meat revolution” happening in Israel. The country is home to not just Future meat, but also SuperMeat, who recently raised $3 million Meanwhile, Soglowek, a big-time meat producer in Israel, just announced its plans to donate 20 percent of profits to SuperMeat, in addition to launching its own plant-based meat label.

None of this is very coincidental, since Israel is both a leader in tissue engineering and home to the largest number of vegans per capita in the world. And with companies like Tyson and Soglowek backing both lab-grown and plant-based meat concepts, it’s looking like the future of meat is less of an either-or scenario and more about finding the most sustainable, cost-effective, and tasty alternative.

 

 

Flashfood and Tyson Partner to Fight Food Waste and Help Food Deserts

If you’re even vaguely interested in the issue of food waste, you’ve probably got the vital stats memorized by now: Forty percent of U.S. food goes to waste. Food waste costs the world $1 trillion annually. And my personal (least) favorite: in the U.S., we waste enough food to fill a college football stadium. Meanwhile, there are 793 million people on earth (PDF) who are starving, and 42.2 Americans living in food deserts (areas without easy access to fresh and healthy food). Not to get all didactic, but something’s definitely rotten in the state of modern food.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. In fact, we’re now in an era where people and organizations aren’t just talking (or writing) about these issues; they’re actually working to fix them.

One such project is the recently announced partnership between Flashfood and Tyson (hat-tip to Fooddive). Together, the two are offering U.S. customers boxes of surplus foods through a direct-to-consumer e-commerce program called flashfoodbox. The 90-day pilot program just kicked off in Detroit, on Earth Day (April 22).

Flashfood successfully runs a similar program (Tyson is not involved) in its native Canada. Tyson, meanwhile, has been donating surplus food to various organizations for years.

Flashfood works directly with the farmers to select produce for the boxes, while Tyson’s role is to donate surplus meats that are perfectly safe to eat but can’t be sold in U.S. grocery stores (e.g., improperly cut chicken breasts). Produce comes from greenhouse growers and farmers across the U.S. “This is all Farm Fresh product, equally as fresh as what you’d see in the store, just rejected from retailers for aesthetic reasons,” says Flashfood CEO and founder, Josh Domingues. After selecting and receiving the food, Flashfood packages and ships the boxes.

To get a box, interested folks can head to the Flashfood website or app, where they have the option to make either a one-time purchase for $44.99 or buy a subscription for 10 percent less. Each box is temperature controlled and contains 15 pounds of surplus food: a combination of produce and protein. Customers can also purchase a box as a donation to Detroit-based food rescue program Forgotten Harvest. The site offers recipes to use when cooking the surplus food.

The catalyst for Flashfood was a phone call Domingues had with his sister, a chef, who had just wrapped a catering event by throwing out $4,000 worth of unused food. After much more reading and research on the topic, Domingues, who worked in finance at the time, found himself pondering the idea of an app specifically designed to help people find unwanted food from restaurants, grocers, and farmers, then sell that food at heavily discounted prices. “I thought about how many other people could benefit,” he says. Young families, students, recent grads with $50,000 worth of debt . . . the list goes on. And, of course, at the top of that list are those living in food deserts — that is, areas where access to fresh, quality food is uncertain and inconsistent.

“Food deserts are a result of city builds based on wealth distribution,” says Domingues. “And when people live outside certain boundaries, they don’t have access to fresh food.”

Why Detroit? “[We want] a city that we think could really benefit people and provide them with fresh produce and protein,” Domingues explains. “Detroit is going through a really fascinating resurgence and we want to be there for it. It’s a city that’s right across the border from Canada. It’s a city that not a lot of tech companies would target.”

The fact that Flashfood is targeting cities that aren’t, in Domingues’ words, “sexy” for tech companies to set up shop is an important part of their overall mission. While the company isn’t actively avoiding the San Franciscos and Austins of the world, getting in on the action, so to speak, in the startup world is not a priority. For Flashfood, the action lies elsewhere: “Sure there’s technology involved in what we’re building, but this is much more technology,” he says. “We’re building a marketplace to fix the failure of modern day food.”

 

Big Food Invests In The Future: A Talk With Tyson Ventures’ Tom Mastrobuoni

If you’ve listened to an investor conference call for a big food company lately, there’s a good chance you know the following:

  • Consumers are asking for healthier options and want to understand better where their food comes from.
  • The world’s population continues to grow in the face of an increasingly stressed food ecosystem.
  • Food brands are increasingly establishing direct relationships with consumers and exploring new business models that represent big departures from traditional food retail.

In short, big food is being forced to think about the future.

Some of the ways they are doing this are through partnerships, incubation and accelerator initiatives and establishing direct investment arms. Tyson Foods is doing all of the above, and one of the people at the heart of the company’s investment efforts is Tom Mastrobuoni, the CFO for Tyson Ventures, our guest for this week’s episode of the Smart Kitchen Show podcast.

One of the things I talk to Tom about Tyson’s recent investment in Tovala. The deal was interesting to me because it was Tyson’s first investment in a connected kitchen and food delivery startup, joining the group’s other investments in clean meat startups Beyond Meat and Memphis Meats.

Tom and I also talk about how Tyson and other companies are thinking about technologies such as AI, Blockchain and much more.

Have a listen below, download here or subscribe on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).

Tyson Bets On Home Food Delivery & Smart Kitchen With Investment In Tovala

Today Tyson Foods announced they have invested an undisclosed amount in Tovala, maker of smart steam ovens that pair with ready-to-cook home delivered meals. The investment comes on the heels of a $9.2 million series A announced in December. As part of the deal, Tyson will add an observer to Tovala’s board in Tyson Ventures managing director Reese Schroeder.

According to Tovala CEO David Rabie, the deal made sense for them as they started to look toward expanding the Tovala platform beyond their own meals.

“Over time, we will have other brands on the platform where we can automate the cooking, similar to how it works with Tovala meals,” said Rabie in an interview with The Spoon. “This (Tyson) is the first brand and harbinger of what’s to come.”

The move comes at an interesting time for big food companies like Tyson. Consumer packaged good providers are continuing to look for ways to reach the consumer as Amazon continues to wreak havoc on the retail landscape and consumers are increasingly exploring fresh food choices. Home food delivery is seen a potentially interesting – if still yet somewhat unproven – route to the consumer. The move by Tyson follows investments by other big food companies like Nestle, Unilever and Campbell into the home food delivery space.

What’s different about the Tyson’s investment is that with Tovala, they are also moving into the connected kitchen space. Tovala, an alum of the 2016 Smart Kitchen Summit startup showcase, is part of a growing trend of startups looking to pair food delivery with a smart cooking appliance.  Sous vide circulator startups like Nomiku and ChefSteps have both ventured into food delivery, and just this week Suvie, a new startup from the founder of Reviewed.com, is kicking off a Kickstarter campaign for a cooking robot that pairs with the company’s own meal kit delivery. Smart kitchen operating system startup Innit has hinted they will be working with white-label meal kit company Chef’d later this year.

It will be interesting to see where this trend combining automated, assisted cooking combined with meal delivery goes. For companies like Tovala and Suvie, meal delivery provides a form of recurring revenue that more hardware-specific startups like June struggle with. On the other hand, the logistical challenges of building out meal delivery services add more complexity to creating a company. Long term, all of these companies are chasing the idea of creating greater convenience for the consumer. It will no doubt be interesting to see which companies get the combination right and begin to see traction in 2018 and beyond.

VCs and Big Food Sink Money into Future of Food Startups

A clear sign of maturation for the startup food-tech sector is reflected by the entry of new venture capital from tradition VC firms as well as big names in the food industry. Along with an array of global venture capitalists, Campbell’s, Tyson Foods and General Mills have established multimillion-dollar funds to support new companies in a myriad array of future of food entrepreneurs.

Two areas within the food technology sector that are the focus for investment are meal delivery and grocery delivery. According to VC tracker, CB Insights, in its November 2016 report, the market shifted in Q3 2016 when 30 deals related to meal delivery surpassed the 27 in the grocery delivery sector. The individual investments for the meal delivery marketplace appear to be smaller than grocery delivery, as the total for grocery delivery was higher at $406 million, compared with $376 million for meal delivery. In addition, one deal for a meal-delivery startup, London-based Deliveroo, was for $275 million –accounting for 70% of that area’s Q3 dollars.

Others food-tech firms receiving large Q3 VC investments were Fresh Direct with $189 million and meal service Home Chef with $40 million.

Between the meal delivery and grocery delivery space lives another emerging space receiving more than its share of funding. Companies such as Blue Apron, which offer meal-kit subscriptions, sell pre-packaged groceries that align to specific step-by-step recipes. Satisfying the grocery and meal delivery crowds, meal kits offer the convenience of skipping the supermarket combined with the joy of simple cooking. Blue Apron has received more than $500 million in VC funding today, including money from Bessemer and First Round Capital. The company is reported to have more than a $1 billion valuation.

Not to be left behind, major food brands have set up venture funds which serve the dual purpose of protection against future market trends as well as smart capital management. Tyson Foods launched Tyson New Ventures in December 2016 to expand beyond its 5% interest in plant-based protein startup Beyond Meat. The Tyson fund will be managed by Mary Kay James, a former managing partner in DuPont Ventures. Her previous interest was in biotech and specialty food products. In the case of Tyson, a leading producer of poultry and meat, investing in new forms of proteins protects, and simultaneously positions, the company against major consumer shifts in eating habits.

In February 2016, New Jersey-based Campbell’s Soup Company launched Acre Venture Partners with initial fund totaling $125 million. To date Acre has invested in food safety startup, Sample6; agricultural data provider, Farmers Business Network; urban farming’s Back to the Roots and home juicing manufacturer Juicero. As with other food companies investing in startups, this lineup provides Campbell’s access to either distribution opportunities, new channels or expanded uses for its existing products.

In October 2105, General Mills launched 301 Inc, a business development and funding arm focused on early-stage food companies. To date, 301 Inc has invested in Beyond Meat, Kite Hill (vegan non-dairy products), and Tio Gazpacho, a bottled-soup manufacturer.