Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Whole Foods

Food Tech News Roundup: Grocery E-Commerce, Food Fraud & Cooking Robot Goes Beta

Food tech news time! We had quite a few updates on the Spoon this week, too. Chris Albrecht launched a brand new podcast about food-related robots and AI called The Spoon: Automat — give it a listen! We also announced the details of our next food tech meetup: The Future of Meat. Tickets are free, so if you’re in the Seattle area we hope to see you there. And finally, we’re just a little over a month out from heading to the legendary Guinness Storehouse for SKS Europe, so if you want to network with the top leaders defining the future of food, make sure to get tickets before they’re gone.

Now, grab a second cup of coffee and take a look at these noteworthy food tech news stories from around the web.

Photo: Flickr.

Alibaba hops on the blockchain train
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is rolling out a pilot program to combat food fraud in China using everyone’s favorite buzzword these days: blockchain. They’ll initially target food products from Australia and New Zealand that are sold in their Tmall online marketplace, China’s largest open B2C platform.

According to the Australian Financial Review, just two items are part of the pilot program: something in the dairy family and a fish oil supplement. If successful, Alibaba will expand the initiative and try to crack down on food fraud worldwide.

Blockchain is not a perfect cure-all for food fraud. It may be incorruptible, but it doesn’t guarantee that those inputting the provenance and quality of each food item are telling the truth. Other companies, such as Ripe.io and Inscatech, have nonetheless been working on establishing blockchain for food. But this move by Alibaba is on a different level; it’s giving some transparency — and responsibility — to one of the largest e-commerce suppliers in the world.

 

Photo: Klue.

Tech company introduces responsive wearables for nutrition tracking
This week Klue, a technology company developing an OS focused on behavior change, announced partnerships with Stanford University and Crossover Health (a healthcare company) to further their program on shifting consumer eating and drinking patterns.

They also promised to reveal their first wearable technology by May 7. We’ve written about Klue before on the Spoon, but that was when their tech synced up to compatible wearables; now, they’re about to unveil their own. Their press release said that the wearables will harness AI to track wrist movements and determine how much — and how fast — consumers are eating and drinking. According to their press release, they’ll then provide “personalized, real-time micro-nudges on dietary behavior modification,” encouraging wearers to make healthier consumption choices like eating more slowly, staying hydrated or avoiding late-night snacking.

While we’re not exactly sure what a “micro-nudge” is, it seems like this could lead to some literally hand-slapping when you reach for that second cookie. But Klue’s products are also very much in line with two big consumer food trends that have been on the up-and-up: personalization and dynamic nutrition services.

 

Photo: Instacart.

Instacart announces plans for $40M support center
This week Instacart said that it had plans to build a Customer Support Center in Atlanta — with a $40 million price tag. The new center will have a staff of 400, and will complete the construction and hiring process over the next two years, according to FoodDive.

With their latest expansions — including new deals with Costco, Albertson’s, and Sam’s club — plus a recent $150 million funding round, Instacart will no doubt need some serious customer support to help with new client onboarding and delivery organization. We made the claim that if they wanted to beat Amazon the grocery delivery company would have to both expand and innovate — maybe this new service center will help them achieve both of these goals while keeping their customers and suppliers happy.

 

Photo: Whole Foods

Amazon ups Whole Foods perks
Speaking of groceries, this week Amazon amped up Whole Foods perks for Prime members in an attempt to get them to shop more often at the grocery store. Most prominently, Prime members will get an additional 10% discount off of already discounted products.

According to CNBC, roughly 75% of Whole Foods shoppers are Amazon Prime members, but only 20% of Prime members shop at Whole Foods. These perks could help the grocery store move away from its reputation as “Whole Paycheck” and capture Amazon’s Prime members, who value convenience and a good deal.

 


Plant-based protein drink company raises $1.1M
This week protein drink startup Après raised $1.1 million seed round led by Rocana Venture Partners. According to BevNet, the company targets women as the core consumers for their plant-based protein shakes — each of which contains 180 -190 calories and 13 grams of protein.

While plant-based protein drinks made of almond or soy have been around for a while, this is one of the first drinks to market itself purely as a protein beverage — and to emphasize that it’s made of plants. Après’recent funding round indicates that plant-based protein’s popularity has expanded way beyond “chicken” nuggets and burgers. And if consumer trends hold true, the market for plant-based protein will continue to grow over the coming years. So we’ll probably be seeing it pop up more often — and a lot more prominently — in a lot of different food categories.

A user prepares food for the Oliver cooking chambers

Else Labs opens up beta testing for cooking robot Oliver

We’ve followed cooking robot startup Else Labs ever since they appeared as part of our Startup Showcase at the Smart Kitchen Summit, so we were intrigued to hear they’ve opened up beta testing for their cooking robot Oliver.  The company, which is raised $1.8 million through the Qatar Development Bank last summer, announced they were looking for beta testers via email.

Live in North America and want to beta test an Oliver? Apply here. If you live outside of North America, you may have to wait a while longer, as the company states via its beta tester survey this round of beta testing will be in “selected cities in North America.”

Instacart Takes Home Another $150 Million

Instacart, the grocery delivery startup, has raised an additional $150 million in funding. This new cash is part of its existing Series E round and in addition to the $200 million the company raised in February. Axios broke the story this morning with the company later confirming it.

This new money brings the total amount raised by Instacart to more than a billion dollars. According to Bloomberg, the additional funding raises the company’s valuation to $4.35 billion.

Instacart is going to need all the money it can get as it works to fend off Amazon, which started rolling out two-hour deliveries from its subsidiary Whole Foods earlier this year. Instacart actually has its own delivery partnership with Whole Foods, but obviously with Amazon’s latest moves, that deal is not long for this world.

To make up for this expected loss, Instacart has been busy signing up additional retailers like Costco, Kroger, Albertsons and Sam’s Club. That last one is of particular interest as Walmart owns Sam’s Club. Walmart shut down 63 Sam’s Clubs in January, but if the Instacart partnership bears fruit, it could lead to bigger opportunities for for both companies as they look to keep Amazon at bay.

Having a variety of large partners is good for Instacart, but it will have to battle Amazon on the technology front as well. Just today, Amazon announced expanded smart lock compatibility for its Key service in a bid to bolster its in-home delivery capabilities. Whether or not people will ever be comfortable with letting strangers into their unattended home is TBD, but the point is that Instacart will need to use this money to both expand and innovate.

What Do Whole Foods’ Marketing Layoffs Mean for Its Brand?

Last Friday, Whole Foods slashed its regional marketing staff, laying off graphic designers, product marketers, and store graphics artists. It’s unclear exactly how many jobs were eliminated.

Business Insider broke the news after obtaining a recording of a seven-minute conference call on Thursday, on which Nicole Wescoe, president of Whole Foods’ northeast region, announced the sweeping cuts.

Among others, Whole Foods sign-makers — employees who design and create copy for in-store signage — got the axe. This move was an effort to centralize the creation and production of the brand’s signage, but it also speaks to a much bigger shift within Whole Foods. These layoffs are a response to parent company Amazon’s demands that the grocery retailer cut costs and centralize their marketing efforts.

Since being acquired by Amazon last year, Whole Foods has been slowly but steadily moving away from its trademark approach to providing food that is wholesome, organic, and often locally-sourced. And the shift has ruffled some feathers: more than a dozen executives and senior managers have left Whole Foods since the brand was acquired last summer, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

It’s easy to see this move as a manifestation of Whole Foods losing its soul to Amazon. Consider, for example, recent news about the brand’s changes to its supply chain and inventory processes to cut costs, which caused stock outages and destroyed employee morale. The company is even reportedly considering adding Coca-Cola to its shelves at Amazon’s urging, despite Whole Foods’ ban on all foods with artificial colors and sweeteners.

But what did we expect? Amazon built its brand on the promise of cutting costs and offering the lowest possible price to consumers by skipping brick and mortar stores and popularizing speedy online delivery. Did we think Whole Foods would be immune to Amazon’s laser focus on the bottom line? Just because the former built its brand on principles like never selling products with artificial sweeteners doesn’t mean it gets to maintain those principles now that it’s part of Amazon.

By cutting prices of everyday items, like eggs and milk, up to 50 percent, launching two-hour grocery delivery, and transforming urban stores into delivery hubs, Amazon is wasting no time in molding Whole Foods to further its mission to dominate the grocery market. Clearly Amazon isn’t trying to maintain the original Whole Foods’ principles while it does so — particularly in light of these recent layoffs.

If this centralization continues, the grocery brand could simply become the brick and mortar fronts for Prime and Amazon Go services. Which will severely weaken — if not destroy — Whole Foods’ identity as a high-class grocery store that offers transparent sourcing and products from local producers.

Whole Foods seems to have predicted this already and is repositioning itself accordingly. Its recent ad campaign shies away from showcasing high-end ingredients and instead focuses on the wide array of consumers who shop at Whole Foods, from dorky dads to millennial flexitarians.

That doesn’t mean we won’t see any pushback. Whole Foods attracts a high-income crowd that is willing to pay a premium for organic, local products. These consumers are the very type that would eschew mass marketization by a place like Amazon — at least publicly.

It will be interesting to see if, as Whole Foods becomes more Amazon-ified, its core consumers begin shopping at more localized specialty grocery stores. Of course, a cheaper, more accessible Whole Foods will also poach budget-focused customers away from stores like Walmart and Trader Joe’s. That is, as long as they don’t mind having the same, mass-produced “fresh tomatoes” sign at every Whole Foods around the country.

Food Tech News Roundup: Tooth Calorie Counters, Snoop Dogg, and Amazon’s Next Move

The time has come for our weekly roundup of food tech news stories; ones that caught our eye, but weren’t quite big enough to justify a whole post. This week’s news update focused on some of our favorite foods (and drinks): pizza, beer, and coffee. Also, did we mention that Snoop Dogg is involved? Or at least his voice is. There’s also a tiny tooth sensor that can track everything you eat and — surprise, surprise — more news on Amazon’s journey to rule the ecommerce world. Let’s get started, shall we?

Photo: Modernist Cuisine

Modernist Cuisine’s newest book is about pizza

Modernist Cuisine may have just published their 5-volume compendium Modernist Bread a few months ago, but they’ve already announced the subject of their next literary venture: pizza. The multivolume will be written by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, along with the Modernist Cuisine team, and will cover a broad array of pizza recipes, pizza history, and pizza-making techniques, both traditional and modern.

It’ll be a year before the ‘za anthology comes out, but if you want to give Nathan Myhrvold and his team some insider advice on your favorite pizzerias and pizza-makers, they’re already crowdsourcing tips: just email pizza@modernistcuisine.com. Then treat yourself to a slice of pepperoni for doing a good deed.

Photo: Diageo

Alexa and Snoop Dogg are your new mixologists

This week Amazon Alexa partnered with Diageo to launch a “Happy Hour” skill. It offers three features, including one called ‘Mix-It-Up’ which offers drink recommendations based on users’ mood and tastes. There’s also the ‘Find a Bar’ feature which has a Yelp integration to recommend bars nearby that serve Diageo cocktails (which, since Diageo is the world’s largest spirits producer, is pretty much everywhere). All recommendations are sent to the user’s Alexa app. This is another example of Amazon pushing the boundaries with voice assistants, taking a step forward so that competitors like Google and Apple will have to rush to catch up.

My favorite part of this skill is the fact that Snoop Dogg is involved. Yes, Snoop Dogg. Users can also ask Alexa for “Snoop Dogg’s drink of choice,” and he’ll give cocktail recommendations. One can only hope they’re not all iterations of gin and juice. 

Photo: Starbucks

Starbucks hops onto the blockchain train

Starbucks announced this week that it would launch a pilot program applying traceability technology to its coffee beans to monitor their journey from “bean to cup.” They’ll partner with small coffee farmers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Rwanda, logging and sharing information about the coffee supply chain. Essentially, they’ve embraced the blockchain trend — though they don’t use that term anywhere in their release.

With this program Starbucks is hoping to connect its coffee drinkers to coffee farmers, though it’s not exactly clear how. While the traceability may indeed give their farmers an “individual identity” — one that will no doubt be capitalized upon as a marketing angle — the system is only really applicable to the players downstream.

I can only see this used as a marketing scheme. With this program, Starbucks can trace beans from one particular farm through the roasting and packaging process, and can then market that product as a “single origin coffee” (not doubt for a higher price). This is something that previously only smaller coffee roasters and distributors could do. But thanks to blockchain tech, Starbucks can hop on the bandwagon. We’ll have to wait and see if they actually deliver on their promises of transparency, but suffice it to say I’m healthily skeptical.

Amazon expands Whole Foods stores to support delivery

Amazon is looking for bigger Whole Foods stores in urban centers to serve as both grocery stores and delivery jumping off points for some of their most popular items, like books and electronics. If Whole Foods serves as a city-based delivery hub, it would reduce Amazon’s need to maintain warehouses for non-grocery items. That way, they can deliver goods to urban consumers more quickly.

This move comes a little over a month after Amazon started rolling out 2-hour Whole Foods delivery. It’s another step in the ecommerce giant’s strategy to use brick-and-mortar Whole Foods locations to bolster their online sales.

Photo: Nomiku

Nomiku expands delivery to 6 more states

Nomiku, one of the first companies to launch a home sous vide circulator, just expanded  the map for their Sous Chef meals. The company started experimenting last year with food delivery and, after a year of working the kinks out within their home state of California, has started shipping their sous vide ready meals to to six additional states: Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Their meals, which offer a large range of vegetarian and meat options, are precooked meals are heated to serving temperature in 30 minutes with the Nomiku sous vide appliance. Nomiku is part of a growing number of startups such as Tovala, ChefSteps, and FirstChop that are pairing cooking appliances with subscription food services to create additional convenience for the consumer.

Image: Fio Omenetto, Ph.D., Tufts University

A new tooth tracker can track everything you eat

Think of it as a calorie counter you can’t cheat, a fitbit for your eating habits. Researchers at Tuft’s University have developed a 2mm x 2mm sensor that you can stick on your tooth to monitor what you eat. It syncs up with your mobile device to wirelessly transmit data on your glucose, salt, and alcohol content. While this could be a helpful tool for some people who want to keep a super accurate account of their calorie intake, it could have some scary implications. It could exacerbate unhealthy food obsessions, or create a way for people to monitor individuals who are supposed to be limiting their sugar, salt, or alcohol intakes.

In the future, scientists want to create abilities for the sensor to track nutrients, chemicals, and psychological states. And if that brings Black Mirror to mind, I’d say you’re not too far off base.

Amazon and Whole Foods Start Rolling Out Two Hour Delivery

Amazon and Whole Foods today announced that they are rolling out two-hour delivery, in a move that ratchets up the ongoing retailer battle royale over who can get you your groceries fastest.

At launch, the new service is available to Amazon Prime members in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach, with plans to roll it out across the U.S. throughout the year. Users can shop from the Whole Foods Market selection via the Amazon Prime Now app and website to purchase produce, meats, seafood, pantry items, and even alcohol. Two-hour delivery is free or shoppers can opt for the super fast one-hour delivery for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.

The move shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been watching this space. Amazon Prime Now has been making same day deliveries for a while, and ever since acquiring Whole Foods last year, we’ve expected to see Amazon’s ruthless logistics and delivery efficiency applied to the grocer.

It does, however, up the ante for others vying to be your online grocer of choice. Walmart acquired Parcel and partnered with August and Deliv, Target acquired Shipt, and Instacart continues to hook up with grocery chains such as Albertsons — all to offer same day food delivery.

But as we’ve written before, faster Whole Foods delivery also helps set up Amazon to dominate the shoppable recipe and customized meal kit delivery space, as recipes evolve into discovery and commerce platforms. Between Whole Foods and Alexa, Amazon can help you figure out a meal, order your groceries, have them delivered in time and even guide you through the cooking.

You can hear about Amazon’s 2 hour delivery in our daily spoon podcast.  You can also subscribe in Apple podcasts or through our Amazon Alexa skill. 

Aisle Ahead Buys BigOven to Assemble Shoppable Recipes

VIC LLC., announced today that it has purchased recipe app BigOven, and rebranded as Aisle Ahead. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase helps Aisle Ahead become a player in the soon-to-be hotly competitive shoppable recipe space.

If you’ve been reading The Spoon over the past few months, you’ve seen shoppable recipes become a hot topic of coverage. Recipes are no longer inert pieces of inspiration. Combined with same day delivery, recipes are becoming actionable discovery and commerce platforms.

See a delicious recipe for lasagna but don’t have all the ingredients? No problem! Click a button in the recipe and have what you need delivered to your doorstep in time to make dinner.

Founded in 2004, BigOven has 350,000 recipes in its database and the app has been downloaded 13 million times with more than 3.3 million registered members. BigOven also offers meal planning, shopping lists and an API to plug into outside services.

Aisle Ahead is an “end-to-end digital commerce platform that connects millions of shoppers with grocers.” With the addition of BigOven, Aisle Ahead can now enable shoppable recipes that consumers can order and get fulfilled from participating grocery stores.

The acquisition is a move to counter Amazon, which was called out by name in the BigOven press announcement with Aisle Ahead CEO, Steve Siopsis saying “The combination allows us to deliver ideal solutions for any grocer wishing to compete effectively, after hearing the wakeup call from Amazon and Whole Foods.”

The Aisle Ahead announcement comes on the heels of Myxx partnering up with Kroger for shoppabale recipes. You can bet there will be more announcements like these as smaller players roll up to try carve out their own space against the likes of Amazon and Instacart.

Amazon has already set itself up to dominate the shoppable recipe space with the acquisition of Whole Foods, partnerships with Fexy Media and AllRecipes, and integration of Alexa into smart refrigerators and other appliances.

No End in Sight for Innovation in the World of Food Delivery

Commerce’s path, from mall-based retail foot traffic to the ‘90s bloated iteration of digital shopping leading to Amazon’s far-reaching store-to-door tentacles, may appear to have taken a circumventurous route. The exact opposite is true. From the early days of the web to today’s AI/VR-powered shop-on-voice command, the value proposition remains the same—convenience.

The major change from clunky versions of e/t/m/d-commerce (electronic, TV, mobile, digital) to a more transparent experience results from a focus on partnerships and a more realistic view of the value chain. Amazon, as an example, understands that it cannot alone drive the future of purchasing goods and services; the Seattle-based giant has amassed an array of teammates from grocery chains to CPG manufacturers to department stores with Alexa-powered kiosks. There was a time, not so long ago, when Apple, Amazon, Google, and Apple wanted to own every building block from manufacturing to consumer products. Time and a lot of failed experiments had led to more realistic aspirations in the world of commerce.

Grocery delivery is a case in point. Early 2018 points to some dramatic changes in the world of home shopping. Players in the space—big and small–are breaking the meal journey down to micro inflection points to hit consumers when they are taking actions (or inactions, as the case may be) where ordering fresh food and pantry staples are likely to take place. For example, the term “shoppable recipes” is especially buzzy as it refers to turning the passive act of reading a recipe into an actionable event. Companies such as Chicory, Fexy, Serious Eats, Amazon, and Kroeger are using technology to allow home cooks to order ingredients in real time for a given recipe while scanning the step-by-step process of making tonight’s dinner.

Another key inflection point in the meal journey is the delivery process with a focus on the delivery of groceries (and other items) to residences when no one is home to accept packages. Amazon’s 2017 announcement of its Amazon Key at-home product/service raised significant skepticism but “homeowner not present” delivery services are gaining traction in the new year. With an understanding that in successful partnerships each party does what it’s best at, lock maker August (owner by lock giant Assa Alboy) is expanding its August Access delivery service which allows delivery to homes where the owner is away. Teaming up with Deliv, a UPS-backed delivery startup, grocers (using the Deliv Fresh service) and other retailers can securely open the front door of a home to drop off a package.

“Through this unique partnership, we are bringing a bit of magic to the shopping experience,” said Daphne Carmeli, CEO of Deliv, in a statement. “Deliv provides the last mile fulfillment solution for a broad retailer network across the country while August Home supplies the technology to take the final step into the home for a totally seamless experience, start to finish.”

Other early stage opportunities in the meal journey take a series of inflection points and bundle them into a single solution. Tovala, a Kickstarter-funded manufacturer of smart ovens, tackles the chore of meal prep and the hassle of buying/ordering groceries by selling prepackaged meals that are geared to work with their appliances. A frozen meal’s barcode is scanned into the Tovala and the oven takes care of the rest.

All of these developments take us back to the value proposition of convenience as it relates to the meal journey. Consumers want to save time and have the ingredients for tonight’s dinner (or the dinner itself) magically arrive at the door (even when they are not home) but at what cost.  And who bears that cost? And how much are today’s busy millennials willing to spend? In the ultra-competitive grocery world Albertson, Kroger, Whole Foods/Amazon, Sprouts, and others may be willing to absorb the cost of home delivery just to win market share. On the other hand, if you buy a meal kit or want a hot meal delivered to your door, the cost hits your pocketbook with a premium for the convenience. For consumers engaged in the ever-changing meal journey, the cost-convenience continuum is at its earliest stage. Like the halcyon days of premium channels on cable, subscribers loaded up on Showtime, HBO, Cinemax and a few others only to be hit with the budget–blowing cable bills. In a world where the click of a mouse or a few kind words to Alexa can bring Peking Duck to your front door, or your 10th week of a meal kit service, everything is fine and dandy until your credit card bill arrives.

Yes, life sure was convenient—but at what cost?

Peapod Hopes Its Chat-to-Cart Feature Boosts Its Bottom Line

The grocery delivery space is moving far beyond the task of bringing fresh kale and imported cheese to your doorstep. Merely offering the luxury and convenience of avoiding crowded grocery aisles is no longer enough to woo time-starved consumer, who now has myriad choices when it comes to selecting a personal supermarket shopper.

If it’s tech inspired bells and whistles you want, Peapod, a 28-year veteran of the grocery delivery wars, is attempting to boost its sagging growth by adding a new text-to-order tool. Dubbed “Chat to Cart,” consumers can create lists on their phone via text (not to mention voice-to-text or emojis) and send them over to Peapod for fulfillment. The new feature was developed by Chicago-based online shopping tools developer, StorePower.

To use the service, customers text the toll-free number, 1-833-TXT-PPOD and provide a list of products by name or by emoji symbol. The service includes an option to share the shopping list among family members who can add products to the order. After an initial order, or once the number is saved, orders can be placed via Siri or Google Assistant.

“At Peapod, we have always been committed to being the ultimate convenience for our customers,” said Cat De Merode, Peapod’s VP of product in a company release. “The Chat-to-Cart platform was designed for the busy shopper that relies on their mobile device whether at home or on the go. Now, instead of texting a family member to pick up an extra gallon of milk, you can text Peapod and let us do the work. The texting functionality complements the Peapod mobile app and desktop website for one seamless ordering process.”

While digitally based grocery shopping makes up only 3.8% of the grocery retailing market, researchers see a bright future.  Packaged Facts, based in Rockville, MD., believes online grocery sales will go grow from a CAGR of more than 27% over the next five years. By 2022, the company says online sales of grocery items may be worth as much as $42 billion annually.

Peapod’s owner, Dutch-based Ahold Delhaize would like the digital delivery service to contribute more to its overall bottom line. In its most recent quarter, Ahold’s ecommerce revenue was up 20% but Peapod grew in the single digits. Company officials claim its various supermarkets, such as Food Lion, have not successfully integrated Peapod into their services.

Putting aside specialty delivery services such as Farmstead, players in the online grocery/delivery market are running low on competitive factors. Advances such as Walmart’s partnering with Google Home to gain access to their voice-enabled assistants does precious little to create any distinction among the Peapods, Instacarts and Shipts of the world (not to mention store-branded delivery services). Blurring the lines even further is the growing overlap between grocery and restaurant delivery with such all-purpose digitally powered, food-to-home services as Postmates promising speedy grocery services in New York.

That $42 billion revenue figure for grocery delivery sounds like a hefty prize, but the question remains—how much will go to the one-two punch of Amazon/Whole Foods and how many remaining companies will be spending millions to grab minor slivers of market share.

Enjoy the podcast and make sure to subscribe in Apple podcasts if you haven’t already.

Amazon Launching Pop-Up Shops in Whole Foods

Shortly after Amazon acquired Whole Foods, Amazon devices such as the Echo started popping up for sale alongside the artisan quinoa and Kombucha at the grocery chain. TechCrunch reports that Amazon is set to expand that footprint by adding pop-up stores in select Whole Foods locations across the U.S., just in time for the holidays.

These pop-up shops will sell Amazon gear, and will also be staffed with experts to provide product test drives, and teach people about Amazon services such as Prime and its many benefits.

Amazon devices such as the Echo and Fire TV lines are already carried in more than 100 Whole Foods locations, and Amazon already has a number of pop-up stores in various malls and such across the U.S., so adding or migrating them to Whole Foods’ locations isn’t a huge shock.

In fact, The Wall Street Journal reports today that Amazon has re-orged with Prime Now, AmazonFresh, Amazon retail locations and Whole Foods all now reporting to Amazon veteran Steve Kessel. It doesn’t take a genius to see more synergies on the horizon.

Holiday-ready pop-ups are most likely just the tip of the spear, and having a real world presence can benefit Amazon. First, selling a home assistant like the Echo, which can order groceries or provide recipes makes sense in the grocery context. And having actual humans on hand to explain how any Whole Foods/Prime Now grocery or meal kit delivery will work (think: Amazon Key!) will go a long way to sway the not so tech savvy.

Amazon pop-ups will start rolling out in Chicago and Rochester Hills on November 13.

News bites: DoorDash CFO, ChowNow Dough and Soylent’s No

Here are a few news stories from around the web that you may have missed.

DoorDash CFO leaves company. Mike Dinsdale didn’t even last a full year with the food delivery startup, has left to join Gusto as its new CFO. (TechCrunch)

ChowNow gobbles up $20M in Series B. The online food ordering service offers restaurants a white label platform for their own use, and has a mobile restaurant discovery app. The company has raised roughly $40 million to date. (TechCrunch)

Canada tells Soylent to take off. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency blocks sales of the Silicon Valley drink because it does not meet all the criteria for being a “meal replacement.” (CNN Money)

Amazon-owned Whole Foods may be a boon to smaller companies. Some food startups welcome their new Bezos overlord, and his ability to centralize buying and expand customer bases. (USA Today)

Food Network, Scripps Takes a Small Step into the Guided Cooking Fray

Food Network is jumping on board the guided cooking bandwagon. Well, sort of.

The folks at Scripps Lifestyle Studios have taken the long-time Food Network app, In the Kitchen, and added a voice assistant to its functionality. The logic behind the update was that many cooks can’t easily interact with their digital screens when their hands are immersed in dough or other sticky, gooey food prep items. The add-on feature called “Cook with Me,” uses a one-way voice assistant named “Sage” (clever, huh). A cook starts by searching on his or her favorite Food TV recipe.  By using the “Cook with Me” feature, the chef simply says “Sage, next,” and the step-by-step instructions will move on to the next screen.

Yes, it is cool except for the fact the app does not speak the steps; the home chef must read the screen to move from slicing vegetables to adding cheese (in the case of Fresh Corn Tomato Salad). There is an ingredients tab for the recipe which lists everything you will need to make Fresh Corn Tomato Salad. However, the ingredients list section is not voice enabled.

While a cool, new feature, “Cook with Me” offers some ergonomic issues, especially for those who only own small screen digital toys such as an iPhone. Those with micro-sized kitchens (and less-than-perfect visual acuity) may be hard pressed to find the perfect spot to use the app without straining their eyes. It is, however, a small step toward Food Network recognizing the need for guided cooking technology.

Food Network and Scripps may have a long way to go to compete with a host of smart early adopters who has hooked up with Amazon to use its Echo voice assistant set of products to provide recipe search and step-by-step cooking instructions but they are making progress elsewhere. For example, the company recently announced it has updated its popular Alexa skill for the new Amazon Echo Show, making it easier for users to get inspired, explore what they’re in the mood for, and enjoy recipe videos and preview images that enhance the value and enjoyment of their cooking experience.

Heading the pack of those aligned with Amazon’s Echo (aka Alexa) in the world of step-by-step guided cooking is Meredith’s Allrecipes.

Introducing the AllRecipes Skill for Amazon Alexa! | Cooking Skills | Allrecipes.com

While perhaps not powered by Food Network’s roster of celebrity chefs, the Echo-Allrecipes functionality is rather robust. Cooks can search for recipes or ideas by ingredient or sets of ingredients. Need something cooked in a short time frame—just tell Alexa and she (it is a woman’s voice, after all) will comb through the tens of thousands recipes and find a suitable one for any purpose. If you’re using the Echo Show visual skill and the recipe has a video, you can use your voice to watch the video, pause when you need it, watch it again.

For Amazon—especially with its recent Whole Foods bid—guided, interactive cooking is one more weapon in the home grocery delivery business. “Allrecipes, I’d like to make a soufflé….Wait, I don’t have any eggs…Please send me over a dozen Grade A-s.” Within 30 minutes, Amazon Fresh pulls up to my house. You get the picture.

As with anything that Amazon touches, the data is as important as any element of the applications. It’s not clear what data-sharing agreement exists between publisher Meredith and the Seattle digital retailer. The opportunity for the home cook asking for recipes can yield significant data Amazon could use to sell. This could range from cookware and small appliances to specialty food products.

Google Home is not without its recipe skills. The search engine giant has teamed up with Bon Appetit, The New York Times and Food Network to amass a cache of around five million recipes.

And of course, there’s always Microsoft’s Cortana. Having just quietly launched their own hardware product, the software giant across Lake Washington from Amazon can’t be left out of the picture entirely. At the time of the launch of the Invoke in May, The company has five AI skills that are food related, with guided cooking offered via Food Network, Cook.ai and mixology from Bartender.

Podcast: Amazon Buys Whole Foods

Every now and then a deal of such magnitude happens, it makes you almost speechless when you first hear about it.

Amazon buying Whole Foods is one of those deals.

On this quick-take podcast, Mike gets together with Nomiku CEO Lisa Fetterman to discuss this mind-blowing deal, what it could mean for Amazon, what a future Amazon-ized Whole Foods could look like and the implications for the broader grocery industry.

Make sure to subscribe to the Smart Kitchen Show here on iTunes.

You can also check out Mike’s initial take on the deal over at the Spoon.

Make sure to check out the Smart Kitchen Summit, the only event about the future of food, cooking, and the kitchen. Use the discount code SPOON to get 25% off of tickets. Also, make sure to subscribe to get The Spoon in your inbox.