The Spoon Podcast
Join host Michael Wolf and the Spoon editors as they explore the world of food tech.
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A Look Back at Smart Kitchen Summit
06/09/2024
A Look Back at Smart Kitchen Summit
SKS 2024 is in the books, so Carlos Rodela and Mike sit down and talk about the craziness of the past week, some of the products they checked out at the show, and some of the talks by our great lineup of speakers. If you'd like to see a video version of this conversation with interspered photos from SKS, check it out on the Spoon later this week.
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Exploring Kitchen Electrification With Impulse Labs' Sam D'Amico
06/03/2024
Exploring Kitchen Electrification With Impulse Labs' Sam D'Amico
What would happen if you put a big battery in your induction stove? For one thing, you could cook at a much higher temperature because the power the battery brings to each cooking session is much higher than a traditional outlet. You also have the start of a fractionalized power wall, creating a foundation for what could be your electrified home. We talk about these and other implications of electrification in this conversation with Sam D'Amico, the CEO of Impulse Labs. Sam will be at Smart Kitchen Summit this week talking about kitchen electrification and the Impulse Labs story. If you'd like to see Sam in person, get your ticket for the Smart Kitchen Summit at . Use code PODCAST for 15% off tickets.
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Rethinking The Toaster (and Cooking) With Revolution Cooking's Tom Klaff
05/25/2024
Rethinking The Toaster (and Cooking) With Revolution Cooking's Tom Klaff
If you follow food Instagram or TikTok, chances are over the past couple of years you've seen a touchscreen toaster from Revolution Cooking. Revolution's toaster went viral during the pandemic, in part because it has a touchscreen, but also because of a price tag north of $250. But Revolution CEO Tom Klaff said the toaster was just the beginning, and the fuller vision for the company started to come into focus this past CES when they introduced the Macrowave, a device that combines microwave cooking, infrared heating, air frying and more. In this podcast, we talk to Tom about why he decided to enter the kitchen technology space, how he and his partner came up with the idea to create a touchscreen toaster, launching during a pandemic, becoming Oprah's favorite toaster, and much more. If you want to meet Tom in person and hear about his heating technology, he'll be at the Smart Kitchen Summit on June 4-5th. Just head to and use the coupon code PODCAST for 15% off tickets.
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The Story of Chefee, The Home Cooking Robot
05/16/2024
The Story of Chefee, The Home Cooking Robot
This episode's guest is Assaf Pashut, the founder of Chefee, a company that makes home cooking robots. If there's a category in kitchen technology where there have been lots of startups over the past few years, it's food robotics. Zume, Flippy, Remy Robotics, BurgetBot, and Picnic to name a few. Even Travis Kalanick is getting into the act. However, most food robots are made for commercial kitchens and that's for good reason. As consumers tend to like appliances we're familiar with, so the idea of having a robot to make our food seems like something out of a science fiction future. But Assaf Pashut had a vision for using robotics to help us make better food and so he built Chefee, a home food robotic system that is different than anything out there. It's not a countertop appliance that has automated things within a box, or a system that has big robotic arms attached to the wall. With Chefee, the robotics recede into the background. In this conversation, we discuss how Assaf came up with the idea for Chefee, how he got to where he is today, and his vision of the future. He also tells the story of pitching Chefee on Shark Tank. If you'd like to see Assaf in person you can do so at the Smart Kitchen Summit. Just use coupon code PODCAST at for 15% off.
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The Story of Samsung Food With Nick Holzherr
05/13/2024
The Story of Samsung Food With Nick Holzherr
Nick Holzherr is well-known in the smart kitchen space. With the rapid growth of his startup Whisk and the acquisition of the company by Samsung, it's one of the true success stories in this market. Whisk was the first recipe startup to explore early on how to use AI and apply it to recipes. As we find out in this interview, Nick and his team were building everything from the ground up, including buying computer chips to run his AI models a decade ago. Nick also tells the story of going on the British version of The Apprentice and appearing before Lord Sugar (the British version of Donald Trump) to pitch the company. Over the years, Nick's company started working with grocers in Europe and eventually appliance brands, and it wasn't long before he started getting calls about acquiring the company. Nick talks about those heady days in which he got three companies all making bids to buy the company. Nick also discusses what he is excited about and where he sees the use of AI in the kitchen going. If you'd like to see Nick and hear his story in person, I'd encourage you to head to . You can use the discount code PODCAST to get 15% off tickets at .
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The Food Tech News Show: A Look at Our Food Lives in The Year 2055
04/20/2024
The Food Tech News Show: A Look at Our Food Lives in The Year 2055
This week Mike and Carlos be joined by Future Market’s Mike Lee to talk over some of the most interesting stories of the week. Mike Lee also tells us about his new book Mise, which paints four different scenarios depicting the potential direction of our future food system. Here are all the stories we’ll be talking about. Bored & Hungry Closes – In March 2022, NFT and crypto investor Andy Nguyen purchased Bored Ape #6184 along with three Mutant Apes and soon decided to establish a Bored Ape-themed restaurant named Bored & Hungry. The restaurant opened its doors on April 9, and by the end of its first day, it had served 1,500 burgers and had lines stretching around the block. Two years later, Bored & Hungry has closed. Last week, Nguyen announced on Instagram that the restaurant’s original location in Long Beach, California, was closing. He shared that they had sold the concept to a franchising company from Asia known as HUNGRY Dao. A Fast Company article titled “How fast food is becoming a new surveillance ground” looks at how new customer interaction layers using things like bio-authentication, cameras, profile information, and more are a new risk for gathering information about the public. And earlier this week, Steak n Shake launch facial recognition nationwide for check-in. Are we going through an airport or going to buy a surf and turf? Green Queen: The Syndey-based startup is today launching its cultivated Japanese quail in Singapore’s Mandala Club, after the country’s regulator gave it the go-ahead to sell the product. But unlike other rollouts of cultivated meat, where chefs are supplied with the meat itself (which they then incorporate into dishes), Vow is taking a novel approach. What restaurant kitchens get is a parfait containing its cultivated quail. The four future visions in (pronounced “meez”), which range from the year 2033 to 2067, are created to help people understand the potential long-term impact of things that are happening today in the world on our food system. The book identifies 5 major happenings in society, technology, the economy, the environment, and politics (abbreviated and referred to as the STEEP factors) that will have a profound impact on the way the world produces and consumes food. We'll be talking about some of these food futures and how it will shape our lives at the on June 4-5th in Seattle. If you'd like to join us, you can use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets at checkout.
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Food Tech News Show: Apple Eyes Home Robots
04/09/2024
Food Tech News Show: Apple Eyes Home Robots
This week on the Food Tech News Show we are joined by Scott Heimendinger, one of the inventors of the home sous vide circulator and a long-time kitchen tech inventor. Here are the stories we talk about: – From Bloomberg: “The original concept for the robot was a device that could navigate entirely on its own without human intervention — like the car — and serve as a videoconferencing tool. One pie-in-the-sky idea within Apple was having it be able to handle chores, like cleaning dishes in a sink. Lifehacker: “According to Google, can provide creative inspiration for your next meal. Select two countries and this fusion recipe generator will create one for you. You can choose whether you would like to cook a starter, a soup, a main course or a dessert. For example, why not try a unique blend of flavors from or mixing influences from ? This experiment was created by artists Emmanuel Durgoni and Gaël Hugo, and uses Gemini 1.0 Pro via Vertex AI.” Appliance giant Whirlpool has laid off its entire Yummly team. According to industry sources, the company recently laid off all the employees for the recipe and cooking app and website. These sources tell the Spoon that it’s unclear what the company plans to do with the property it acquired in 2017. – According to a story published in The Information, Amazon is planning to pull its Just Walk Out cashierless technology from its large-format grocery store, Amazon Fresh. – For small operators (and big ones as well) in the pizza business, Andrew Simmons’s posts on Linkedin have become must-read material. Scott will be at the , talking about some of the lessons he's learned building the kitchen of the future. If you are interested in seeing Scott at SKS, you can use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets.
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The Food Tech News Show: Wither Magic Spoon?
03/30/2024
The Food Tech News Show: Wither Magic Spoon?
On this week's Food Tech News Show, Mike and Carlos welcome Rachel Konrad, former head of communications for The Production Board, Impossible Foods and Tesla. The stories we catch up on include: You can find the video version of this Weekly Food Tech News show at The Spoon and you can find the audio-only podcast on Apple Podcasts. A reminder: It's the last two days to get early bird pricing for the . Use discount code PODCAST at checkout for 15% off of tickets.
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The Story of Mill with Matt Rogers
03/25/2024
The Story of Mill with Matt Rogers
If you follow the world of kitchen and consumer food tech startups, you know there hasn't been much in the way of venture funded startups targeting food waste in the home. That changed last year when Mill lifted the veil on the company and its first product, the Mill Bin, a smart food recycler. The company had a unique approach, offering a subscription-based home food waste recycler and an accompanying service that would turn the food grounds into chicken feed. We decided to catch up with the company's CEO, Matt Rogers, to hear about the journey to making Mill. During our conversation, we also talk about: The early lessons in building a tech-powered food recycling appliance and service Why Matt decided to target food waste after building a smart home company in Nest The challenges in getting consumers to think about wasting less food How better data could help us change consumer behavior The future of food waste reduction technology in the consumer kitchen If you want to learn more about , you can head to their website or join us at the where we will be hearing from company cofounder Harry Tannenbaum. Use discount code podcast for 15% off tickets.
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The Food Tech News Show: Behold, The Humanoid Kitchen Robot is Here
03/16/2024
The Food Tech News Show: Behold, The Humanoid Kitchen Robot is Here
This week, the Spoon crew got together to discuss some of the big stories of the week on a new weekly video news show we’re launching called The Food Tech News Show. The stories Carlos Rodela and I discuss include: You can watch the full show , or listen to it on the Spoon podcast. And, if you’d like to watch next week’s Food Tech News Show, join us on March 22nd at 1 PM Pacific , or on . Music from License code: HKXBEQJCPWPRMN7H
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Building Enabling Technology to Power the Smart Kitchen With Fresco's Anthony Sullivan
03/14/2024
Building Enabling Technology to Power the Smart Kitchen With Fresco's Anthony Sullivan
Over the past decade, Fresco has been building technology that helps appliance and housewares brands to create smart kitchen products. The journey for Fresco started when the company - then known as Drop - created a connected kitchen scale. After finding success selling its scale in the Apple store and other locations, the company started working with other brands to help provide enabling technology to power their smart kitchen solutions. Fast-forward to today, and Fresco is now working with some of the world's biggest kitchen brands, including Panasonic and Viking, to help them build out their smart kitchen solutions. To hear about this journey, we welcome Anthony Sullivan, the Chief Product Officer for Fresco, to the podcast. On the podcast, host Michael Wolf talks with Anthony about: The journey from a consumer product company to a platform company Building software for appliance brands The evolution of the mindset of appliance companies around creating solutions that enable cross-brand connectivity The challenges of getting consumers to adopt more tech-forward solutions in the kitchen And lots more! You can learn more about Fresco at If you are interested connecting with Fresco and other kitchen tech companies, you'll want to be at the on June 4-5th in Seattle. Use the discount code PODCAST for 15% off tickets at checkout.
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The Story of Chefman and Chef iQ with Ralph Newhouse
03/01/2024
The Story of Chefman and Chef iQ with Ralph Newhouse
Around 2009, Ralph Newhouse's company hunted down excess inventory of small electrics and would re-sell them into the secondary market. However, it wasn't long before Newhouse realized he wanted to make his own appliances, and that's when the Chefman we know today was born. Newhouse wasn't done. As he and Chefman started to see how new connected products made their way into the market over the past decade, he realized he wanted to create a brand around more tech-forward connected products, and that thinking led to the creation of ChefIQ, a startup within a startup focused on the smart kitchen. In this conversation, Newhouse talks about this journey, why he decided to create a separate company for his connected products, and where he sees the future of the connected kitchen going. And...for those interested new products, we have a couple reveals by Ralph in this podcast that are heard for the first time. Have a listen! For those interested in checking out where the future kitchen is going, you'll want to be at the on June 4-5th in Seattle. Use discount PODCAST at checkout for 15% off tickets.
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Overcoming Obstacles To Build Kitchen Tech Hardware With Ovie's Ty Thompson
02/14/2024
Overcoming Obstacles To Build Kitchen Tech Hardware With Ovie's Ty Thompson
Ty Thompson and the rest of the Ovie team recently passed a major milestone: They shipped their first piece of hardware. The product, a consumer food waste management system, was over half a decade in the making. Along the way to market, the founding team faced numerous challenges around funding, finalizing the product concept and design, building prototypes for manufacturing, and finding the right manufacturer to work with. Ty talks about all of these challenges and the lessons learned, including: -Battling mission creep around the product's vision -How to find the right minimum viable product to get it into production -What you need to do (and what you shouldn't do) when looking to find the right manufacturing partner -How to balance your life and your day job while hustling to build a startup And much more. Ovie will be at Smart Kitchen Summit, so if you like what you hear and want to connect with the team in person, get your ticket at .
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Talking AI and the Future of Cooking With Chris Young
01/28/2024
Talking AI and the Future of Cooking With Chris Young
Chris Young is one of the most provocative and interesting thinkers in the future of food and cooking, so any time he visits The Spoon podcast we learn a lot. This time was no exception. In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, we talk about: How he has put AI compute into something as small as a thermometer Where he thinks generative AI and other AI is going in the food and cooking space How he thinks big companies should approach the AI era Why he's back creating content for Youtube and other channels again And much more! Chris will be back at Smart Kitchen Summit this summer in Seattle, so if you're interested in seeing him there or learning more, head to .
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Talking Underground Delivery With Pipedream's Garrett McCurrach
12/23/2023
Talking Underground Delivery With Pipedream's Garrett McCurrach
Food delivery through underground tubes? Sounds crazy, but it's already happening today, and Pipedream's Garrett McCurrach thinks it just may be the future of delivery. We catch up with Garrett just a week after they announced their first pilot in the Atlanta suburbs, where they have built a system that delivers food and other items underground for nearly a mile. During this podcast we talk about how Garrett came up with the idea, what it was like to showcase the system to Jeff Bezos, how the company is working with fast food restaurants to rethink drive-thru pickup and what he sees for the future of underground delivery. As always, like or subscribe if you haven't already.
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Why Are CPG Brands Freaking Out About Ozempic?
11/17/2023
Why Are CPG Brands Freaking Out About Ozempic?
This week SuperGut CEO Marc Washington joins the podcast to talk about why new GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are keeping CPG brand CEOs up at night. These new drugs, which got their start as a new class of pharmaceuticals that help contol type 2 diabetes, have become very popular in recent years as weight loss drug. They are hugely effective in suppressing appetites and reducing the overall calorie intake of those taking them, so much so that some speculate that they could have a significant impact on overall demand for food if, as predicted, tens of millions begin to take them in coming years as the price comes down and more accessible formats (i.e. not shots) become available. Marc thinks a lot about these drugs because his company, SuperGut, creates a natural alternative to GLP-1 drugs in the form of supplements, snacks and bars. His journey to leading the company was born out of both a personal loss as well as a chance meeting with Dave Friedberg, the CEO of The Production Board. You can learn more about Super Gut on their website. And a quick plug before we go: The Spoon is heading up the , the world's biggest technology expo. If you'd like to become involved as a sponsor, and we'll be in touch!
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How AI Is Changing Personalized Nutrition
10/17/2023
How AI Is Changing Personalized Nutrition
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, we welcome Ari Tulla, CEO of Elo Health. Ari got his start in tech working for mobile giant Nokia, where he helped lead the company's mobile app studio. However, after his wife experienced a health scare in the late 2000s, Ari decided to turn his attention to the broken health system and built what he describes as a "search engine for doctors." After he sold that company, he began to think about how the explosion in personal data using wearables and other inputs could help pave a way for food as medicine and personalized nutrition. That journey eventually led to the creation of Elo Health, a company that uses AI to power a personalized nutrition and supplement platform. Ari will be joining The Spoon and others at the on October 25th to discuss his journey. If you want to connect with Ari personally (and try an Elo Health personalized supplement!), join us in Alameda. Use the discount code PODCAST for 25% off tickets.
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How One Operator is Reinventing His Restaurant's Tech Stack
06/19/2023
How One Operator is Reinventing His Restaurant's Tech Stack
Andrew Simmons is an open book. When the long-time entrepreneur decided to buy a restaurant in 2020, little did he know that in just a few months he would be forced to close his doors due to COVID. But instead of giving up, he had to get creative and, after surviving the pandemic, he kept on tinkering, trying to figure out how new technology could make his restaurant more efficient. During this whole experience, Andrew has been documenting his journey via posts and on a blog. As he reinvents his restaurant through technology, he talks about what works and what doesn't, providing a potential blueprint for other operators who are thinking about how technology could change their business. During this podcast, Andrew and Mike talk about: How the installation of a pizza robot from Picnic completely changed how he does business How one piece of game-changing technology, like a pizza robot, forces other changes and adoption of new technology throughout the restaurant's work flow The impact of new technology on his unit price for pizzas How analytics software helped him realize his dine-in business was not profitable and how it changed his thinking about how he ran his restaurant How he was forced to rethink how he used employees through the use of technology and how the employees (and former employees) have reacted His pizza subscription concept and how he believes it can help him pay for opening new restaurants Andrew's plans to launch a 100 unit restaurant chain built using off-the-shelf restaurant technology If you are considering using technology such as robotics for your restaurant, this episode is a must-listen!
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Talking AI & Food With Evan Rapoport
06/09/2023
Talking AI & Food With Evan Rapoport
In this week's podcast, we talk food and AI with Evan Rapoport. Over the past decade, Evan has led teams in Google Research and other organizations looking at how AI could impact biodiversity and change. During our conversation, we talk about a project called Tidal, in which he and Google used AI technology like computer vision and applied it to aquaculture. We also discuss the impact of AI more broadly on the food system and how Evan thinks newer technology like generative AI might have an impact sooner than we think on the world of food.
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3D Food Printing & Cooking with Lasers!
05/12/2023
3D Food Printing & Cooking with Lasers!
When you think of the kitchen of the future, do you envision a 3D food printer instantly whipping up a dinner or a snack? While the crazy idea might not happen tomorrow, if life follows the path of science fiction (as it often does), there's a good chance a food printer will be sitting on our kitchen counter in 10 or 20 years. If we're going to get there, this week's guest Jonathan Blutinger might have something to do with it. Jonathan is a 3D food and software-defined cooking researcher who is trying to envision what this future world of cooking looks like. In the podcast, we talk about How Jonathan got started exploring future cooking technologies What is laser-cooking and how does it pair with 3D food printing How the current state of the 3D food printing ecosystem compares to other industries like digital music The difference between printing sweet vs savory products Will consumers ever accept the idea of 3D printed food? And lots more! Enjoy this week's podcast and we'll see you next week!
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From Astrophysicist to Cheesemaker With Oliver Zahn
04/05/2023
From Astrophysicist to Cheesemaker With Oliver Zahn
As a child, Oliver Zahn was a self-described "mathy" kid who had a fascination with how the world worked. This early interest in the mechanics of the universe would lead him to the study astrophysics and embark on a career that would land him at one of the world's top universities teaching cosmology. But as Zahn went on to become a world-recognized astrophysicist and cosmologist who would also work at places like SpaceX and Google, his interest in another childhood interest - food - continued to grow, especially as he realized the potential of complex mathematical models to effect change in the food system. That realization led him to found Climax Foods, a company using artificial intelligence models to discover new, more sustainable plant-based ingredients that can replace those derived from animals. In the episode, Zahn talks about this journey from astrophysicist to future food entrepreneur and the work Climax has done using AI to create cheese with plant-based ingredients. Podcast Timeline: How did you get into the field of food? (3:01) Transitioning from Google and tech to Climax (7:28) The cold start problem in artificial intelligence (11:49) Tackling dairy in a holistic way (18:18) Building a consumer brand company vs platform company (22:30) The opportunity for future food companies (25:42) Can generative ai be used to create future foods? (29:15)
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Becoming A Kitchen Tech Reviewer With Wired's Joe Ray
03/28/2023
Becoming A Kitchen Tech Reviewer With Wired's Joe Ray
This week we catch up with Wired's Joe Ray. Here at The Spoon we're fans of Joe's kitchen reviews, where he cuts to the quick and tells the reader exactly why he or she should (or shouldn't) buy a product. In this episode, we take a look back at how Joe got started in food, why he picked up one day and went to France to become a writer, his tutelage under the famous restaurant reviewer François Simon, and his approach to kitchen technology journalism. We also talk about the current state of kitchen tech and the smart kitchen and where we see it all going. Enjoy!
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The Story of SideChef: From the Smart Kitchen's Early Days to Rise of AI with Kevin Yu
03/17/2023
The Story of SideChef: From the Smart Kitchen's Early Days to Rise of AI with Kevin Yu
In this podcast interview, Mike catches up with SideChef's Kevin Yu in the wake of the company's recent funding round to discuss the evolution of SideChef and the smart kitchen market. A lot has happened since Mike and Kevin first met on the roof deck of a restaurant at SXSW, so they reminisce about old times, talk about the cyclical nature of innovation, and how AI will impact the connected kitchen space. Kevin shares SideChef's AI strategy, his plans for the company, and where he thinks this is all going. Podcast Outline: Introduction: (00:00) -Host: Michael Wolf -Guest: Kevin Yu, CEO and founder of SideChef Early days and the birth of SideChef (02:29) SideChef's recent funding round (03:15) The evolution of SideChef (05:42) Plans for the future (07:30) Expansion of SideChef platform into computer vision and machine vision (10:34) Collaborating with Bacardi (12:36) The state of the connected kitchen space (15:59) Overcoming challenges in the industry (17:00) The potential of shoppable recipes and future innovations [20:53] Cyclical nature of innovation and the role of AI [23:02]
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Robots & Money: The Food Robotics Investment Landscape
03/03/2023
Robots & Money: The Food Robotics Investment Landscape
Are VCs still hungry for food robotics investments? We ask S2G's Arthur Chow and Vebu Labs' Buck Jordan what their thoughts are on the food automation landscape. In this podcast we ask: The current investment climate for food automation Why founders should consider monetizing on their vision soon through incremental releases of products The roll-up opportunity for investors Alternative forms of financing for food robotics founders Whether we will see a food robotics unicorn You can watch the video of this session on The Spoon .
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How the DeSci Movement Will Impact the World of Food
02/24/2023
How the DeSci Movement Will Impact the World of Food
Do you know what DeSci is? If you don't, don't feel bad, especially if, like me, food is your primary focus. A16Z's publication Future DeSci as a movement in which "a growing number of scientists and entrepreneurs are leveraging blockchain tools, including smart contracts and tokens, in an attempt to improve modern science. Collectively, their work has become known as the decentralized science movement, or DeSci." If you're like me and are just learning about DeSci, the reason for that is that while it's a trend that's caught the attention of the biotech and research funding worlds, it hasn't made its way into the future food conversation just yet. But it's only a matter of time, so I figure there's no better time to learn. To help us do that, our guest for this episode of The Spoon Podcast is Dr. Jocelynn Pearl, a biotech scientist, entrepreneur, and podcaster. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss the following: What is DeSci? How DeSci is changing the insular and outdated world of research publishing The benefits of using Web3 tools like DAOs, blockchain, and NFTs in science research Why DeSci hasn't yet reached the future food industry just yet and why that may soon change What the future of science research may look like with these types of tools If you'd like to hear more from Jocelynn, you can find her podcast, the and read some of her writing . As mentioned in the episode, we are having an event next week on the state of food robotics, and we'd love for you to join us. So get your free ticket .
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Tater Tot Valentines & Sourdough Starters
02/19/2023
Tater Tot Valentines & Sourdough Starters
Our special guest is Scott Heimendinger for our weekly food tech news wrapup. Scott is a long-time kitchen tech inventor and entrepreneur who is currently building his next big thing. In this episode, we discuss the following stories: As always, you can find more Spoon Podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.
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How Will We Feed Astronauts in Deep Space?
02/10/2023
How Will We Feed Astronauts in Deep Space?
Up until now, every morsel of food astronauts eat in outer space was created and packaged on earth. However, as we embark on the era of long-term space flight, NASA and other space agencies realize that that will need to change. As the Senior Project Manager for Space Crop Production and Exploration Food Systems for NASA, this is the problem Ralph Fritsche has been thinking about for the past decade. Ralph, who helped develop the Deep Space Food Challenge, works with his team to try and figure out how exactly they'll feed astronauts when they set up camp on Mars over a decade from now. If you've ever wondered about how we feed space travelers today and far into the future, this is the podcast for you!
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The Bloomberg Alt-Meat Hullabaloo with Rachel Konrad
01/27/2023
The Bloomberg Alt-Meat Hullabaloo with Rachel Konrad
In this week's episode we catch up with Rachel Konrad, a former journalist who has spent the last decade-plus working for Tesla, Impossible Foods and now the Production Board. Rachel joins Michael Wolf and Carlos Rodela to talk about her background, the recent controversy around Bloomberg's article declaring plant-based meat a fad, and how she helped Impossible bring food tech to CES in 2019 with the launch of the Impossible 2.0 burger. It's a really fun conversation that you won't want to miss!
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A Look Back at The Year in Food Tech With S2G's Tonya Bakritzes
12/23/2022
A Look Back at The Year in Food Tech With S2G's Tonya Bakritzes
It's almost the end of 2022 and so we decided to catch up with S2G Managing Director Tonya Bakritzes. In this podcast we talk about: -The impact of inflation and global macroenvironmental headwinds on the food tech landscape -The plant-based meat sales slowdown and what it means for the space longterm. -Some areas to look forward to in 2023 You can find out more about S2G .
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Hospitality in the Era of Web3 with Ben Leventhal
12/15/2022
Hospitality in the Era of Web3 with Ben Leventhal
Ben Leventhal has nothing if not good timing. In 2004 the New York entrepreneur launched Eater at the dawn of the blogging era, back when food media was still mostly legacy publications and message boards. After selling Eater to Vox, he went on to launch Resy in 2014 just as restaurants were beginning to bristle at the data practices of legacy online reservations systems such as OpenTable. He'd eventually sell his second company to American Express. And now Leventhal is looking to create his third founder success story with the launch of Blackbird, a company which he describes as “a new loyalty, membership, and payments technology company.” In this episode, we discuss Ben's journey from those early days, how evolution of food media, the changes to reservation and other restaurant tech platforms, and how he envisions Web3 and other new technologies could change the game for small and independent restaurants. You can find out more about Ben's new company at .
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