The Spoon

Some Fun High-Tech Suggestions for Contactless Halloween Candy Delivery

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 21:21:26 GMT

Among the many, many, many things COVID-19 has upended is Halloween. For obvious reasons, the idea of interacting with hundreds of strangers crowded on your doorstep in a single night [...]

KFC Partners with Hyundai in Korea for Chicken Frying Robots

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 19:01:02 GMT

Hyundai Robotics announced today that it has partnered with KFC Korea are to develop robots that can cook chicken, reports The Korea Herald. There weren’t many details in the story [...]

PicoBrew’s Reluctant New Owner Puts Shuttered Startup’s Assets For Sale On Website

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:15:32 GMT

Ever since The Spoon first broke the story of home brew technology startup PicoBrew entering bankruptcy back in February, it’s been an open question about what would happen to all [...]

Vive La Veggie Burger! EU Says Plant-Based Meats Can Keep Their Name

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 15:30:00 GMT

There’s good news for European vege- and flexitarians! Instead of having to order and shop for veggie “discs” and “tubes” they can order veggie burgers and sausages. The European Parliament [...]

Talking With Harold McGee about Smells, Culinary Gastronomy and The Future of Food

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Whether you’re someone who is in awe of the mastery of great chefs like Heston Blumenthal, enjoys the work of The Modernist Cuisine, or are just a fan of modern [...]

IXON Food Technology Claims to Keeps Meat Fresh For Two Years

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:00:00 GMT

This week, Hong Kong-based IXON Food Technology announced its proprietary method of food preservation that allows meat to be shelf-stable for a guaranteed minimum of two years. The company will [...]

Burger King Partners with Loop to Pilot Reusable Packaging

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:07:48 GMT

Burger King announced today that it has partnered with TerraCyle’s circular packaging service, Loop, to test out the use of resuable food and beverage containers. Starting next year, select BKs [...]

Startup CPG’s Free Databases Help Emerging Brands with 3PL, Logistics and Donations

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:02:07 GMT

The phrase “The Passion Economy” refers to the increasing ability for people to build real businesses around whatever they are, well, passionate about (it’s also an excellent book). And while [...]

SNAP Participants Can Now Use Benefits to Pay for Grocery Delivery with Instacart

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:52:30 GMT

Instacart announced today that it has partnered with grocery retailer ALDI to allow those on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to use their Electronic Benefits Transfer card to pay for [...]

Simbe Robotics Announces New Tally 3.0 Shelf-Scanning Robot

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Simbe Robotics today announced the Tally 3.0, the company’s latest generation of inventory management robot that now features better optical capabilities and more computing power on the edge. Simbe’s Tally [...]

TeleSense Raises $10.2M for its IoT Crop Spoilage Prediction Platform

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 11:00:00 GMT

TeleSense, which uses IoT-enabled sensors to detect and predict crop spoilage, announced today that it has closed a $10.2 million Series B round of funding. The round was led by [...]

BrightFarms Raised $100M Series E for its Indoor Farms

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 19:00:00 GMT

BrightFarms has raised a $100 million Series E round of funding for its indoor farms, Food Navigator reported yesterday. The round was led by Cox Enterprises, with participation from Catalyst [...]

SKS 2020: Watch the SKS Startup Showcase Finalist Pitches

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 17:00:00 GMT

At last week’s Smart Kitchen Summit, ten finalists made their case on the virtual stage why they should be chosen as winner of the Startup Showcase competition. The Startup Showcase, [...]

Hive’s Online Market Makes Ethical and Sustainable Shopping Easy

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

For many people during this pandemic the notion of shopping for sustainable or ethically sourced grocery products was probably tossed in favor of old comfort foods and just making sure [...]

June’s Third-Gen Oven Goes on Pre-Sale with New Heat Controls and Premium Memberships

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

June announced today the third generation of its eponymous countertop smart oven. The latest version of the June Oven features more control over the heating elements, new cook modes, enhanced [...]

Aleph Farms’"Aleph Zero” Program Aims to Grow Cell-Based Steaks in Space

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:01:00 GMT

Aleph Farms, announced its new “Alep Zero” program today, which aims to bring the production of cell-based meat into outer space to help humans become “multiplanetary.” Aleph’s lab-grown, slaughter-free approach [...]

Chowbotics Adds Contactless Features and New Menu Items to Its Salad Robot

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 20:31:54 GMT

In this time of COVID, vending machines are fast becoming a great option for contactless meals. Well, mostly contactless. While the machines are using advanced robotics to make high-end food, [...]

Impossible Is Prototyping a Plant-Based Milk Product

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 18:26:10 GMT

At a press conference today, Impossible Foods revealed a prototype for a plant-based milk alternative as part of its ambitious plans to eliminate animal protein from the food supply chain. [...]

Eat Just and Impossible Foods Both Made Major Expansions to Asia This Week

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 16:07:00 GMT

Two alt-protein heavyweights in the U.S. took major steps this week in their expansions across Asia, underscoring the growing demand (and need) for alternatives to animal protein in that region. [...]

New WSJ Report Shows How Much CloudKitchens Has Spent on Real Estate and Where

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:36:14 GMT

CloudKitchens, the secretive ghost kitchen startup founded by ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, has purchased more than 40 real estate properties across two dozen cities for more than $130 million, according [...]