The Spoon Podcast

Wildtype, a cultivated seafood startup, announced it has raised a $100 million Series B funding round, the largest to date for a cultivated seafood startup. I sat down with company CEO Justin Kolbeck to learn more about the company's plans. Justin and I talk about: -How he and his cofounder started the company -Expansion of production capacity for cultivated seafood -Where the FDA is in its approval process -Convincing consumers to eat cultivated seafood -And more! via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hyphen announced this week that they'd raised a $24 million Series A funding round. We caught up with Stephen Klein to hear about his food robot platform and his vision for building the Shopify for restaurant robotics. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One night Mattew Fonte's young daughter suggested they make an instant home ice cream making machine. A few years later, the idea became a reality. Only the ColdSnap does a whole lot more, including margaritas, cold coffee, frozen yogurt and, of course, ice cream. In this conversation we walk with Forte about the appliance that stole the show at CES 2021 and how he sees it changing the home ice cream (and beverage) market. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Bill Lee and Brett Beller started talking about the idea of using a DAO and an NFT to buy a McDonald's, they were mostly joking around. Before long, they had started a Discord server and friesDAO had raised over $4 million. Now they had to figure out how to make it happen. In this episode we talk with Bill Lee, an advisor to friesDAO, about their plans to use a DAO to purchase a restaurant (and possibly multiple restaurants) and operate them through a decentralized autonomous organization. The conversation talks about the possibilities of crypto and a Web3 community as a new way to do business in the restaurant industry. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Cana came out of stealth and announced their "molecular beverage printer", a device the company says will be able to create almost any beverage from the same 80 or so flavor compounds. We talk with Matt about the device, the story behind its creation and where he sees beverage tech going. To learn more about Cana, check out their website at www.cana.com via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the fast growth of the ghost kitchen industry is exciting, it has some downsides. The industry's rapid expansion has often meant low-quality food, a lack of transparency, and, even health code violations. Kristen Barnett wants to change all that with her newest venture, Hungry House. Barnett, who was formerly with Zuul, wants to be transparent about where the food is made and who is making it and to have tight control over the quality. That means growth will be purposeful in the beginning as the company builds its business one kitchen - and chef - at a time. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Steve Simoni originally started BBot, the idea was to create restaurant robots, But things don't always go as planned, and for Simoni and BBot, that's a good thing since BBot is a fast-growing restaurant tech software startup. Mike and Steve catch up on all things restaurant tech, including ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants, the food metaverse and, yes, restaurant robots. Enjoy! via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlike many computational biology startups that have emerged in recent years, Kingdom doesn't use precision fermentation technology or genetic engineering to build its new ingredient building blocks. Instead, the company is applies artificial intelligence to analyze a massive database of existing cultures to discover new and interesting potential microbial combinations that could provide new functionality, flavors and more. In this interview, we talk with Ravi Sheth and Kendall Dabaghi, the cofounders of Kingdom Supercultures, to discuss how they are using modern compute to create new novel ingredients at a much faster pace than traditional biology. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Collagen is used everywhere, from cosmetics to food to health and wellness applications, and because animal-derived collagen is a by product of the animal farming industry, it has all the same downsides as the factory farming industry. While some companies, like Geltor, are using precision fermentation technology to create animal-identical collagens using precision fermentation technology, a relatively new arriver to the alt-collagen space by the name of Jellatech is using cell-based technology to produce collagen, which the company then harvests for use in a variety of different applications. Jellatech's approach is similar to that of Turtletree Labs, which uses cell-based approaches to create human-identical breast milk. For TurtleTree - and Jellatech - the cells are not the products sold to or consumed by the customers - it's the collagen produced by those sells. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1985, Adam Lloyd Cohen was in Paris working on a documentary about ancient robots as a project during his senior year in college. After steeping himself in the history of automation during the day and dining on French cuisine at night, he began to think about how we might use robots to make food. It took nearly four decades, but Cohen has built his food robot and is ready to bring his vision of distributed dining to the world. You can listen to the podcast and also read about Adam's journey at The Spoon: https://thespoon.tech/after-almost-40-years-adam-lloyd-cohen-is-bringing-his-vision-for-food-robots-to-life/ via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Heimendinger has been building technology in the kitchen for the past decade. It started over a decade ago when he wrote a seminal article for Maker magazine about building a $75 consumer sous vide circulator.From there he went to work for Modernist Cuisine and helped Nathan Myhrvold launch a series of new products built around the Modernist brand. He then started his own company called Sansaire building sous vide appliances. He eventually went to work with Anova to help them launch their steam oven. And now, he wants to build the next great category in the kitchen. Listen in to hear about what he is doing and what he's excited about in the kitchen. This is Season 5, Episode 1. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Innit dropped news this week of a partnership with Google Cloud, so I thought I'd do a quick catch up with him to hear about the news and see what else Innit is up to. You can find my story on Innit and Google Cloud over at The Spoon (www.thespoon.tech). via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Koby Nahmias got a call in 2015 that would set the trajectory for next six years of his life and the cell-based meat industry. An investor wanted to know what he thought of Mark Post's 250,000 euro cell-based hamburger. From that point forward, Nahmias would set about reengineering the production for cell-based meat to reach mass market price points. You can ready more about this interview with Koby Nahmias at The Spoon (www.thespoon.tech). via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better Meat Company CEO Paul Shapiro is an alt-protein evangelist. And it's not just for his own company, but for pretty much any company or person helping to contribute to the end of factory farming. In this episode, Mike talks about Better Meat Company's new mycoprotein production facility, the current state of plant-based meat and where Paul thinks the cell-based meat industry is going. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Robert Graham is on a mission to help the world eat better. As a Harvard trained doctor as well as a chef, his business Fresh Med focuses on helping patients get at the root cause of their diseases and move towards healthier lives through diet. As always, you can find more podcasts at The Spoon at www.thespoon.tech. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Kurzrock first became interested in upcycling when he first started making bread for his friends using the spent grains from his home brewed beer. This hobby eventually led him to realize that beer brewing industry, as well as many other industries - had many food by products that could be turned into consumable food. Listen as Daniel and I talk about the journey for ReGrained and the growth of the upcycled food industry. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Schulze left a long-time position as a FDA regulator to go to Upside Foods (Memphis Meats at the time) to help develop the cutting edge technology. Eric's background would eventually come in handy as the company looks navigate the regulatory environment as it moves towards introducing its first product to market. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Elder had a good thing going. And then he decided he wanted to make a difference in the world. So the last year he worked in stealth on his new plant-based meat company, Nowadays, which debuted this week. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's really no one more responsible for the creation of today's plant-based cheese and butter market than Miyoko Schinner. After turning vegan in the 80s, Schinner began a long journey that involved writing a number of best-selling cookbooks, getting on the wrong side of a Japanese mobster and eventually starting Miyoko's Creamery, a huge success story. As always, you can listen to The Food Tech Show at The Spoon (www.thespoon.tech) or wherever you get your podcasts. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's talk space food! As NASA prepares to send astronauts into space for years to reach far-flung places like Mars, one of the biggest challenges will be feeding them. Prepackaged meals-ready-to-eat won't cut it for years in space as astronauts will need to find ways to create fresh food that provides the balance nutrition required for long-term health and productivity in the most challenging of work environments. To talk about the current state of space food and where it's going in the future, our guests for this show include: -Anjan Contractor, CEO of BeeHex - BeeHex created a 3D pizza printer for NASA -Dane Gobel - the operations administrator for the Deep Space Food Challenge, a NASA Centennial challenge to find innovative new ways to feed space travelers. As always, you can find more Food Tech Show podcasts at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most, founding one of the original better-for-you brands in Honest Tea would be enough of a life achievement. For Seth Goldman, it meant he was just getting started. Nowadays as the Chairman of Beyond Meat and founder of plant-based snack brand Eat the Change and plant-based fast food chain PLNT Burger, Seth Goldman thinks a lot about the future of food. We talk about how alt-protein and the future food space has evolved in recent years, the crazy valuations for startups, and where he thinks the market for these new alternatives to animal agriculture are going. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eat Just founder and CEO Josh Tetrick is inarguably one of the leading pioneers in the future of food. In this interview, The Spoon's Jenn Marston talks with Josh about the company's recent milestones and where he sees alt-protein going in the future. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Naveen Jain has been on the forefront of technology for the last quarter century, starting one of the early seminal Internet companies in InfoSpace and eventually starting a space company in Moon Express. His current passion is Viome, a company focused on building high-precision nutrition information services and supplements derived from an understanding of a person's DNA, RNA and microbiome. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Mellon's new book, Moo's Law, looks at the future food industry through the lens of a long-time investor. Mellon is an investor and entrepreneur who also has written numerous books on industries such as biotech and investing. For his latest book, he interviewed the who's who of the future food industry and we discuss his findings on the podcast. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're interested in the future of the home kitchen, restaurants or food in general, you won't want to miss this conversation with Chef Chris Young. Young announced his new company Combustion Inc this week, so we invited him to get on stage with us on Clubhouse to talk about lessons learned from his days at ChefSteps and Modernist Cuisine, what he's building at Combustion Inc and where he sees the world of restaurants going. It was a great conversation! via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clara Foods is making eggs without the animal. The company has been working on its technology to make chickenless eggs since 2014 and finally released its first product last year. We talk to Clara Foods CEO Arturo Elizondo about a chicken-less egg future and how we get there. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long-time food tech executive Lou Cooperhouse became fascinated with the idea of creating biotechnology to create animal cells for food as he watched pioneers like Mark Post product mammal cells in a lab, but realized there wasn't nearly as much innovation happening the world of cell-based fish. And so BlueNalu was born. We talk about the future of cell-based fish market, how creating cell-based fish differs from other types of cultivated meat and much more. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the Spoon editorial crew got together to talk about the latest food tech news. On this week's podcast, the crew talked about: -Dragontail Systems and Pizza Hut Deploy Pizza Delivery Drones in Israel -Controlled Ag Company AppHarvest's First-Ever Crop Arrives at Grocery Stores This Week -Smart Shopping Carts at Kroger (and elsewhere) -Big $ Continue for Cultured Meat Startups As always, you can subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. - via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While alt-meat and plant-based milks have seen an explosion in great products the past few years, plant-based cheese space hasn't seen the same level of new and exciting products. That might change soon as Ground Foods brings its cauliflower and hemp based cheese products to the masses. We talk with Veronica Fil, the CEO of Grounded Foods, on the story behind their product that has many in the plant-based food world excited about cheese. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Food Tech Show, the Spoon crew talks about what they saw at CES 2021 and Food Tech Live. Both shows were virtual, but that didn't stop us from seeing and talking to some interesting food tech innovators. As always, you can read about what we saw at The Spoon (www.thespoon.tech). via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the world of computing, the ability to build new products and scale quickly is something that has come to be expected. Long-established toolsets enable innovators to invent, iterate and scale and get to market much more quickly than in the past. While the world of biomanufacturing has seen rapid advancements in recent years, Will Patrick believed that many of the things he had learned in the world of mechanical engineering could help make things move even faster. The result was Culture Biosciences, a company which makes offers cloud-connected bioreactors as a service to makers building the next generation of food and other bioengineered innovation. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the bee is being threatened by a number of factors such as global warming, pesticides and yes, murder hornets. While that presents a challenge to the $7 billion honey industry, the focus on honey production is problematic for the bee ecosystem itself as farmed bees compete with wild bees for food and ultimately can hurt biodiversity. Because of this, Darko Mandich wants to create honey without the honeybee using cutting edge bioengineering techniques through the process of fermentation. His company, MeliBio, has already received commitments from over a dozen companies around the world to use his honey. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spoon team talks about the latest news from the world of food tech. In this episode, we also talk about what we learned at our ghost kitchen event last week. As always, you can find more Spoon podcasts at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The editor crew gets together to talk about some of this week's biggest food tech stories. -Pink Dot Using Postmates' Serve Robot to Delivery Food in West Hollywood -Eat Just Gets the World's First Regulatory Approval to Sell Cultured Meat -Are Humans the Next Lab-Grown Meat? -The Spoon gift guide recommendations. As always, make sure to check out more podcasts at The Spoon. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the Spoon team discusses the confusion over McDonald's plant-based burger debut, the fast food restaurant's new drive through only restaurant format, the intro of Spyce Kitchen robotic restaurant 2.0 and discuss what a Biden presidency might look like when it comes to food tech policy. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will lab grown meat scale like the Internet? We discuss this and other stories on this week's podcast. Other stories include Ordermark's ghost kitchen play, the acquisition of coffee robot startup Briggo, whether we can use the term veggie burger. As always, read more about these stories at The Spoon. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before there was Modernist Cuisine and the entire molecular gastronomy movement, there was Harold McGee. McGee changed the culinary landscape and, in particular, science-forward food writing with his book, "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen", when it was published in 1984. Since the publication of his seminal book, McGee has influenced a generation of chefs and food writers, as well as creating the original big bang for what would become the molecular gastronomy movement. And now McGee is expanding his examination of how we examine and take in the world around us with his new book, " NOSE DIVE: A Field Guide to the World's Smells." In this episode Mike talks with Harold about his new book, how he views the current state of culinary innovation and asks him about what gets him excited nowadays when it comes to food. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the editor team got together to discuss the following stories: -Anova's new combi oven and whether steam will be the next big thing on the consumer kitchen -The broader trend towards more sustainable packaging -The creep factor of paying with your face -GE's new chef platform As always, find more podcasts at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spoon team have a heavily caffeinated conversation about the layoffs at Cafe-X, Mike's first week with the Spinn and Atomo molecular coffee. We also talk about a new ghost kitchen funding and augmented reality powered restaurant menus. Also, Mike suggests new names for both Chris and Jenn. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spoon editor team got together this week to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the week. Included in this week's wrap up is a discussion about the white hot ghost kitchen market, a big milestone by cultured meat startup Mosa Meat, the acquisition of StoreBound (the company behind the Dash housewares brand) and Mike's disbelief about the $1 Keto cookies. As always, you can find more Food Tech Shows at The Spoon at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investing in startups that make products to-consumers can be tough, but it's also exciting. Mike talks with long-time investor Elizabeth Edwards about why she invests exclusively on consumer brands and why food is one of her favorite categories. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Michael Wolf sits down with Riana Lynn to talk about her journey as a black female food tech entrepreneur. From working in the Obama White House to Don Thompson's Cleveland Avenue to starting her latest venture that uses AI to help CPG companies make healthier and more sustainable food products, Riana's had a fascinating journey. Mike talks to her about this journey, how she thinks food tech could help address some of the systemic racial inequities within the broader food system, how food tech could be more welcoming to people of color, and whether she's hopeful about the possibility of positive change resulting from today's current conversation around race in the United States. via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the Spoon editors got together to talk about some of the biggest stories of the week, including: -CookMagic, a textbot based recipe assistant -Can Pico-roasting help coffee shops survive the pandemic? -The all-but-certain end of PicoBrew -The Yo-Kai meal kit: Robot maker goes meal kit provider via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With most places still in lockdown, many restaurants are trying to survive by going off-premise through a combination of delivery and takeout. The Spoon's Chris Albrecht caught up with Chowly's Sterling Douglass to talk about what he's seeing out there in what is a rapidly changed restaurant landscape and to discuss strategies for going off-premise. This conversation took place as part of The Spoon's COVID-19 Virtual Strategy Summit. If you missed the summit and would like to see some of what you missed, all the sessions are now available to watch here: https://thespoon.tech/covid-19-strategy-summit-for-food-session-videos/ via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spoon editors got together to talk about some of the stories of people and companies stepping up to the plate during a dark time or well positioned to take advantage of rapidly changing consumer behavior. As always, you can find more Spoon podcasts and our stories at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From his time as director of culinary research for three Michelin star restaurant Alinea to creating video game themed dinner nights at his own Seattle based restaurant "incubator" Addo, Chef Eric Rivera has a reputation for being innovative. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, those innovation skills have become survival skills as Rivera helps his restaurant group traverse our rapidly changing new shared reality. Michael Wolf caught up with Rivera to discuss the ways in which his business is adapting with the mandatory shut down of restaurants in Washington state during COVID-19, including launching his own delivery service, his Addo Pantry and remote cooking classes. You can find Eric on Instagram at www.instagram.com/ericriveracooks via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're all sheltering in place, locked down and trying to keep on top of the impact of this global contagion on the world of food tech. We talk about mandatory restaurant shut downs, restaurants and food businesses trying to pivot during COVID and the challenges of writing about food tech during a global pandemic. We want to hear your stories. If you have any unique stories from your place in the world that intersects with food tech, food innovation or just something you think should be heard, reach out via [email protected]. Stay safe everyone! via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a confusing and worrying time, so join some of your friends from the Spoon as we talk food tech for a half an hour. On today's podcast, we talk cover the following stories: -Is coronavirus accelerating adoption of certain food tech sectors? -Amazon is selling its next-gen grocery tech to other companies -Sweetgreen looks to make its to-go bowls fully compostable -There is another pizza vending machine and they've raised an eye-popping $10 million As always, you can find more podcasts at www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back for an editor podcast. This week Mike, Chris and Catherine discuss the following stories: -How the coronavirus is impacting the world of tech, including the Housewares show -Starbucks and McDonalds push waste free cups in San Francisco -A cup that lets you create fizzy water on the go -Another plant based burger, this time from industrial food giant Cargill For more podcasts, visit www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spoon editor pod! Mike, Jenn, Chris and Catherine got together to discuss some of the stories of the week, including: -PicoBrew is up for sale. What happened? -In a related story, PicoBrew also has technology that can "age" spirits overnight. Is this a game changer for the distilling industry? -Coranavirus is impacting nearly every aspect of the economy. How is it going to impact the world food and food delivery? -The owner of Tim Horton's and Burger King is investing heavily in personalization. How will that change the consumer experience in the restaurant? As always, listen to more podcasts at The Spoon: www.thespoon.tech via Knit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices