startup Archives | Food+Tech Connect https://foodtechconnect.com News, trends & community for food and food tech startups. Sun, 06 Jan 2019 15:01:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 Millennial Food Innovators: Fruiti-Cycle Takes on Post-Harvest Losses https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/27/millennial-food-innovators-fruiti-cycle-takes-post-harvest-losses/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/27/millennial-food-innovators-fruiti-cycle-takes-post-harvest-losses/#comments Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:33:38 +0000 http://foodtechconnect.com/?p=28146   Our Millennial Innovators Uprooting Our Food System series profiles the bright, creative and driven university students from around the world that make up Thought For Food (TFF), a next generation food innovation platform (check out last year’s series here). A global community as well as a summit and business competition, TFF empowers breakthrough solutions to feed nine billion people by 2050.    With over 50 percent of fruits and vegetables being lost in post-harvest handling, storage and distribution, smallholder farmers need appropriate technology to reduce waste. For these farmers, reducing waste is a matter of life and death.  To tackle this challenge, Uganda-based Fruiti-Cycle has created one of the first cold chain vehicles for smallholder farmers in East Africa. We spoke with Ben Wokorach, Co-Founder and CEO, about their product and what’s coming next. _________________________ Thought For Food: What issue does your product solve? Fruiti-Cycle: In Uganda and most of Sub-Saharan Africa, farming is the main source of income. But almost 50% of produce, are lost during post-harvest handling, storage and distribution. In Uganda, over 7 million households working in horticulture are affected with each household losing over $10,000 USD annually to post-harvest losses. We designed Fruiti-Cycle, an electric motorized tricycle mounted with a refrigerated storage unit, for conveniently distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, while reducing the 50% losses to 10%. Fruiti-Cycle uses both manual pedaling and electric energy to generate speeds of up to 30km per hour. This energy allows a farmer to carry five times more produce (up to 300kg) during every trip, unlike the normal bicycles, which have a 60kg carrying capacity. The energy also allows a farmer to reach further markets. They are able to travel 30 to 50km each trip, unlike with a normal bicycle where a farmer can only travel as far as 20km before getting too tired. Fruiti-Cycle’s unique feature is the refrigerated storage unit, which uses an evaporative cooling system to prolong the shelf-life of produce during distribution. It also reduces mechanical damage due to poor packaging. The storage unit is detachable. This means it can also be used in the farm to store produce, or within the market to preserve produce up to five days. TFF: What is the biggest challenge you faced when developing your project and how did you solve it? FC: At the beginning of project development, the main challenge was funding. However, we pushed ourselves as a team and fundraised just enough to make a mockup of our innovation so we could get feedback from potential users, and show potential supporters that we are really serious about our idea. This mockup and level of project development got us selected among the top ten teams for the TFF Summit in Zurich, Switzerland. We won the $2,500 Take it to the Farmer prize at the TFF Summit. Later, through persistence with passion in our project, we raised an additional $18,600 from other awards and grants, including the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the Resilient Africa Network, and the LES Business Plan Competition. From this point, the main challenge was, and still is, time. Most of our team members have other jobs, so they only get to work on this project outside their regular working hours. The money we’ve raised is just enough for proof-of-concept and to meet other expenses. TFF: How did your personal experiences inspire you to launch Fruiti-Cycle? FC: All six co-founders come from different professional backgrounds, including architecture, accounting, engineering, computer science, and manufacturing. Yet, we have all been part of subsistence agriculture growing up in rural Uganda. This includes through direct engagement in the farm during academic holidays or being in the market to sell produce to supplement the household incomes that supported our studies. These personal experiences inspired us to form a company in 2015 that will tackle the problems faced by small-scale farmers in Uganda, across Africa, and other parts of the developing world. TFF: What role do you see Fruiti-Cycle playing in global food security? FC: The 50 percent post-harvest losses in food in the low developed world not only means less food available for consumption (food insecurity), but less income for the farmers (poverty), which also discourages production. Fruiti-Cycle’s role in eliminating or significantly reducing post-harvest losses will mean more food available for consumption and more production in the future, hence increasing global food security. TFF: What was your experience like as a TFF Finalist and how did that experience shape where your project is today? FC: It was an exhilarating moment for me, personally. Besides meeting other teams from different parts of the globe who were very supportive, I learned so much about entrepreneurship, right from the TFF Startup Bootcamp to the day we pitched in front of the Summit audience, which was electrifying. The experience gave me and the rest of the team more confidence in the project and we could clearly see the future prospects of Fruiti-Cycle. The idea of creating a social enterprise with the potential to contribute significantly to food security and wealth creation became our drive, and since then we have won 6 awards, incorporated our startup, did a market research survey, and talked to potential users in three regions of Uganda. Our plans are to scale the use of our innovation across Uganda and East Africa in 2018. TFF: It seems that 2016 has been a great year of accomplishments for you personally and for Fruiti-Cycle. What have been the most rewarding aspects thus far? FC: Yes, 2016 has been a rewarding year for Fruiti-Cycle. Personally, I was able to meet Tony Elumelu, the Nigerian billionaire who has put aside $100 million to support 10,000 African entrepreneurs in the next 10 years. I also met the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, for the first time and was selected as one of the 100 brightest young minds across Africa for the Brightest Young Minds Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was also selected as one of 250 global young leaders for the first ever UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) youth forum. All these achievements, one […]

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Our Millennial Innovators Uprooting Our Food System series profiles the bright, creative and driven university students from around the world that make up Thought For Food (TFF), a next generation food innovation platform (check out last year’s series here). A global community as well as a summit and business competition, TFF empowers breakthrough solutions to feed nine billion people by 2050. 

 

With over 50 percent of fruits and vegetables being lost in post-harvest handling, storage and distribution, smallholder farmers need appropriate technology to reduce waste. For these farmers, reducing waste is a matter of life and death.  To tackle this challenge, Uganda-based Fruiti-Cycle has created one of the first cold chain vehicles for smallholder farmers in East Africa. We spoke with Ben Wokorach, Co-Founder and CEO, about their product and what’s coming next.

_________________________

Thought For Food: What issue does your product solve?

Fruiti-Cycle: In Uganda and most of Sub-Saharan Africa, farming is the main source of income. But almost 50% of produce, are lost during post-harvest handling, storage and distribution. In Uganda, over 7 million households working in horticulture are affected with each household losing over $10,000 USD annually to post-harvest losses.

We designed Fruiti-Cycle, an electric motorized tricycle mounted with a refrigerated storage unit, for conveniently distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, while reducing the 50% losses to 10%. Fruiti-Cycle uses both manual pedaling and electric energy to generate speeds of up to 30km per hour. This energy allows a farmer to carry five times more produce (up to 300kg) during every trip, unlike the normal bicycles, which have a 60kg carrying capacity. The energy also allows a farmer to reach further markets. They are able to travel 30 to 50km each trip, unlike with a normal bicycle where a farmer can only travel as far as 20km before getting too tired.

Fruiti-Cycle’s unique feature is the refrigerated storage unit, which uses an evaporative cooling system to prolong the shelf-life of produce during distribution. It also reduces mechanical damage due to poor packaging. The storage unit is detachable. This means it can also be used in the farm to store produce, or within the market to preserve produce up to five days.

TFF: What is the biggest challenge you faced when developing your project and how did you solve it?

FC: At the beginning of project development, the main challenge was funding. However, we pushed ourselves as a team and fundraised just enough to make a mockup of our innovation so we could get feedback from potential users, and show potential supporters that we are really serious about our idea.

This mockup and level of project development got us selected among the top ten teams for the TFF Summit in Zurich, Switzerland. We won the $2,500 Take it to the Farmer prize at the TFF Summit. Later, through persistence with passion in our project, we raised an additional $18,600 from other awards and grants, including the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the Resilient Africa Network, and the LES Business Plan Competition. From this point, the main challenge was, and still is, time. Most of our team members have other jobs, so they only get to work on this project outside their regular working hours. The money we’ve raised is just enough for proof-of-concept and to meet other expenses.

TFF: How did your personal experiences inspire you to launch Fruiti-Cycle?

FC: All six co-founders come from different professional backgrounds, including architecture, accounting, engineering, computer science, and manufacturing. Yet, we have all been part of subsistence agriculture growing up in rural Uganda. This includes through direct engagement in the farm during academic holidays or being in the market to sell produce to supplement the household incomes that supported our studies. These personal experiences inspired us to form a company in 2015 that will tackle the problems faced by small-scale farmers in Uganda, across Africa, and other parts of the developing world.

TFF: What role do you see Fruiti-Cycle playing in global food security?

FC: The 50 percent post-harvest losses in food in the low developed world not only means less food available for consumption (food insecurity), but less income for the farmers (poverty), which also discourages production.

Fruiti-Cycle’s role in eliminating or significantly reducing post-harvest losses will mean more food available for consumption and more production in the future, hence increasing global food security.

TFF: What was your experience like as a TFF Finalist and how did that experience shape where your project is today?

FC: It was an exhilarating moment for me, personally. Besides meeting other teams from different parts of the globe who were very supportive, I learned so much about entrepreneurship, right from the TFF Startup Bootcamp to the day we pitched in front of the Summit audience, which was electrifying.

The experience gave me and the rest of the team more confidence in the project and we could clearly see the future prospects of Fruiti-Cycle. The idea of creating a social enterprise with the potential to contribute significantly to food security and wealth creation became our drive, and since then we have won 6 awards, incorporated our startup, did a market research survey, and talked to potential users in three regions of Uganda. Our plans are to scale the use of our innovation across Uganda and East Africa in 2018.

TFF: It seems that 2016 has been a great year of accomplishments for you personally and for Fruiti-Cycle. What have been the most rewarding aspects thus far?

FC: Yes, 2016 has been a rewarding year for Fruiti-Cycle. Personally, I was able to meet Tony Elumelu, the Nigerian billionaire who has put aside $100 million to support 10,000 African entrepreneurs in the next 10 years. I also met the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, for the first time and was selected as one of the 100 brightest young minds across Africa for the Brightest Young Minds Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was also selected as one of 250 global young leaders for the first ever UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) youth forum. All these achievements, one way or the other, happened because of the Fruiti-Cycle project.

The most rewarding aspect has been exposure, personal growth, and humility. These internal rewards have greatly impacted Fruiti-Cycle – how I carry the startup’s vision as the team leader, and how we support each other as a team. The aim is always to uplift the vision of fighting poverty and food insecurity through eliminating post-harvest losses in food.

TFF: If you could offer a piece of advice to entrepreneurs interested in developing food security solutions, what would it be?

FC: Food is one of the main reasons we all still exist in this world. Without it, we cannot survive. Almost one billion people go hungry every day across the globe, and it will be worse if we don’t do anything about it. My advice to entrepreneurs interested in developing food security solutions is to START! Your idea doesn’t have to be absolute, whether you have the funding or not, whether you have the best team or not, START! Along the way, you will be so amazed by how many people out there are willing to help you at no or low cost, and so many organizations who are willing to fund your project without taking any bit in return.

_________________________

 

The Thought For Food Global Summit will be taking place May 26-27, 2017 in Amsterdam. Hear from leading innovators and inspiring thought leaders from a variety of fields. Experience firsthand the creative power and impact of the next generation. Watch breakthrough startup pitches from the 2017 TFF Challenge Finalists as they compete for the Grand Prize!

The post Millennial Food Innovators: Fruiti-Cycle Takes on Post-Harvest Losses appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/27/millennial-food-innovators-fruiti-cycle-takes-post-harvest-losses/feed/ 3 20 Awesome Food Startup Jobs in NYC https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/11/13-awesome-food-startup-jobs-in-nyc/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/11/13-awesome-food-startup-jobs-in-nyc/#comments Tue, 11 Apr 2017 17:31:57 +0000 https://foodtechconnect.com/?p=28857 Looking for a great job at a food startup in New York?  We’ve got a wide range of exciting opportunities in marketing, hospitality, merchandising, customer experience and more! Check out more exciting job openings at Food+Tech Jobs.   FOOD STARTUP JOBS IN NEW YORK 1. Content Marketing Manager at Karen Karp & Partners (Part-Time) Position: KK&P seeks a talented, experienced Content Marketing Manager to be responsible for KK&P’s marketing strategies, lead generation and to manage its successful implementation. The role involves generating engaging marketing content on multiple platforms such as MailChimp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, blog posts, case studies, white papers and video interviews. This new role is responsible for developing original, engaging content that helps promote the firm’s thought leadership across a wide variety of agriculture, food and health-related topics. To give you a sense: One day you might be interviewing a top chef; another day visiting with dairy farmers; another day exploring what it means to live in an urban food desert. The successful candidate is a creative marketing professional with an excellent writing background and proven ability to develop engaging content to attract and retain current and prospective c. This position reports to the President of KK&P and is based in our New York City offices. About Karen Karp & Partners: KK& P is a growing, dynamic consulting company working in the fields of agriculture, food and health, a with two divisions. Our Good Food is Good Business division supports the healthy development, execution, and operations of food businesses and initiatives in the public and private sectors. Our services include strategic sourcing, feasibility analysis, market research, business planning, project management and evaluation. Our Good People are Good Business division builds leadership and organizational effectiveness in the food sector through talent and performance management, organizational assessment, capacity building, executive coaching, recruiting and employee engagement services.   2. Social Media Editor at Feel Good Foods Position: Feel Good Foods is seeking a hands-on content creator with food experience to join our Brooklyn-based team and manage all social media platforms. The right candidate has a passion for and knowledge of food, deep understanding of the social media landscape and the photography/video skills necessary to bring our brand to life on social media with a consistent look and feel. The Social Media Food Editor reports to the VP Marketing. About Feel Good Foods: Feel Good Foods, a frozen foods company based in Brooklyn, New York, is changing the marketplace with our chef-inspired, gluten-free versions of your favorite frozen appetizers, including our best-selling dumplings and egg rolls as well as our just-released taquitos and empanadas. 3. Software Engineer at FoodNiche Position: A software engineer with expertise in Java back-end and highly scalable application developments is needed to join our team. A team player with great problem-solving skills. Java and relational database expertise, and some basic knowledge of front-end technologies such as HTML, CSS3 and JavaScript is required for this job. About FoodNiche: FoodNiche is a technology company that innovatively connect food brands and local food businesses to their target customers. 4. Senior Culinary Director at FreshDirect Position: The position will work with the Directors of category’s to develop culinary programs that support each category. There will be guidance on internal and external development. This person will lead the culinary teams in training and product development based upon the business briefs.  Explain, train and teach the process to develop great food that meets the quality standards set forth in the briefs. About Fresh Direct: FreshDirect is a food tech company and the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the greater D.C. metropolitan area. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers. 5. Merchandising Manager, FreshDirect at the Office Position: Recipe for Success – The Merchandising Manager, FreshDirect at the Office will be responsible for creating and managing the merchandising vision for the FreshDirect at the Office business including assortment, promotion, pricing and placement. This person will utilize research to understand the customer and their wants and then develop a vision to capture that targeted customer and provide product to meet their expectations. This will require working closely with the product experts across all product lines including Produce, Grocery, Dairy & Alcohol to match assortment, pricing and promotion to what the customers want. This team player will bring a strong category management to this segment to drive sales and profitability and will lead the annual business plan and operating budget development for the COS segment. About FreshDirect: FreshDirect is a food tech company and the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the greater D.C. metropolitan area. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers. FreshDirect “At the Office” delivers the same high-quality food with expanded product offerings and services for corporate clients. In 2015, FreshDirect expanded its portfolio with the launch of FoodKick, a mobile-first food business that connects consumers to the freshest, tastiest finds in food, drinks, and lifestyle essentials all delivered within an hour. 6. Head of Design at Ando Position: Ando is rethinking restaurants in a world dominated by mobile technology. We believe that great food and great delivery are not mutually exclusive, and we aim to bring them together through a suite of world-class products. We’re a team of chefs, entrepreneurs, developers and artists all passionate about using technology to push the culinary world to a new frontier. (Want to learn more? Here’s an interview with Ando co-founder David Chang) We’re seeking an experienced product designer to join our efforts in bringing food to everyone. The ideal candidate has a passion and talent for all aspects of the design process, from research, to interaction and visual design, and branding. As a designer at Ando, you will be challenged to oscillate between these aspects of design to deliver world-class products. In addition to delivering products, this designer will work alongside the product and marketing teams to foster a strong design culture across the organization. About […]

The post 20 Awesome Food Startup Jobs in NYC appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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Looking for a great job at a food startup in New York?  We’ve got a wide range of exciting opportunities in marketing, hospitality, merchandising, customer experience and more!

Check out more exciting job openings at Food+Tech Jobs.

 

FOOD STARTUP JOBS IN NEW YORK

1. Content Marketing Manager at Karen Karp & Partners (Part-Time)

Position: KK&P seeks a talented, experienced Content Marketing Manager to be responsible for KK&P’s marketing strategies, lead generation and to manage its successful implementation. The role involves generating engaging marketing content on multiple platforms such as MailChimp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, blog posts, case studies, white papers and video interviews. This new role is responsible for developing original, engaging content that helps promote the firm’s thought leadership across a wide variety of agriculture, food and health-related topics. To give you a sense: One day you might be interviewing a top chef; another day visiting with dairy farmers; another day exploring what it means to live in an urban food desert. The successful candidate is a creative marketing professional with an excellent writing background and proven ability to develop engaging content to attract and retain current and prospective c. This position reports to the President of KK&P and is based in our New York City offices.

About Karen Karp & Partners: KK& P is a growing, dynamic consulting company working in the fields of agriculture, food and health, a with two divisions. Our Good Food is Good Business division supports the healthy development, execution, and operations of food businesses and initiatives in the public and private sectors. Our services include strategic sourcing, feasibility analysis, market research, business planning, project management and evaluation. Our Good People are Good Business division builds leadership and organizational effectiveness in the food sector through talent and performance management, organizational assessment, capacity building, executive coaching, recruiting and employee engagement services.

 

2. Social Media Editor at Feel Good Foods

Position: Feel Good Foods is seeking a hands-on content creator with food experience to join our Brooklyn-based team and manage all social media platforms. The right candidate has a passion for and knowledge of food, deep understanding of the social media landscape and the photography/video skills necessary to bring our brand to life on social media with a consistent look and feel. The Social Media Food Editor reports to the VP Marketing.

About Feel Good Foods: Feel Good Foods, a frozen foods company based in Brooklyn, New York, is changing the marketplace with our chef-inspired, gluten-free versions of your favorite frozen appetizers, including our best-selling dumplings and egg rolls as well as our just-released taquitos and empanadas.

3. Software Engineer at FoodNiche

Position: A software engineer with expertise in Java back-end and highly scalable application developments is needed to join our team. A team player with great problem-solving skills. Java and relational database expertise, and some basic knowledge of front-end technologies such as HTML, CSS3 and JavaScript is required for this job.

About FoodNiche: FoodNiche is a technology company that innovatively connect food brands and local food businesses to their target customers.

4. Senior Culinary Director at FreshDirect

Position: The position will work with the Directors of category’s to develop culinary programs that support each category. There will be guidance on internal and external development. This person will lead the culinary teams in training and product development based upon the business briefs.  Explain, train and teach the process to develop great food that meets the quality standards set forth in the briefs.

About Fresh Direct: FreshDirect is a food tech company and the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the greater D.C. metropolitan area. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers.

5. Merchandising Manager, FreshDirect at the Office

Position: Recipe for Success – The Merchandising Manager, FreshDirect at the Office will be responsible for creating and managing the merchandising vision for the FreshDirect at the Office business including assortment, promotion, pricing and placement. This person will utilize research to understand the customer and their wants and then develop a vision to capture that targeted customer and provide product to meet their expectations. This will require working closely with the product experts across all product lines including Produce, Grocery, Dairy & Alcohol to match assortment, pricing and promotion to what the customers want. This team player will bring a strong category management to this segment to drive sales and profitability and will lead the annual business plan and operating budget development for the COS segment.

About FreshDirect: FreshDirect is a food tech company and the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the greater D.C. metropolitan area. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers.

FreshDirect “At the Office” delivers the same high-quality food with expanded product offerings and services for corporate clients. In 2015, FreshDirect expanded its portfolio with the launch of FoodKick, a mobile-first food business that connects consumers to the freshest, tastiest finds in food, drinks, and lifestyle essentials all delivered within an hour.

6. Head of Design at Ando

Position: Ando is rethinking restaurants in a world dominated by mobile technology. We believe that great food and great delivery are not mutually exclusive, and we aim to bring them together through a suite of world-class products. We’re a team of chefs, entrepreneurs, developers and artists all passionate about using technology to push the culinary world to a new frontier. (Want to learn more? Here’s an interview with Ando co-founder David Chang)

We’re seeking an experienced product designer to join our efforts in bringing food to everyone. The ideal candidate has a passion and talent for all aspects of the design process, from research, to interaction and visual design, and branding. As a designer at Ando, you will be challenged to oscillate between these aspects of design to deliver world-class products. In addition to delivering products, this designer will work alongside the product and marketing teams to foster a strong design culture across the organization.

About Ando: Ando is Momofuku’s online, delivery-first, fast-casual restaurant.  Our vision is to unleash the power of culinary via technology to create a new American brand that disrupts the $600 billion fast food industry.  We couple exclusive cuisine designed for delivery by Michelin-star chef David Chang with a best-of-breed software stack that enables us to create a unique hospitality experience for every user.  Ando is venture-backed by Forerunner, Expa, the founders of Warby Parker and SoulCycle, as well as Aziz Ansari and Jimmy Fallon.  We’re a team of chefs, entrepreneurs, developers and artists all passionate about using technology to push the culinary world to a new frontier

7. Counsel, Supply Chain at Blue Apron Blue Apron

Position: Blue Apron is seeking a bright, energetic, business-minded and self-motivated transactional attorney to join its rapidly growing Legal team. The ideal candidate has 5-8 years of proven complex supply chain contracts experience gained at a leading national law firm and a food manufacturer or consumer packaged goods (CPG) company. This position will be part of the Legal team’s commercial practice group which provides day-to-day support for the business’s contracting and commercial law needs, drafts and negotiates complex transaction agreements, and advises the business on a wide array of other commercial issues that arise from the operation of a large, fast-paced organization. The role will interface with key stakeholders of our Supply Chain business team to manage, negotiate and execute on a broad range of commercial initiatives and such team’s day-to-day operational needs and strategic priorities. This position is based in New York City at the company’s corporate headquarters in Soho

About Blue Apron: At Blue Apron, our mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone—from the novice cook just getting started to the experienced chef. Each week we send hundreds of thousands of customers all the pre-measured and perfectly proportioned ingredients they need to prepare delicious and healthy meals at home. We introduce our members to new ingredients, flavors, and cooking techniques with seasonally-inspired recipes that are always delicious, fun and easy to prepare.  We make fresher, healthier food available at better prices by rethinking the grocery supply chain from the table all the way back to the farm.

8. Digital Marketer at Urban Leaf

Position: At Urban Leaf we believe that the future of food is fresh, local and personal. It’d be great if you did too. We’re realizing this vision by showing people that growing it at home can be fun, easy and accessible. It’d be great if you knew a bit about food or growing it (the former being more important than the latter). You should be familiar with and understand the pros/cons of various marketing approaches across search, social and email. Must be familiar with designing, running and refining experiments on Adwords and FB.

About Urban Leaf: At Urban Leaf we believe that the future of food is fresh, local and personal. Our goal is to provide an experience that reconnects customers to their food, by showing them that growing it at home is fun, easy and accessible. Our first product, the World’s Smallest Garden, is launching on Kickstarter in May.

9. Sales Coordinator at Ox Verte

Position: Are you looking to join a young, ambitious food start-up on the ground floor? Do you have contacts and friends in offices across Manhattan?

OX VERTE is looking for an all-star Catering Sales Coordinator to join our founding team and help us grow! Most importantly, you will be acting as the brand’s wellness ambassador while delivering impeccable customer service and representing OX VERTE to new and existing clients

About Ox Verte: Ox Verte is a plant-forward food company working to reinvent office lunch. At Ox Verte, we want to make seasonally-fresh, locally-sourced food an everyday occurrence, and offer wholesome meals that can nourish our bodies and nurture our communities.

The Company was founded in Feb. 2015 and serves groups sizes 10 – 500 in Manhattan. Ox Verte is also a Certified B Corporation, a leader in the global movement to use business as a force for good.

10. Director of Logistics at Hungry Root

Position:  We’re looking for a detail oriented, organized and hands-on Director of Logistics to join our team and manage our logistics and warehousing operation. The ideal candidate has experience in inbound and outbound transportation and warehousing of short shelf life, refrigerated food products. This job requires the candidate to roll up his/her sleeves and hit the ground running. The ideal candidate is comfortable sourcing, negotiating and managing third-party logistics and warehousing partners. The candidate should have a customer-centric, forward-looking and cost-conscious approach. Candidates should have established a track record as a dedicated and positive team player, have a passion for health, wellness and craveable food, and be ready for their next challenge.

About Hungryroot: Our mission is to create healthy foods that people crave. We take foods that people associate with indulgence and lack of health and we reinvent them using vegetables and other wholesome ingredients. We have over 30 products spanning Coconut Curry Cauliflower Rice, Sweet Potato Fettuccine Alfredo, and Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough. We’re sold online at Hungryroot.com and also at Whole Foods. We’re passionate, fast-paced, and backed by some of the nation’s best venture capital investors.

11. Vice President of Supply Chain at Hungryroot

Position: We’re looking for a process and detail oriented, proactive and hands-on Vice President of Supply Chain to join our executive team and manage our contract food manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and fulfillment operation. The ideal candidate has experience managing the end-to-end supply chain for sourcing and distributing short shelf life food products to customers on a weekly basis. This job requires the candidate to roll up his/her sleeves and hit the ground running. The ideal candidate should be comfortable with demand and supply planning, refrigerated logistics and warehousing, negotiating and managing 3PMs and 3PLs and optimizing and managing toward cost and service level goals. Candidates should have established a track record as a dedicated and positive team player, have a passion for health, wellness and craveable food, and be ready for their next challenge.

About Hungryroot: Our mission is to create healthy foods that people crave. We take foods that people associate with indulgence and lack of health and we reinvent them using vegetables and other wholesome ingredients. We have over 30 products spanning Coconut Curry Cauliflower Rice, Sweet Potato Fettuccine Alfredo, and Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough. We’re sold online at Hungryroot.com and also at Whole Foods. We’re passionate, fast-paced, and backed by some of the nation’s best venture capital investors.

12. Sales Manager at Ark Foods

Position: We are a medium-sized specialty produce grower with hubs in Immokalee, FL, the Carolina’s and NY State, and are seeking a Sales Manager for the 2017 – 2018 season and beyond. Our team is distributed across our growing regions and this position can be flexibly located, but our preference is someone physically located in the greater NYC area.

This person will work very closely with our CEO, head of sales, and our logistics department, and will be responsible for produce sales. Our customers are nationwide as is our reach, but the focus of this position will be sales in the Mideastern USA, and Eastern USA.

The right person will bring sales and produce industry experience, matched with high energy and outstanding communication skills, to our fast-growing team. The role will have an emphasis on opening new retail accounts. We are offering a highly competitive package that can be either commission or salary based.

About Ark Foods: Ark Foods is a specialty produce grower with operations up and down the East Coast. Our goal is to bring interesting produce to everyone at accessible price points. In total we grow a limited number of acres of specialty produce, ensuring that all our produce receives the care it deserves. By staying focused, we are able to craft more interesting, ‘underdog’ vegetables. This is how we stay true to our purpose: to feed vegetable curiosity to everyone, everywhere.

13. “OXen” Team Member (Food Delivery and Brand Ambassador) at Ox Verte

Position: Are you looking for experience at a young, ambitious food start-up on the ground floor? Are you interested in executing on client orders and representing a mission-driven brand? OX VERTE is looking for a energetic individuals to join our team and help us grow! As part of the ‘OXen’ team, you are a foundational member of Ox’s staff. We want to bring back the Ox as a steady, humble beast that can get food from local farms into the offices of hard working city dwellers. OXen team members act as the bridge between our company and our clients.

About Ox Verte: Ox Verte is a plant-forward food company working to reinvent office lunch. At Ox Verte, we want to make seasonally-fresh, locally-sourced food an everyday occurrence, and offer wholesome meals that can nourish our bodies and nurture our communities. The Company was founded in Feb. 2015 and serves groups sizes 10 – 500 in Manhattan. Ox Verte is also a Certified B Corporation, a leader in the global movement to use business as a force for good. Read about us in Food+Tech Connect or  Edible Manhattan.

Aurify

14. General Manager at Fields Good Chicken

Position:  At Fields Good Chicken, we believe in cross-training our team members. Teaching our employees every station helps them develop professionally and makes the greatest impact at our restaurant.

The General Manager will lead the operation of our restaurants. The General Manager has the overall responsibility for directing the daily operations of a restaurant, ensuring compliance with company standards in all areas of operation, including product preparation and delivery, customer relations, restaurant maintenance and repair, inventory management, team management, financial accountability, ensuring that the highest quality products and services are delivered to each customer and other duties as required or assigned.

About Fields Good Chicken: Fields Good Chicken is a fast casual concept that specializes in the craft of grilled and roasted chicken. Using all natural ingredients, original recipes, and sauces made from scratch, we create sandwiches, salads, and bowls that are both healthy and delicious.

Fields Good Chicken brings a new take on one of the most common foods around, making the familiar amazing. We believe the best ingredients combined with the best culinary practices by skilled chefs leads to truly good chicken.

At Fields Good Chicken, our goal is to develop and retain the best employees in the business. We encourage our employees to have fun and grow both personally and professionally. At Fields Good Chicken, each employee works side by side to help deliver high quality and delicious food. We are looking for individuals who love food, love the brand, and want to help us expand.

Aurify15. Community Manager at The Little Beet and The  Little Beet Table

Position: The Community Manager plays an incredibly important role in the success of Little Beet and Little Beet Table. One part influential advocate, one part project manager and one part communication genius, the CM is the heartbeat and handshake between Little Beet and Little Beet Table and our community. The CM’s number one priority is to engage and inform our community in an authentic and relevant way while staying true to Little Beet and Little Beet Table’s values, marketing strategy and priorities. The CM is empowered to develop, execute, and measure our physical and digital presence.

About The Little Beet: The Little Beet and The Little Beet Table are veggie friendly sister restaurants committed to living well. The Little Beet Table is a full-service version of the Fast Casual Little Beet. Both brands are built using fresh, whole ingredients to make delicious and healthy dishes. Our living well philosophy extends beyond the taste buds to focus on body and mind too. We’re building a brand dedicated to the simpatico between these three core life components. If this sounds like you, the team would love to hear from you.

16. Community Manager at Fields Good Chicken

Aurify

Position: The Community Manager plays an incredibly important role in the success of Fields Good Chicken. One part influential advocate, one part project manager and one part communication genius, the CM is the heartbeat and handshake between Fields Good Chicken and our community. The CM’s number one priority is to engage and inform our community in an authentic and relevant way while staying true to XYZ’s values, marketing strategy and priorities. The CM is empowered to develop, execute, and measure our physical and digital presence.

About Fields Good Chicken: Fields Good Chicken is a NYC born, chicken focused restaurant. We’re on a mission to fuel New Yorker’s active lifestyles while preserving the planet where we live. Our delicious, good for you, food is at the core of growing the brand across the country but active and adventurous initiatives are equally important to achieve our goals. If you love the outdoors, healthful food, adventure and all things chicken you’re a perfect fit for the FGC team.

17. Marketing and Operations Associate at One Culture Foods

Position: We are a young natural foods brand based in New York City looking for an energetic self-starter to work directly with the founder to assist with day-to-day operations as well as contribute to larger strategic initiatives. You will be involved in every aspect of what it takes to run and grow a food start-up including sales & distribution, branding & marketing, social media/digital marketing, supply chain management, order processing & fulfillment, market analysis, growth strategy, etc. If you consider yourself a jack-of-all-trades type who wants to be challenged in a scrappy, entrepreneurial environment then this might be for you. You’ll gain exposure to every aspect of running a food business with unlimited room for growth and advancement in the areas you excel.

About One Culture Foods:  One Culture Foods encourages discovery by delivering ambitious global flavors, simply. We explore unique ‘dialects’ of flavors and foods to provide everyday adventure, added convenience to the busy home cook, and natural/better-for-you products that never compromise on flavor. We believe in embracing our commonalities and celebrating our beautiful differences through the universal language of food. We hope that by bridging cuisines and cultures we can be a small reminder that we are all more similar than we are different. We are inclusive, ambitious, adventurous, candid.

18. Tea Blending and Production at Ito En

Position: Ito En is looking for someone to create tea blends to customer specifications, adhere to health and safety regulations, and oversee all quality control measures. This person will work with our Marketing and Sales teams to develop new ways to expand our tea knowledge and expertise to more customers.

 About Ito En: ITO EN (North America) INC. was founded in May 2001 with the mission of introducing ITO EN’s line of green tea products and establishing a green tea culture and interest in the United States and beyond.

In 2002, the Teas’ Tea line of natural, unsweetened bottled tea was launched. The product line functions as the centerpiece of ITO EN (North America) Inc. for it upholds ITO EN’s principles of Natural, Safe, Healthy, Well-Designed, and Delicious. Today, we have three tea brands that we market across multiple North American retail channels: Teas’ Tea Organic, MatchaLove, and Oi Ocha.

19. Copywriter at Dig Inn

Position: You are responsible for bringing Dig Inn’s personality to life through words, narrating all things culinary, people, and beyond. Our mission is to bring people together through food – be it working with farmers to identify the best growing methods, concocting new dishes each season, or highlighting our cooks who are developing their culinary voice in our restaurants. We need you to help tell our story and give our guests a seat at the table.  You will report to the Senior Director of Marketing and integrate with the team through digital outlets, partnerships, events, and press. The marketing team is the voice of our organization and is continuously evolving with our fa(r)m.

About Dig Inn: Dig Inn is a vegetable-forward fine-fast casual restaurant group whose mission is to build community through food. With 15 locations in NYC and Boston and more sprouting soon, we are looking to grow our team and nurture the next crop of bright and driven people who are looking to impact the future of food. Our community is built through learning and development and as we grow, opportunities harvest from within. The work we do is challenging and fast paced, serving over 15,000 lbs of vegetables per week in each of our scratch based kitchens. As cooks develop into chefs, we are building a diverse and inspiring brand along the way.

20. Business Development Associate at Dig Inn

Position: You are responsible for expanding Dig Inn’s journey with our off-premise sales channels. Developing strong partnerships and building an innovative sales & guest relationship platform will be your launchpad to growing your team. We are seeking a highly motivated and entrepreneurial person who aligns with our mission of bringing people together through food. Our team wants you to give our guests a seat at Dig Inn’s table outside of its restaurants.  You will report to our Off-Premise Director and collaborate with your team to impact the future of food.

About Dig Inn: Dig Inn is a vegetable-forward fine-fast casual restaurant group whose mission is to build community through food. With 15 locations in NYC and Boston and more sprouting soon, we are looking to grow our team and nurture the next crop of bright and driven people who are looking to impact the future of food. Our community is built through learning and development and as we grow, opportunities harvest from within. The work we do is challenging and fast paced, serving over 15,000 lbs of vegetables per week in each of our scratch based kitchens. As cooks develop into chefs, we are building a diverse and inspiring brand along the way.

 

Check out exciting management, operations, development, design and food science positions at Food+Tech Jobs.

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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/11/13-awesome-food-startup-jobs-in-nyc/feed/ 3 12 Kick-Ass Food Startup Jobs in California https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/10/19-kick-ass-food-startup-jobs-in-california/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/10/19-kick-ass-food-startup-jobs-in-california/#comments Mon, 10 Apr 2017 20:04:29 +0000 https://foodtechconnect.com/?p=28793 Looking for a job at an exciting job at a food startup on the West Coast? We’ve got you covered with opportunities in LA, SF, Oakland, Palo Alto, Concord and Redwood City. Check out more exciting job openings at Food+Tech Jobs. FOOD STARTUP JOBS IN CALIFORNI 1. Pasteurizer at Kite Hill Position: Kite Hill is an innovative producer of carefully crafted Artisan Almond Milk Products. The work environment is fast paced and engaging with many opportunities for teamwork, collaboration and personal growth. We’re are growing at high pace, and are always looking to hire talented people to join our team. Our Almond milk is the core of our know how. We are currently looking for a milk pasteurizer operator for our facility in Hayward. We’re looking for someone who has the experience pasteurizing milk or juice, who can join our growing team and be operational with limited training. You’ll have the opportunity to work on brand new custom–made equipment while you’ll discover great technologies, and great products. Benefits available include paid time off, paid holidays, subsidized medical insurance with dental, and 401K plans available. About Kite Hill: Kite Hill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth. 2. Quality Assurance Systems Lead at Kite Hill Position:  The Quality Systems Lead has responsibility in two main areas: supporting quality system development and maintenance and monitoring contract manufacturing performance. The QA Systems Lead will collaborate closely with product development to qualify and formalize new ingredients and products and support design and deployment of Quality Systems. About Kitehill: Kitehill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth. 3. Engineer Manager/Systems Engineer at Kite Hill Position: Provide process engineering and project management expertise in the design, and execution of process improvement and lean projects in facility. Continually evaluate process and equipment capabilities, manufacturing methods and engineering standards to facilitate sharing of best practices and implement opportunities for improvement. About Kitehill: Kitehill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth 4. Customer Care Associate at Imperfect Produce Position: We’re looking for a dedicated, enthusiastic, and highly motivated problem-solver who loves working with people and who is passionate about delivering exceptional customer experiences. If you’re the right fit for this role you are a true people person. You don’t just say it; you mean it! You’re the person that opens the door for a complete stranger or offers your seat on the subway to someone who needs it. About Imperfect Produce: Imperfect is a mission-driven startup that is creating America’s first major consumer brand for “ugly” produce. One in five fruits and vegetables grown in America never make it off the farm due to tiny cosmetic defects that do not affect quality. Imperfect is on a mission to find a home for these misshapen fruits and veggies in people’s fridges by selling them for a 30-50% discount with a lovable, hip brand. We offer the cheapest and most environmentally friendly produce option, starting with our weekly produce delivery service in the Bay Area. In addition to building a scalable solution to fight food waste, our business model also generates extra revenue to California farmers. 5. Social Media & Marketing Manager at Bright People Foods  Position: Bright People Foods is a fun, fast-past, and dynamic company centered around changing the nature of food in the US. We’re looking for an energetic, media-savvy candidate who loves food to be our Social Media & Marketing Manager for the Mike’s Mighty Good and Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods brand. This person will work out of our Woodland, CA office and will report to the Chief Marketing Officer, with whom they will work closely. This position will be directly responsible for telling our brands’ stories and building brand awareness and community across the US market. About Bright People Foods: Bright People Foods is a Northern California-based food company dedicated to sustaining the earth and sustaining you. We’re proud to make delicious, wholesome, sustainable foods through our Mike’s Mighty Good (www.mikesmightygood.com) and Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods (www.rightfoods.com) brands. 6. Business Development (B2B Food and Beverage Accounts) at Full Harvest Technologies, Inc. Position: As Business Development Associate, you’ll play a critical role in growing the company. You’ll have the opportunity to develop and shape systems and strategies as you design Full Harvest’s sales processes with food & beverage customers. You’ll work with buyers (food manufacturers) to close new accounts. You will attend various conferences and events as well as leverage your networks in the food and ag space to significantly build the business. Our office is in downtown San Francisco. Some travel is required. About Full Harvest: At Full Harvest, we are disrupting the agriculture space by solving farm food waste and bringing technology to a market where there was none. We are the first B2B platform connecting farms with food businesses to sell discounted, yet perfectly good surplus and imperfectly shaped produce that would have otherwise gone to waste. A […]

The post 12 Kick-Ass Food Startup Jobs in California appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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Looking for a job at an exciting job at a food startup on the West Coast? We’ve got you covered with opportunities in LA, SF, Oakland, Palo Alto, Concord and Redwood City.

Check out more exciting job openings at Food+Tech Jobs.

FOOD STARTUP JOBS IN CALIFORNI

1. Pasteurizer at Kite Hill

Position: Kite Hill is an innovative producer of carefully crafted Artisan Almond Milk Products. The work environment is fast paced and engaging with many opportunities for teamwork, collaboration and personal growth. We’re are growing at high pace, and are always looking to hire talented people to join our team. Our Almond milk is the core of our know how. We are currently looking for a milk pasteurizer operator for our facility in Hayward. We’re looking for someone who has the experience pasteurizing milk or juice, who can join our growing team and be operational with limited training. You’ll have the opportunity to work on brand new custom–made equipment while you’ll discover great technologies, and great products. Benefits available include paid time off, paid holidays, subsidized medical insurance with dental, and 401K plans available.

About Kite Hill: Kite Hill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth.

2. Quality Assurance Systems Lead at Kite Hill

Position:  The Quality Systems Lead has responsibility in two main areas: supporting quality system development and maintenance and monitoring contract manufacturing performance. The QA Systems Lead will collaborate closely with product development to qualify and formalize new ingredients and products and support design and deployment of Quality Systems.

About Kitehill: Kitehill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth.

3. Engineer Manager/Systems Engineer at Kite Hill

Position: Provide process engineering and project management expertise in the design, and execution of process improvement and lean projects in facility. Continually evaluate process and equipment capabilities, manufacturing methods and engineering standards to facilitate sharing of best practices and implement opportunities for improvement.

About Kitehill: Kitehill is the first and only company to create plant-based food using time-honored techniques. We’ve figured out how to make buttery fresh ricotta, aged nut milk delicacies, creamy almond milk yogurt, and fantastic entrées and desserts — all out of fresh nut milk. Recognized by Forbes/CircleUp as 1 of 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. Kite Hill is aggressively growing beyond its roots and is looking for great people to help with that growth

4. Customer Care Associate at Imperfect Produce

Position: We’re looking for a dedicated, enthusiastic, and highly motivated problem-solver who loves working with people and who is passionate about delivering exceptional customer experiences. If you’re the right fit for this role you are a true people person. You don’t just say it; you mean it! You’re the person that opens the door for a complete stranger or offers your seat on the subway to someone who needs it.

About Imperfect Produce: Imperfect is a mission-driven startup that is creating America’s first major consumer brand for “ugly” produce. One in five fruits and vegetables grown in America never make it off the farm due to tiny cosmetic defects that do not affect quality. Imperfect is on a mission to find a home for these misshapen fruits and veggies in people’s fridges by selling them for a 30-50% discount with a lovable, hip brand. We offer the cheapest and most environmentally friendly produce option, starting with our weekly produce delivery service in the Bay Area. In addition to building a scalable solution to fight food waste, our business model also generates extra revenue to California farmers.

5. Social Media & Marketing Manager at Bright People Foods 

Position: Bright People Foods is a fun, fast-past, and dynamic company centered around changing the nature of food in the US. We’re looking for an energetic, media-savvy candidate who loves food to be our Social Media & Marketing Manager for the Mike’s Mighty Good and Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods brand. This person will work out of our Woodland, CA office and will report to the Chief Marketing Officer, with whom they will work closely. This position will be directly responsible for telling our brands’ stories and building brand awareness and community across the US market.

About Bright People Foods: Bright People Foods is a Northern California-based food company dedicated to sustaining the earth and sustaining you. We’re proud to make delicious, wholesome, sustainable foods through our Mike’s Mighty Good (www.mikesmightygood.com) and Dr. McDougall’s Right Foods (www.rightfoods.com) brands.

6. Business Development (B2B Food and Beverage Accounts) at Full Harvest Technologies, Inc.

Position: As Business Development Associate, you’ll play a critical role in growing the company. You’ll have the opportunity to develop and shape systems and strategies as you design Full Harvest’s sales processes with food & beverage customers. You’ll work with buyers (food manufacturers) to close new accounts. You will attend various conferences and events as well as leverage your networks in the food and ag space to significantly build the business. Our office is in downtown San Francisco. Some travel is required.

About Full Harvest: At Full Harvest, we are disrupting the agriculture space by solving farm food waste and bringing technology to a market where there was none. We are the first B2B platform connecting farms with food businesses to sell discounted, yet perfectly good surplus and imperfectly shaped produce that would have otherwise gone to waste. A huge environmental problem as approximately 20 billion pounds of produce go to waste in the U.S. annually simply because they are not perfectly shaped for strict retailer standards.

7. Sales Associate at Community Grains – Oakland

Position: Community Grains is on the path to dramatically scale up in 2017, and we need another team member to open doors and increase sales velocity. We’re looking for a Sales Associate to help grow our retail and foodservice customers as well as maintain our current customer base. The Sales Associate will work closely with and report to both the Director of Sales as well as the Founder/CEO. He/she will also work closely with the Operations and Marketing Managers.

Because we are a small company of five, the Sales Associate will need to be comfortable wearing many hats. The average day may include travel throughout the greater Bay Area meeting to meet with retailers, bakers, chefs and distributors, or to occasionally make a special delivery of flour. There will be travel to Southern California about every other month to meet with retailers and distributors), as well as very occasional out-of-state travel for a trade show or meeting.

The ideal candidate for this position is a motivated self-starter and is very flexible. A sense of humor, friendly demeanor, a penchant for detail and the ability to quickly switch gears when the unexpected happens is essential. A strong connection to and passion for the local food movement and experience with food retailers is a plus.

About Community Grains: Community Grains is on a mission to restore a vibrant grain economy built on our core values of transparency, good farming, and 100% whole grain products. We are a small but fast-growing company based in Oakland, CA. Together with local farmers, millers, bakers, cooks, and consumers, we a€™re working to create a local grain economy that makes sense for everyone. If that sounds like something you’€™d like to be a part of, €“ we’d love for you to join our team!

8. Operations Supervisor at Chef’d – El Segundo

Position: The Warehouse Supervisor will lead warehouse teams during shifts and allocate labor resources as needed.  This role will track all positions for performance and strive to improve operational efficiency. The position will be an expert at all roles in the warehouse and adjust personnel based on demand of shipping load on a given day. Duties will also include other warehouse projects as necessary, which includes but not limited to; down stocking, picking, packing, and portioning.  You make sure everyone is doing their job correctly and can jump into any warehousing role when extra help is needed.  You are the leader on the floor.

About Chef’d: We’re an ambitious and promising startup focused on taking a piece of pie out of the fastest-growing segment of the mobile eCommerce and grocery industries. Designed as a meal kit company like no other, where the choice is truly in the hands of the consumer. With no subscriptions, the ability to re-order your favorites, and a selection of over 300 meals, Chef’d is changing the meal kit landscape one delicious meal at a time.  You’ll work with equally talented, hardworking, and fun individuals who all play an irreplaceable role in accomplishing that core mission.You will make a difference.We have a great work environment in our brand new HQ in El Segundo.We offer competitive salary packages, full health benefits, 401K, and a delicious work environment.

9. Production Manager at Chef’d – El Segundo

Position: The Production Manager at Chef’d oversees the physical operations of the Chef’d portioning/pre-build production teams. Responsible for strategic scheduling and planning of the portioning and production teams, staff efficiency, machinery / equipment maintenance, scheduling, coordination in aid of special projects, training and motivating employees. The Production Manager leads the food production/portioning/pre-build teams, storage, subdivision and re-packaging of raw ingredients while meeting optimization goals configured with costs and improving production to scale.

About Chef’d: We’re an ambitious and promising startup focused on taking a piece of pie out of the fastest-growing segment of the mobile eCommerce and grocery industries. Designed as a meal kit company like no other, where the choice is truly in the hands of the consumer. With no subscriptions, the ability to re-order your favorites, and a selection of over 300 meals, Chef’d is changing the meal kit landscape one delicious meal at a time.  You’ll work with equally talented, hardworking, and fun individuals who all play an irreplaceable role in accomplishing that core mission.You will make a difference.We have a great work environment in our brand new HQ in El Segundo.We offer competitive salary packages, full health benefits, 401K, and a delicious work environment.

10. Digital Designer at Chef’d – El Segundo

Position: The Digital Designer will work in conjunction with the marketing and business development team to design and create digital assets including but not limited to landing page mockups/design, banners, email campaigns, and other collaterals.  The candidate must be passionate, creative, and collaborative as well as very detail oriented and able to multi-task in a fast-paced environment. Experience in e-commerce is a plus.  Come join Chef’d and help spread our love for great food!

About Chef’d: We’re an ambitious and promising startup focused on taking a piece of pie out of the fastest-growing segment of the mobile eCommerce and grocery industries. Designed as a meal kit company like no other, where the choice is truly in the hands of the consumer. With no subscriptions, the ability to re-order your favorites, and a selection of over 300 meals, Chef’d is changing the meal kit landscape one delicious meal at a time.  You’ll work with equally talented, hardworking, and fun individuals who all play an irreplaceable role in accomplishing that core mission.You will make a difference.We have a great work environment in our brand new HQ in El Segundo.We offer competitive salary packages, full health benefits, 401K, and a delicious work environment.

11. Growth Manager, REAL Certified – San Francisco

Position: Reporting to the COO, the REAL Certified Growth Manager is an authentic, entrepreneurial professional, who is passionate about the foodservice industry and is capable of driving change across the food system. The position will focus on leading the acquisition, activation, and retention of REAL Certified® establishments, across all verticals of the foodservice environment.

A successful candidate will be forward-focused and will have the ability to increase Eat REAL’s business and consumer brand equity. You will work to expand the Eat REAL® and REAL Certified® brands and build a growth process that can achieve the goals of the organization to be the trusted, nationally recognized mark of excellence for food and foodservice operators committed to holistic nutrition and environmental stewardship.

About Eat REAL: Eat REAL® is a 501c3 non-profit organization, founded in 2012, to transform our food environment and reverse the epidemic of diet-related disease. Recognizing the major impact that our food environment has on our food choices, as well as the growing influence of the food industry, the primary program of Eat REAL® has been designed to alter the food industry’s incentives to help increase the production and consumption of healthier, more sustainable food. The Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership (REAL) certification program, or REAL Certified® is a points-based nutrition and environmental sustainability best practices certification program, which has been used to certify over 400 restaurants and foodservice establishments across 32 states and Canada. We are a small and self-motivated team distributed between Washington, DC, Nashville, Chicago and San Francisco, supported by a nationwide network of registered dietitians. With fewer than ten people running a nationwide certification program, everyone here wears many hats.

12. Head of Sales at Salty Girl Seafood – Los Angeles, Santa Barbara

Position: We are hiring an experienced Head of Sales to help us take Salty Girl Seafood to the next level. Reporting directly to the CEO, this is an incredible opportunity to lead growth for Salty Girl Seafood. You will be responsible for executing and overseeing the development and implementation of SGS’ retail sales strategy, goals, revenues and key objectives. You will work closely with our CEO, Head of Marketing, and Head of Operations to lead the sales team to achieve aggressive sales and profit goals commensurate with overall company business objectives.

Best of all, you will be working with a dynamic, hard-working, and passionate team driven by excellence and dedicated to driving positive change in our oceans and celebrating fishermen who harvest responsibly.

Given the growing nature of the company, the ideal candidate should feel comfortable taking on tasks and responsibilities at all levels of the sales hierarchy as the team grows.

About Salty Girl Seafood: Salty Girl Seafood is more than a seafood company – it’s a connection to the ocean, a relationship to where your food comes from, and a right to enjoy simpler, healthier ingredients on your dinner table. With every purchase, you’re driving positive change in our oceans and celebrating fishermen who harvest responsibly. Every fish we source and story we tell not only promotes fishing communities doing things the right way, but incentivizes others to do the same. That means every dollar spent on Salty Girl Seafood empowers fishermen to harvest responsibly in fishing communities around the world and gives you the power to help drive positive change in our oceans.

 

Check out exciting management, operations, development, design and food science positions at Food+Tech Jobs.

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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2017/04/10/19-kick-ass-food-startup-jobs-in-california/feed/ 2 Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: August 2015 https://foodtechconnect.com/2015/09/30/food-tech-media-startup-funding-ma-and-partnerships-august-2015/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2015/09/30/food-tech-media-startup-funding-ma-and-partnerships-august-2015/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:31:19 +0000 http://www.foodtechconnect.com/?p=24949 This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends. Global food tech investments dominated August, with two thirds of the funded companies based outside of the U.S. (representing 95% of the total capital raised). Total food tech and media funding for the month rounded out to approximately $950 million across 26 global companies, with a subset of eight U.S. companies garnering a combined investment of $44 million. There were four acquisitions with undisclosed values, all based in the U.S. and relatively early stage. The broad international trends reflect the same hot sectors in the U.S. – food delivery, online ordering, ecommerce, restaurant platforms – and with five of the deals valued at more than $20 million, we are seeing the same shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack. In August, the two largest deals were China-based companies, totaling $710 million of investment. In this context, China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of maturing concepts, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth. Meanwhile, as I discussed in May, India has begun to embrace food tech concepts, and entrepreneurs are churning out a steady number of new companies each month. While there are a handful of established brands in India, like BigBasket.com and Zomato (both recently reported to be valued at $1 billion), most players in the Indian food tech space are still in the early stages of market- and thesis-testing modes. As highlighted in the Economic Times, this evolving market is quickly becoming cluttered, and the “real test will come when they plan to scale in other geographies without comprising on quality.” M&A Reserve Acquires Set for Service. The New York-based provider of CRM systems for restaurants will allow Reserve to offer restaurants the ability to track customer feedback and details, such as reservation notes, dining habits, or allergies, in order to improve guest experience. Reserve, a provider of restaurant reservation and payment solutions, will continue to offer all Set for Service features to its existing clients while deciding which features to integrate with Reserve. Set for Service’s CEO and founder has joined Reserve as the head of restaurant product and New York General Manager. Announced: 08/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009 InstaCart Acquires Wedding Party. The Palo Alto, CA-based mobile app has been acquihired by InstaCart, which will take on six of Wedding Party’s employees, most of which are engineers. As both companies are data driven, the new hirers are expected to work on the consumer-facing aspects of its technology, the shopper-facing app, as well as preferred partner products including partner interface and catalogs. Reportedly, Wedding Party’s app will continue to exist into the near future. Announced: 08/04/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.0m  Founded: August 2012 Vivonet Acquisitions Acquires Syrus Restaurant Information Services. The Columbus, OH-based SaaS back-office and above-store reporting solutions provider focuses on the North American restaurant industry, and will allow Vivonet, which provides omni-channel POS solutions, to offer its clients an integrated solution for labor, inventory, and ordering.  Syrus’s SaaS platform integrates with most point of sale systems in the market, and serves over 2,500 restaurants. Announced: 08/27/15  Terms: All Cash Transaction  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 1996 Rise Acquires HealthyOut. The New York-based mobile nutrition platform, which gives users recommendations on healthy dishes at local restaurants, will help Rise, a mobile platform that connects users with personal diet coaches, improve its services in helping users create a healthier diet. The company utilizes machine learning technology to process over 140,000 restaurant menus in the country. According to TechCrunch, the acquisition will also help Rise retain its competitive edge without having to invent a similar product. Announced: 08/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.2m  Founded: 2013 FUNDING Ele.me Raises $630m. The Shanghai-based food delivery service is an online platform that offers customer-to-customer meal ordering services, and also works as a communication platform between users and restaurants. According to Forbes, the deal has made Ele.me, which translates to “Are you hungry now?,” the fourth largest food ordering platform after Grubhub, Delivery Hero, and Just Eat. The company will use the funds to expand into more cities and build its own delivery network. As part of its investment in Ele.me, retailer Hualian will partner with Ele.me to deliveries from its supermarkets across the country. Announced: 08/28/15  Valuation: $3 billion  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: CITIC Capital Holdings (Lead), Hualian (Lead), JD.com, Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $455.0 million  Founded: September 2008 iZettle Raises $67m. The Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions enables small businesses to provide mobile payment services through its card readers for smartphones and tablets. With the raise, the company announced its new project, iZettle Advance, a financing product that will allow iZettle customers to access extra capital as an advance on card sales. Upon approval into the iZettle Advance program, customers will receive funding within days, and paybacks occur automatically as a fraction of card sales. iZettle intends to use the funding towards development and expansion of the iZettle Advance project, as well as continued growth in existing and future markets. Announced: 08/28/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Intel Capital (Lead), Zouk Capital LLP (Lead), 83North, Creandum, Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, Northzone, Santander Innoventures   Previous Investment: $108.8 million  Founded: April 2010 Pronto Raises $1.6m. The London-based meal delivery service offers cooked meals using ingredients sourced from local producers. According to TechCrunch, Pronto differentiates its service from delivery giants by offering healthier versions of traditional British meals. Pronto currently has over 1,000 customers, and reports to have a large number of return customers. The company plans to use the funding to hire more personnel and start a marketing push for […]

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This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Global food tech investments dominated August, with two thirds of the funded companies based outside of the U.S. (representing 95% of the total capital raised). Total food tech and media funding for the month rounded out to approximately $950 million across 26 global companies, with a subset of eight U.S. companies garnering a combined investment of $44 million. There were four acquisitions with undisclosed values, all based in the U.S. and relatively early stage.

The broad international trends reflect the same hot sectors in the U.S. – food delivery, online ordering, ecommerce, restaurant platforms – and with five of the deals valued at more than $20 million, we are seeing the same shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack. In August, the two largest deals were China-based companies, totaling $710 million of investment. In this context, China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of maturing concepts, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth.

Meanwhile, as I discussed in May, India has begun to embrace food tech concepts, and entrepreneurs are churning out a steady number of new companies each month. While there are a handful of established brands in India, like BigBasket.com and Zomato (both recently reported to be valued at $1 billion), most players in the Indian food tech space are still in the early stages of market- and thesis-testing modes. As highlighted in the Economic Times, this evolving market is quickly becoming cluttered, and the “real test will come when they plan to scale in other geographies without comprising on quality.”

M&A

Reserve Acquires Set for Service. The New York-based provider of CRM systems for restaurants will allow Reserve to offer restaurants the ability to track customer feedback and details, such as reservation notes, dining habits, or allergies, in order to improve guest experience. Reserve, a provider of restaurant reservation and payment solutions, will continue to offer all Set for Service features to its existing clients while deciding which features to integrate with Reserve. Set for Service’s CEO and founder has joined Reserve as the head of restaurant product and New York General Manager.

Announced: 08/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

InstaCart Acquires Wedding Party. The Palo Alto, CA-based mobile app has been acquihired by InstaCart, which will take on six of Wedding Party’s employees, most of which are engineers. As both companies are data driven, the new hirers are expected to work on the consumer-facing aspects of its technology, the shopper-facing app, as well as preferred partner products including partner interface and catalogs. Reportedly, Wedding Party’s app will continue to exist into the near future.

Announced: 08/04/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.0m  Founded: August 2012

Vivonet Acquisitions Acquires Syrus Restaurant Information Services. The Columbus, OH-based SaaS back-office and above-store reporting solutions provider focuses on the North American restaurant industry, and will allow Vivonet, which provides omni-channel POS solutions, to offer its clients an integrated solution for labor, inventory, and ordering.  Syrus’s SaaS platform integrates with most point of sale systems in the market, and serves over 2,500 restaurants.

Announced: 08/27/15  Terms: All Cash Transaction  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 1996

Rise Acquires HealthyOut. The New York-based mobile nutrition platform, which gives users recommendations on healthy dishes at local restaurants, will help Rise, a mobile platform that connects users with personal diet coaches, improve its services in helping users create a healthier diet. The company utilizes machine learning technology to process over 140,000 restaurant menus in the country. According to TechCrunch, the acquisition will also help Rise retain its competitive edge without having to invent a similar product.

Announced: 08/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.2m  Founded: 2013

FUNDING

Ele.me Raises $630m. The Shanghai-based food delivery service is an online platform that offers customer-to-customer meal ordering services, and also works as a communication platform between users and restaurants. According to Forbes, the deal has made Ele.me, which translates to “Are you hungry now?,” the fourth largest food ordering platform after Grubhub, Delivery Hero, and Just Eat. The company will use the funds to expand into more cities and build its own delivery network. As part of its investment in Ele.me, retailer Hualian will partner with Ele.me to deliveries from its supermarkets across the country.

Announced: 08/28/15  Valuation: $3 billion  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: CITIC Capital Holdings (Lead), Hualian (Lead), JD.com, Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $455.0 million  Founded: September 2008

iZettle Raises $67m. The Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions enables small businesses to provide mobile payment services through its card readers for smartphones and tablets. With the raise, the company announced its new project, iZettle Advance, a financing product that will allow iZettle customers to access extra capital as an advance on card sales. Upon approval into the iZettle Advance program, customers will receive funding within days, and paybacks occur automatically as a fraction of card sales. iZettle intends to use the funding towards development and expansion of the iZettle Advance project, as well as continued growth in existing and future markets.

Announced: 08/28/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Intel Capital (Lead), Zouk Capital LLP (Lead), 83North, Creandum, Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, Northzone, Santander Innoventures   Previous Investment: $108.8 million  Founded: April 2010

Pronto Raises $1.6m. The London-based meal delivery service offers cooked meals using ingredients sourced from local producers. According to TechCrunch, Pronto differentiates its service from delivery giants by offering healthier versions of traditional British meals. Pronto currently has over 1,000 customers, and reports to have a large number of return customers. The company plans to use the funding to hire more personnel and start a marketing push for the first time.

Announced: 08/27/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors:  Playfair Capital,  Seedcamp,  London Co-Investment Fund, Ballpark Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Food Talk India Raises $500k. The Gurgaon, India-based online food community lets members read and share food experiences through real-time restaurant recommendations. Originally starting out as an invite-only social food forum on Facebook, the company currently has over 400,000 followers across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Viber. The company additionally offers in-person events in the form of curated social events. Funding will be used to launch its new product, a mobile app Food Talk Plus geared towards hyper-local dish discovery.

Announced: 08/26/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Yogiyo Raises $35m. The Seoul, Korea-based food delivery service app was Korea’s first online food ordering platform, and now through strategic investment, represents a Korean brand of Delivery Hero.  Although Korean competitor Baedaltong, was acquired by Delivery Hero last December, Delivery Hero has no immediate plans of merging YoGiYo and Baedaltong, as they each “have well established their own positions in the market.” With this new capital infusion, Yogiyo will focus on customer satisfaction through continued development and improvement to products and services.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: Delivery Hero  Previous Investment: $23.6 million  Founded: June 2012

EazyDiner Raises $3m. The Delhi, India-based restaurant reservation platform is offers real-time guaranteed restaurant reservations. The company features over 19,000 restaurant and bars, as well as over 1,000 critic reviews. Users receive deals and discounts with each reservation, and the company has a loyalty rewards program. The company will use the capital injection to expand into 12 cities in India by the end of 2016.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Chrys Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capita, Deepak Shahdadpuri, Gulpreet Kohli  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Jolly Food Fellow Raises $300k. The Ahmedabad, India-based mobile app provides food vendors operating through ecommerce platforms with analytics about their customers to apply customer target strategies. The startup currently offers data on customers, including what they eat, and the number of times they visit. The company has plans to add more analytics of customers to identify repetitive clients, which it claims will help food vendors monetize. Jolly Food Fellow has run prototypes across food retail outlets in Ahmedabad, and will use the cash infusion to expand into metro cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Announced: 08/24/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Sampler Raises $1m. The New York, NY and Toronto-based SaaS startup enables consumer packaged goods companies to distribute samples of their products through their own redistribution channels. Using Sampler’s technology platform, companies can offer samples to targeted users, who will then receive information about picking up samples via email and social media. The company states that Sampler’s targeted method of sample distribution to targeted customers guards against “Freebie Hunters,” and provide companies with demographic and feedback data to identify their customer base.

Announced: 08/21/15 Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Business Development Bank of Canada, David B Perkins, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund   Previous Investment: $0.6 million  Founded: November 2013

RedMart Raises $26.7m. The Singapore-based online grocery retailer site enables users to browse and buy groceries, household essentials and related products. Funding will be used to support international expansion, the growth of its grocery and marketplace business, the launch of its On Demand Marketplace, and investment in its dry and fresh private label offering. TechCrunch notes that RedMart owns its own logistics and warehouse chain, which could facilitate venturing into other product categories.

Announced: 08/20/14  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Far East Ventures, Garena, SoftBank Ventures Korea, Visionnaire Ventures  Previous Investment: $33.0 million  Founded: March 2011

Revel Systems Raises $13.5m. The San Francisco-based iPad-based point-of-sale system for grocery, retail and restaurant establishments includes front-end order entry, cash register and payment processing, plus a full suite of back-end products. Revel’s platform enables small- and medium-sized businesses, franchise operators and enterprises to access a full suite of operations and reporting features designed to help manage and grow their business. The Revel platform can connect to the internet via Ethernet, and is thus accessible to merchants who do not have Wi-Fi. The new funding will be used for global expansion and to support engagements within existing and new verticals.

Announced: 08/18/15  Valuation: Over $500 million Stage: Series C-3  Participating Institutional Investors: ROTH Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $113.8 million  Founded: September 2010

Bright Cellars Raises $1.8m. The Cambridge, MA-based online subscription wine retailer distributes personalized wines using a proprietary matching algorithm. The company develops individual preference profiles for new members through a wine quiz, which has questions including which type of chocolate they prefer, how they prefer their tea, and how adventurous they are with dining. Customers then receive a selection of wines that match their tastes, and can refine their preference profile by rating wines after drinking them. Bright Cellars plans to use the funding to build its platform and hire new team members.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Angels on the Water, BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, CSA Partners LLC, gener8tor  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Peach Raises $8m. The Seattle-based food delivery startup delivers lunches from local restaurants to office workers in Seattle and San Diego, providing a bulk-order boost to restaurants’ business during what would typically be slow periods. The company sends registered members a daily text with a lunch dish of the day as well as lite and vegetarian alternatives. The company has delivered over 400,000 meals since June 2014, and added catering services. Peach will use the capital injection to expand Boston and Washington D.C.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital  Previous Investment: $2.8 million  Founded: June 2014

Shadowfax Raises $300k. The Gurgaon, India-based on-demand hyperlocal delivery service enables delivery from local merchants to their customers. The company’s technological platform incorporates multiple modes of communication, as well as GPS tracking functions and automated algorithms to make its network efficient. Customers are charged on a pay-per-delivery basis depending on distance and level of service quality. Shadowfax plans to use the capital injections to expand into 10 more cities within the next year and grow its staff to more than 35 employees and 350 riders.

Announced: 08/17/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Kunal Bahl, Prashant Malik, Rohit Bansal, Zishaan Hayath  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

MassBlurb Raises Angel Funding. The Mumbai, India-based startup provides social media marketing services to small and medium sized restaurants. The company’s marketing automation tool is a single dashboard for restaurants to manage their online presence and list their businesses on sites like Zomato and FoodPanda. MassBlurb will use the capital infusion to provide more features to its product offerings and expand across India and abroad.

Announced: 08/13/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Abhimanyu Munjal, Keshav Baljee, Vikram Chachra  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Big Basket Raises $50m. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store is the largest in India. TechCrunch reports that BigBasket presently offers four daily time slots for delivery, but may launch one hour delivery after its acquisition of hyperlocal delivery startup Delyvr. The company is currently facing competition from other hyperlocal delivery services offering on demand delivery from nearby stores. BigBasket.com will apply the funding towards expansion, and has plans to open 10 new warehouses expand into 50 Tier II cities.

Announced: 08/12/15  Valuation: $1 billion  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Ascent Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $35.8 million  Founded: October 2011

Mogl Raises $8m. The San Diego-based rewards and loyalty app allows users to gain cash-back rewards for spending money at partner restaurants and also provides the option to donate rewards to a fundraiser or transfer rewards into points toward airline flights, hotel stays and more.  Offline merchants can create an offer to be displayed on the company’s network of participating websites and apps. Customers who would like to take the offer can link their debit or credit card through the participating website or app, and get rewarded when making a purchase offline. Mogl plans to use the funding to expand and apply its technology foundation to other industries, including gas stations, health-conscious grocery stores, clothing stores, and spas.

Announced: 08/11/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aequitas Capital, Avalon Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Monroe Capital, Moore Venture Partners, Sigma Partners  Previous Investment: $26.8 million  Founded: 2010

RainCan Raises $100k. The Pune, India-based provider of dairy, meat, bakery, fruits, and vegetables operates on a subscription-based service. RainCan earns a 10-15% margin on its products, and has partnered with distributors of Nestle, ITC and P&G. The proceeds will be used to help the company grow and increase orders from 100 a day to 500 a day.

Announced: 08/10/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Ajeet Khurana  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2000

Dinner Lab Raises $7m. The New Orleans-based membership-based dining club connects undiscovered chefs with interested diners by giving members access to pop-up dining events thrown in particular locations. The company hosts multiple dinners a month more than 30 cities. Locations include warehouses and helipads, and the food is prepared by chefs that may not be operating their own kitchen. Dinner Lab currently has over 25,000 members, and charges a yearly membership fee as well as a per meal fee should members decide to attend. The company intends to use the funding to expand operations across U.S. markets and its B2B solutions.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: James River Capital, Innovation Catalyst  Previous Investment: $3.1 million  Founded: August 2011

Green Blender Raises $900k. The New York-based smoothie ingredients subscription service sends customers pre-portioned ingredients to make smoothies at home. The company sends ingredients for ten smoothies, with five recipes, and claims to source ingredients from organic and local farms whenever possible. The funding will be used to support the company’s growth, through hiring, geographic expansion, partnerships, and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: FOOD-X, Point Nine Capital, SOSV   Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Beat the Q Posse Group Raises $5m. The Sydney, Australia-based group is newly formed, comprised of three formerly separate companies Posse, Beat the Q, and E-Coffee Card. The company’s app Hey You enables customers to order from cafes en route, gain loyalty benefits, and connect with storeowners. Beat the Q Posse Group plans to use the funding for further product development and operation scaling. According to BRW, new features will include group ordering as well as beacon-enabled table service.

Announced: 08/04/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Reinventure  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

Meal Box Raises $3.6m. The Istanbul, Turkey-based on-demand meal delivery service offers traditional home-cooked style Turkish food. According to TechCrunch, Meal Box’s offering is in contrast to that of most meal delivery services in Turkey, which serve fast food or street food. Meal Box operates its own centralized kitchen and has a network of delivery centers throughout the cities, enabling the company to ensure delivery within 30 minutes. The company has plans to expand to Ankara and other major cities by the end of the year.

Announced: 08/03/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aslanoba Capital  Previous Investment: $3.6 million  Founded: 2014

IOrderFresh Raises $1m. The Delhi, India-based mobile food and grocery retailer caters to customers in and around the National Capital Region. The company does not store inventory for retail, and instead procures products from wholesale retailers the day of delivery. The cash infusion will be used for technology development, increasing the supply chain, and customer acquisition and services.

Announced: 08/01/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Best Foodworks (lead)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Cake Raises $2.2m. The London-based mobile payment platform lets users pay or split the bill to their preference at restaurant and bars. Cake currently has a network of over 20 registered businesses and expects to expand to 100 businesses by the end of 2015. Funding will be used to support growth in London and Los Angeles.

Closed: 08/01/15  Stage: Equity Crowdfunding  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1 million  Founded: February 2014

Jiuxian Raises $80m. The Beijing-based online alcohol retailer is the largest in China. In addition to its core business of alcohol retail, Jiuxian has developed four other business segments, including integrated branding services, on demand delivery service services, creation of customized brands for online sales channels, and online special offers. The funding makes Jiuxian China’s tenth best funded startup, and part of the new funding for Jiuxian will go towards growing a spin-off, on-demand wine and beer delivery service Jiukuaidao, which taps local brick-and-mortar stores to deliver to buyers in their area. Funding will also be used towards expansion of the company’s market share of online retail and line of customized brands.

Announced: 07/31/15  Valuation: $1.05 billion  Stage: Series G  Participating Institutional Investors: Merrysunny Wealth (lead)  Previous Investment: $182.5 million  Founded: 2009

Improvonia Raises $4m. The Washington, DC-based mobile and web-based communication platform connects buyers and sellers to improve communication and streamline the ordering process in the hospitality industry. Restaurants that use the service can place all their orders to all their suppliers at once. The company will apply the funding towards expansion to new cities, hiring more user facing employees, and building out the ordering platform.

Announced: 07/31/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: BlueRun Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

Opinio Raises $1.3m. The Bangalore-based last mile delivery service connects customers with restaurants, grocers, laundry services, and pharmacies. The startup is currently processing over 1,000 orders daily, and is available in seven areas within Bangalore. Opinio has plans to expand into more cities, and funding will be used to sustain the company for another 4 to 5 months as it plans to raise another round.

Announced: 07/28/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel, TraxcnLabs  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

Focus Brands Partners with Postmates to launch on-demand delivery service for the six foodservice chains in its portfolio, including Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s.

POS on Cloud Partners with Clutch to offer Clutch’s suite of customer intelligence and engagement solutions to its network of merchants.

Google Partners with ASOS and Munchery to promote its music station.

Subway Partners with PayPal to let people pay via PayPal when ordering from its mobile app.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to let restaurants activate Zapper as an additional payment option for customers.

Peapod Partners with FarmLogix to launch Pea Pod Local Farm Box, which delivers local seasonal produce to customers.

CircleUp Partners with Amazon Launchpad to enhance consumer discoverability for food entrepreneurs in CircleUp’s portfolio.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: August 2015 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2015/09/30/food-tech-media-startup-funding-ma-and-partnerships-august-2015/feed/ 2 Announcing Our New Restaurant Branding Bootcamp https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/10/27/restaurant-startup-branding-business-bootcamp/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/10/27/restaurant-startup-branding-business-bootcamp/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:38:53 +0000 http://www.foodtechconnect.com/?p=20520 Learn how to improve restaurant marketing and operations from industry veterans in our Restaurant Startup Bootcamp. Apply now for a free spot from ShopKeep.

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]]>

Calling all restaurants! We’re on a mission to lower the barriers to success for food startups, and boy have we got an opportunity for you. Today, we’re psyched to announce the launch our new restaurant startup bootcamp The Power of Brand: Growing Your Restaurant, along with a very special offer from our friends at ShopKeep.

Learn How to Use Brand to Grow Your Restaurant Business

Taught by former Union Square Hospitality Group CMO Felicia Stingone, this first-of-its-kind bootcamp will teach restaurants how to use brand as a business tool to strengthen your restaurant marketing, operations and culture. By the end of the day, you will define your brand and develop a brand framework to drive smarter, faster business decision-making, such as whether to open a new restaurant, publish a cookbook or pursue licensing opportunities. The day will culminate with an intimate discussion with industry heavyweights, including Danny Meyer, Founder and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, Richard Coraine, Senior Managing Partner, Business Development and Consulting at Union Square Hospitality Group and other special guests to be announced shortly.

ShopKeep is Offering 25 Free Spots to Go-Getting Restaurants

Sounds awesome, right? Well, it gets even better.  We’re thrilled to be partnering with ShopKeep, the cloud-based small business technology provider trusted by more than 10,000 small business owners to manage retail shops and restaurants with iPads,  to offer 25 restaurants a full scholarship ($399 value) to the bootcamp. ShopKeep shares our vision for helping small businesses succeed and grow, which is why we’re so exciting to be working with them.

Apply Today

To apply, let us know how you plan to use your new branding skills to take your business to the next level in the application below. We will be accepting  and considering applications on a rolling basis until November 7. Additionally, a limited number of seats will also available to the general public, which are available for purchase here.  Not able to make it? The course will also be available online in mid-January.  Pre-register today for the course to receive a 50% discount.

The post Announcing Our New Restaurant Branding Bootcamp appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/10/27/restaurant-startup-branding-business-bootcamp/feed/ 3 Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/03/04/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-5/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/03/04/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-5/#respond Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:49:56 +0000 http://www.foodtechconnect.com/?p=17461 Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. We track the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, grocery, restaurants, cooking and health, so our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector. From our ‘Food Startup Branding 101’ online course announcement and our top SXSW food panel picks to GrubHub’s $100M IPO announcement and a major recipe tech acquisition, these are our top 6 stories from last week in food tech. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for our newsletter and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week. 1.) Learn How to Make Your Food Startup Stand Out Last week, we announced our first course, Food Startup Branding 101, and now we’re excited to announce that we’re offering the course online, too. Guided by brand strategists who have worked with companies like Stacy’s Pita Chips, Seamless and Applegate, you’ll learn how to: Better understand your target market’s needs Create your brand positioning statement Develop your brand voice guidelines and “About Us” copy Kick ass on social media Learn more and sign up HERE. 2.) 2014 SXSWi Food + Health + Tech Panels From ‘Printing Chocolate: Food on Demand’ to ‘AgriTech’s Promise: Food For 10 Billion and Beyond,’ we’ve culled together a list Not brought moisturizer keep hands get coverage enormous curly buy clomid firming wide cialis 20 mg and around another short. of the food focused panels you should check out this year at SXSW. 3.) Going Public: GrubHub Files for $100M IPO GrubHub plans to put the proceeds of the IPO towards working capital, general corporate purposes and potentially acquisitions. 4.) Ordr.In Intiates $400K Equity Crowdfunding on SeedInvest –Crowdfund Insider The invested funds will be utilized in globally promoting their API platform, executing pipeline deals, such as building their client enablement team. 5.) Walmart Acquires Recipe Tech Startup Yumprint – Mercury News Walmart acquired the company to expand its online grocery services. Yumprint has a website and mobile app to search and discover new recipes from thousands of food blogs, plan meals and calculate nutritional information. 6.) New Food Label Aims To Make Healthy Decisions Easier – NPR The FDA and the White House are expected to unveil a new food label this week. Changed just once since their adoption, these labels need to be less confusing, advocates say.

The post Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> our weekly top stories-01

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. We track the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, grocery, restaurants, cooking and health, so our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From our ‘Food Startup Branding 101’ online course announcement and our top SXSW food panel picks to GrubHub’s $100M IPO announcement and a major recipe tech acquisition, these are our top 6 stories from last week in food tech. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for our newsletter and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

1.) Learn How to Make Your Food Startup Stand Out

Last week, we announced our first course, Food Startup Branding 101, and now we’re excited to announce that we’re offering the course online, too.

Guided by brand strategists who have worked with companies like Stacy’s Pita Chips, Seamless and Applegate, you’ll learn how to:

  • Better understand your target market’s needs
  • Create your brand positioning statement
  • Develop your brand voice guidelines and “About Us” copy
  • Kick ass on social media

Learn more and sign up HERE.

2.) 2014 SXSWi Food + Health + Tech Panels

From ‘Printing Chocolate: Food on Demand’ to ‘AgriTech’s Promise: Food For 10 Billion and Beyond,’ we’ve culled together a list

Not brought moisturizer keep hands get coverage enormous curly buy clomid firming wide cialis 20 mg and around another short.

of the food focused panels you should check out this year at SXSW.

3.) Going Public: GrubHub Files for $100M IPO

GrubHub plans to put the proceeds of the IPO towards working capital, general corporate purposes and potentially acquisitions.

4.) Ordr.In Intiates $400K Equity Crowdfunding on SeedInvest –Crowdfund Insider

The invested funds will be utilized in globally promoting their API platform, executing pipeline deals, such as building their client enablement team.

5.) Walmart Acquires Recipe Tech Startup Yumprint – Mercury News

Walmart acquired the company to expand its online grocery services. Yumprint has a website and mobile app to search and discover new recipes from thousands of food blogs, plan meals and calculate nutritional information.

6.) New Food Label Aims To Make Healthy Decisions Easier – NPR

The FDA and the White House are expected to unveil a new food label this week. Changed just once since their adoption, these labels need to be less confusing, advocates say.

The post Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/03/04/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-5/feed/ 0 Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/01/28/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-3/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/01/28/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-3/#respond Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:20:34 +0000 http://www.foodtechconnect.com/?p=17094 Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. We track the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, grocery, restaurants, cooking and health, so our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector. From big investments in the international online food delivery and online grocery spaces to a major food media acquisition, you’ll find our top 8 picks from last week in food tech below. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for our newsletter and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week. 1) Food+Tech Meetup: How New Tech is Transforming Restaurants Join us this Thursday, January 30th for a behind the scenes look at how tech startups are revolutionizing restaurants. Networking, wine and snacks to follow the presentations. RSVP HERE.  Presenters: Cover– A payment processing app that lets customers seamlessly pay for their meals and saves restaurants money on credit card fees. Culinary Agents– A professional network  that offers job matching and networking for culinary professionals in the food, beverage and hospitality industry.  Easy Pairings –  An online marketplace for the hospitality industry that allows restaurants to lower recruitment costs and find great staff quickly and easily.  Objective Logistics – A retail/restaurant-focused software company that provides an artificially-intelligent, web-accessible labor performance management platform (MUSE).  Swipely – An Index Ventures and Shasta Ventures backed service that helps local merchants better understand customers and grow sales by connecting information from the payments network, point-of-sale systems and the social web. NoWait – An iOS app that allows consumers to search restaurant wait times, add their names to waiting lists and get texts from restaurants when their tables are ready.  2) ReciPal Generates FDA Nutrition Labels, Saves Food Startups Time & Money ReciPal does the boring nutrition label work and lets food entrepreneurs get back to what they really love, by enabling startups to generate affordable – $19 or less per recipe – nutrition labels in minutes. 3) Gourmet Food Delivery Service DineIn Raises £310,000 Crowdcube Investment – Startups Co UK A new start-up that allows customers to order food from London’s top restaurants and chefs and have it delivered to their home has raised more than £310,000 in an oversubscribed Crowdcube pitch. 4) AccelFoods Selects First Class of Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs for Its Accelerator Program – Herald Online The comapny raised a $4 Million plus investment fund to Support food entrepreneurs. Exo Cricket-Flour Protein Bars, Jaali Bean Indian Side Dishes, KOLAT Nut-Butter Spreads, Whynatte Caffeinated Beverage comprise its first class. 5) Singapore Online Grocer RedMart Raises $5.4M From Investors Including Facebook Co-founder – TechCrunch RedMart, an online grocery service based in Singapore, announced today that it has closed a $5.4 million bridge round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. 6) Macmillan Acquires Cookstr, with Schwalbe In Expanded Role –Publishers Weekly Macmillan has acquired cookbook and recipe Web site Cookstr. Founded in 2008 by Katie Workman and Will Schwalbe, Cookstr has reached as many as eight million unique visitors a month via its own consumer-facing recipe web site, as well as powering recipe searches in partnership with other organizations.

The post Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> our weekly top stories-01

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. We track the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, grocery, restaurants, cooking and health, so our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From big investments in the international online food delivery and online grocery spaces to a major food media acquisition, you’ll find our top 8 picks from last week in food tech below. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for our newsletter and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

1) Food+Tech Meetup: How New Tech is Transforming Restaurants

Join us this Thursday, January 30th for a behind the scenes look at how tech startups are revolutionizing restaurants. Networking, wine and snacks to follow the presentations. RSVP HERE. 

Presenters:

  • Cover– A payment processing app that lets customers seamlessly pay for their meals and saves restaurants money on credit card fees.
  • Culinary Agents– A professional network  that offers job matching and networking for culinary professionals in the food, beverage and hospitality industry. 
  • Easy Pairings –  An online marketplace for the hospitality industry that allows restaurants to lower recruitment costs and find great staff quickly and easily. 
  • Objective Logistics – A retail/restaurant-focused software company that provides an artificially-intelligent, web-accessible labor performance management platform (MUSE). 
  • Swipely – An Index Ventures and Shasta Ventures backed service that helps local merchants better understand customers and grow sales by connecting information from the payments network, point-of-sale systems and the social web.
  • NoWait – An iOS app that allows consumers to search restaurant wait times, add their names to waiting lists and get texts from restaurants when their tables are ready. 

2) ReciPal Generates FDA Nutrition Labels, Saves Food Startups Time & Money

ReciPal does the boring nutrition label work and lets food entrepreneurs get back to what they really love, by enabling startups to generate affordable – $19 or less per recipe – nutrition labels in minutes.

3) Gourmet Food Delivery Service DineIn Raises £310,000 Crowdcube Investment – Startups Co UK

A new start-up that allows customers to order food from London’s top restaurants and chefs and have it delivered to their home has raised more than £310,000 in an oversubscribed Crowdcube pitch.

4) AccelFoods Selects First Class of Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs for Its Accelerator Program – Herald Online

The comapny raised a $4 Million plus investment fund to Support food entrepreneurs. Exo Cricket-Flour Protein Bars, Jaali Bean Indian Side Dishes, KOLAT Nut-Butter Spreads, Whynatte Caffeinated Beverage comprise its first class.

5) Singapore Online Grocer RedMart Raises $5.4M From Investors Including Facebook Co-founder – TechCrunch

RedMart, an online grocery service based in Singapore, announced today that it has closed a $5.4 million bridge round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

6) Macmillan Acquires Cookstr, with Schwalbe In Expanded Role –Publishers Weekly

Macmillan has acquired cookbook and recipe Web site Cookstr. Founded in 2008 by Katie Workman and Will Schwalbe, Cookstr has reached as many as eight million unique visitors a month via its own consumer-facing recipe web site, as well as powering recipe searches in partnership with other organizations.

The post Last Week’s Top 6 Food Tech & Innovation Stories appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/01/28/last-weeks-top-6-food-tech-innovation-stories-3/feed/ 0 The Startup Chef: Cook Like a Tech Superstar https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/12/13/the-startup-chef-a-food-tech-cookbook/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/12/13/the-startup-chef-a-food-tech-cookbook/#respond Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:55:39 +0000 http://www.foodtechconnect.com/?p=10913 70 tech entrepreneurs, investors and technology journalists collaborate on a cookbook to raise money for, appropriately enough for a cookbook, the hungry.

The post The Startup Chef: Cook Like a Tech Superstar appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> It’s easy to presume that the eating habits of startup entrepreneurs consist of fast food and disposable containers. After all, the hours required to launch a company to greatness seem never ending. So it may come as a surprise to hear that The Startup Chef, an e-book by leaders in the tech industry, is making us hungry.

Authored by Hunter Walk and Maya Baratz, two industry veterans, this collection of recipes is inspired by the creative process – a process they believe applies to the kitchen as well as to the white board. With 75 recipes and counting, this work in progress features recipes from founders, investors and writers such as Matt Mullenweg of WordPress, Dennis Crowley of Foursquare and Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal.

The cookbook is available to purchase on a sliding scale through Leanpub. All proceeds from the book will go to charities that are committed to ending hunger.

The post The Startup Chef: Cook Like a Tech Superstar appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/12/13/the-startup-chef-a-food-tech-cookbook/feed/ 0 Cater2.me Brings Best of Local Food To New York City Offices https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/10/09/cater2-me-brings-best-of-local-food-to-new-york-city-offices/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/10/09/cater2-me-brings-best-of-local-food-to-new-york-city-offices/#respond Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:46:04 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=8590 Working with the likes of Square, Dropbox and Yelp, Cater2me's office catering service makes it easy for companies to enjoy local, conversation-provoking foods from the best food trucks, mom and pop restaurants and caterers.

I recently got a chance to speak with Yungst about how Cater2.me has differentiated themselves from competitors like Seamless and ZeroCater, how they are planning to approach the NY market differently than their San Francisco stomping grounds...and of course who they have their eye in the NY food scene.

The post Cater2.me Brings Best of Local Food To New York City Offices appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> Founded in late 2010 by Zach Yungst and Alex Lorton, Cater2.me got off to a running start in San Francisco feeding the likes of Yelp, Dropbox and Square, and now they have their sights set on New York.  Cater2.me is an office catering service, connecting companies with a carefully selected list of food trucks, mom and pop restaurants, caterers and local chefs.

I recently got a chance to speak with Yungst about how Cater2.me has differentiated themselves from competitors like Seamless and ZeroCater, how they are planning to approach the NY market differently than their San Francisco stomping grounds…and of course who they have their eye in the New York food scene.

_______________________________________

Zach Yungst, Co-Founder of Cater2.me

Chitra Agrawal: What problem is Cater2Me solving?

Zach Yungst: At Cater2.me, we want to make office meals exciting, and the process around ordering meals excitingly simple. Managing team catering is currently a very tedious, often stressful, recurring process, and we’re building a solution to greatly simplify the way group ordering works while also making team meals more of a cultural food experience by sourcing from unique, local, passionate chefs.

CA: How does it work from a client and vendor standpoint?

ZY: For clients, the process to get started takes under 5 minutes. A client fills out a simple profile detailing information such as headcount, budget, dietary preferences, delivery logistics, etc., and we use that information to create a tailored meal schedule that complies with the client’s requirements. We handle all communication and logistics with the vendors, track all deliveries, and provide a forum for all employees to access their meals and provide feedback, which we incorporate into future planning.

On the vendor side, we scour food blogs and reviews and go to trusted experts for referrals before we approach a vendor about joining our program. We found our first food partners at farmers markets and food festivals, and that’s really defined how we source our vendors. Since we’re more focused on finding passionate vendors than on finding existing caterers who are already at scale, we’ve developed an on-boarding process for helping educate our vendors on how to cater properly. We also help them manage the initial demand and work with them to make sure their delivery schedule is within the bounds of their resources. Since we sit in a unique position between our clients and our vendors, we’re also able to develop specific concepts with our vendors to address expressed needs on the client side. We’ve helped many of our vendors create entirely new menus – within their specific cuisine type of course – that have ultimately helped them more than double their business.

 

CA:  What have been some of your greatest challenges in launching this business?

ZY:  In launching Cater2.me, one of the first challenges we faced was building credibility in the eyes of our target vendors. Vendors get approached daily with new solutions, whether it’s loyalty programs, discount programs, or other catering solutions, and many have had less than ideal experiences with other services. We needed to demonstrate the differentiated commitment we were offering, which we did by being 100% available and extremely hands-on (we’ve personally attended orders with all of our vendors). Our vendors are also keenly focused on their brand, and we needed to convince them that we were committed to making sure that they were joining a community that also shared their commitment to quality.

Our current challenges are related to our recent internal growth and expansion. We’ve become very focused on building company culture, both locally in our markets and collaboratively on a national scale.

CA: There are a couple websites that offer similar services. How do you differentiate yourself from larger ordering services, such as Seamless, and smaller ones, such as ZeroCater?

ZY: Company meals are a key component of building company culture, and we see a great opportunity to enhance company culture through exciting meals from local, conversation-provoking vendors. To this end, we approach vendor sourcing and menu planning in a differentiated way. Our goal is not to on-board every restaurant / food truck / caterer out there, but instead, to build a select set of vendors in each market who represent the best in what they do – it’s like having a team of 150 trained, highly-talented chefs who all come from different parts of the world.

Keeping the vendor pool tight also allows us to build closer relationships with our vendors, which ultimately results in a more consistent service experience for our clients. We then work hand-in-hand with our vendors to continually develop new menu concepts based on actual client demand. And we’re now benefiting greatly from our recent expansion to New York, where we’re accessing local food trends that we’re porting between geographies to spur further menu innovation.

We also have a differentiated perspective on customer service, which has contributed to our ability to attract clients away from competing services. Our roots are in financial services where you’re expected to be detailed oriented and need to be prepared for any and all requests, regardless of the hour. We took that 24/7, ‘client is king’ mentality into the office catering world, where that level of service wasn’t previously expected but has definitely been welcomed. Our service has been particularly attractive to larger companies with more complicated needs, and we’ve seen a large number of clients migrate to Cater2.me from other services as their organizational needs have grown.

CA: Seems like your model is working exceptionally well for technology startups, particularly in San Francisco. Why do you think this is?

ZY: Startups / tech companies have a few aspects that make them ideal users of our service: 1) They’re open to innovation 2) They’re focused on building company culture, and the food experiences we provide are a big part of that 3) They understand the benefits of specialization, and we’ve got teams doing what’s usually tasked to one individual who has 100 other things to do 4) It’s a tight community, and they all talk – we’ve basically built our entire base business off of word-of-mouth referrals and intros 5) They’re awesome groups to work with, so it’s not too difficult for us to go out of our way to make sure they’re happy :).

CA: How are you approaching New York City’s market differently than San Francisco’s? 

ZY: New York has a burgeoning tech scene which will translate nicely to our core audience of tech companies. But compared to San Francisco, NYC offers a wider variety of industries and we have good connections in many of those. Financial services is obviously very strong and other sectors like advertising and fashion also receive a fair amount of catering. New York is so dense and so many great companies are based here that we’re finding a lot of success just by being out there, knocking on doors, getting the word out.

CA: Can you name some of the NY food trucks/artisans you’ve discovered and would like to add to Cater2.me’s offerings in NY?

ZY: We’ve found a lot of really interesting vendors, some well known and some not so well known. The food trucks and farmers’ market purveyors can stand up against some of the best in the country. Korilla BBQ makes a mean meal and Wafels & Dinges makes special things happen with its waffles. We also love what the guys at Baohaus are doing and have our eyes on a number of ramen shops.

 

The post Cater2.me Brings Best of Local Food To New York City Offices appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/10/09/cater2-me-brings-best-of-local-food-to-new-york-city-offices/feed/ 0 TangoTab: Restaurant Deals Mixed With Social Responsibility https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/19/tangotab/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/19/tangotab/#respond Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:06:47 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=8595 TangoTab is a deal maker with a conscious. Unlike other services like Groupon and Living Social, it has a socially responsible angle – it donates a meal for every coupon you use – and offers restaurants access to a real-time marketing platform where they can control the timing and quantity of their promotions. The company partners with local service organizations, like City Harvest in NYC, who distribute the free meals that TangoTab promotions pay for (which we’re told totals 96,000 so far). The company currently operates in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago and New York City. We recently caught up with its VP of Strategy and Corporate Development, Mike Yonker, about the company, its business model and lessons learned. Food+Tech Connect: What problem are you solving? Mike Yonker: Normally, it’s pretty easy for restaurants to identify that they don’t have many people in for lunch on a Wednesday, say. What we’re trying to do is fill those tables in a way that’s very economical for [businesses] and measurable. Through our real-time marketing platform, restaurants control what promotions they offer, including their timing and quantity. With something like Groupon, everyone could come in on the first day of the promotion with the coupon, and [a restaurant] is going to have to have all the resources to actually deal with that. With TangoTab, on the consumer side, you can get discounts and be charitable in the process. FTC: What is your business model? MY: Restaurants only pay us when [TangoTab users] come through the door. It’s a pay for performance model. The restaurants pay us a small success fee when the diner comes in and the diner pays the restaurant directly for whatever they order. The amount of the fee depends on the restaurant. Depending whether it’s quick service or fine dining, the fee might be $2 to $4. People will clip coupons, do daily deals through Groupon or living social, but we feel like we’re tackling a problem in a truly unique way. In our case, I don’t know that anybody has the same social activism. FTC: What have been some of the challenges? What have you learned? MY: There are always challenges. We initially thought that New York, Dallas, Chicago would be our biggest markets, and they have been great, but our best markets are turning out to be these medium and smaller markets, like Oklahoma, where we launched in June. You learn something every day. FTC: Why do you think that is? MY: I think it’s sort of the small town mentality. While the cause resonates real well with all consumers, it seems like it does particularly so in small to medium town America. Also, in larger cities, restaurants and consumers are exposed to startups that come and go all the time, the smaller cities haven’t seen as much of them. FTC: How do you encourage user engagement? MY: Through Facebook, we give people feedback on their social activation score. So, for me, I see that I’ve fed 161 people. I can also see how many people my network has helped feed. There’s an ability to share that, to share your deals. What we’ll do, as we do more of the loyalty scheme, is to help people understand their impact more and more. If you can feed a child, your network can feed a village, if you can change one of your habits everyday. Interview has been condensed and edited.

The post TangoTab: Restaurant Deals Mixed With Social Responsibility appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> TangoTab is a deal maker with a conscious. Unlike other services like Groupon and Living Social, it has a socially responsible angle – it donates a meal for every coupon you use – and offers restaurants access to a real-time marketing platform where they can control the timing and quantity of their promotions.

The company partners with local service organizations, like City Harvest in NYC, who distribute the free meals that TangoTab promotions pay for (which we’re told totals 96,000 so far). The company currently operates in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago and New York City. We recently caught up with its VP of Strategy and Corporate Development, Mike Yonker, about the company, its business model and lessons learned.

Food+Tech Connect: What problem are you solving?

Mike Yonker: Normally, it’s pretty easy for restaurants to identify that they don’t have many people in for lunch on a Wednesday, say. What we’re trying to do is fill those tables in a way that’s very economical for [businesses] and measurable. Through our real-time marketing platform, restaurants control what promotions they offer, including their timing and quantity.

With something like Groupon, everyone could come in on the first day of the promotion with the coupon, and [a restaurant] is going to have to have all the resources to actually deal with that.

With TangoTab, on the consumer side, you can get discounts and be charitable in the process.

FTC: What is your business model?

MY: Restaurants only pay us when [TangoTab users] come through the door. It’s a pay for performance model. The restaurants pay us a small success fee when the diner comes in and the diner pays the restaurant directly for whatever they order. The amount of the fee depends on the restaurant. Depending whether it’s quick service or fine dining, the fee might be $2 to $4.

People will clip coupons, do daily deals through Groupon or living social, but we feel like we’re tackling a problem in a truly unique way. In our case, I don’t know that anybody has the same social activism.

FTC: What have been some of the challenges? What have you learned?

MY: There are always challenges.

We initially thought that New York, Dallas, Chicago would be our biggest markets, and they have been great, but our best markets are turning out to be these medium and smaller markets, like Oklahoma, where we launched in June. You learn something every day.

FTC: Why do you think that is?

MY: I think it’s sort of the small town mentality. While the cause resonates real well with all consumers, it seems like it does particularly so in small to medium town America. Also, in larger cities, restaurants and consumers are exposed to startups that come and go all the time, the smaller cities haven’t seen as much of them.

FTC: How do you encourage user engagement?

MY: Through Facebook, we give people feedback on their social activation score. So, for me, I see that I’ve fed 161 people. I can also see how many people my network has helped feed. There’s an ability to share that, to share your deals. What we’ll do, as we do more of the loyalty scheme, is to help people understand their impact more and more.

If you can feed a child, your network can feed a village, if you can change one of your habits everyday.

Interview has been condensed and edited.

The post TangoTab: Restaurant Deals Mixed With Social Responsibility appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/19/tangotab/feed/ 0 Food Genius Scores $1.2M for Real-Time Analysis of Restaurant Trends https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/18/food-genius-funding-for-real-time-analysis-restaurant-trends/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/18/food-genius-funding-for-real-time-analysis-restaurant-trends/#respond Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:51:01 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=8571 Food Genius' business model has evolved, helping them land $1.2 million in funding and a partnership with GrubHub to launch Food Genius Reports, a restaurant trends dashboard for the food industry.

The post Food Genius Scores $1.2M for Real-Time Analysis of Restaurant Trends appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

]]>  

Food Genius entered the crowded market of dish recommendation apps last year, using big data to revolutionize the way people discover restaurants and dishes. At the time, the startup’s focus was on getting (scraping) as much menu-level data as possible, which they parsed by ingredients, preparation methods, spices and other aspects of a dish, and combining it with a user’s personal preferences and reviews shared on other websites. The company was still exploring business models, but knew that collecting and combining data about what, when and where their users were eating could offer invaluable insights to anyone from consumer packaged goods companies (CPG) to mom-and-pop restaurants, CEO Justin Massa told me in an interview last year. And now, they’re releasing their first related product for businesses.

Last week, Food Genius announced it has raised $1.2 million to launch Food Genius Reports, a restaurant trends dashboard for the food industry. Hyde Park Venture Partners and Hyde Park Angels led the round, which also includes investments from New World Ventures, the I2A Fund, Amicus Capital and IDEO. In addition to the investment, Food Genius also announced data partnerships with GrubHub, an online food delivery platform, and CHD Expert, a provider of data for foodservice sales and marketing.

“The food and restaurant industry is ripe for data disruption, and Food Genius offers astounding insights in this market where the consumers’ voice has been opaque,” comments Guy Turner, managing director at Hyde Park Venture Partners, in a press release.

Currently tracking more than 360,000 restaurant locations, 110,000 unique menus and 16.3 million restaurant menu items, the company will be launching Food Genius Reports in early winter 2013. The restaurant trends dashboard will be designed to allow users to get key insights around menu-level industry trends like what dishes to make, how to market them and how to price them.

Food Genius Report Mockup

According to Massa:

“Let’s say you’re [a CPG company] working on a frozen pasta and chicken skillet meal – but that’s all you know. The included veggies, type of pasta, marketing language around prep methods, price point, etc are all up for discussion. Where do you go next?

With Food Genius Reports, you can quickly find inspiration and key contextual data. In just a few clicks, you’ll learn that “mushrooms” are the most commonly paired vegetable, [at restaurants], with chicken and pasta. For the pairing of chicken and mushrooms, the most commonly used pasta is “penne”. And for dishes with penne, mushrooms, and chicken, the chicken is most frequently grilled.”

Like most startups, it took some time for the company to settle into its business model. During their time in the Chicago-based accelerator Excelerate Labs and later as a Startup-in-Residence at IDEO’s Chicago studio, the company explored various data-driven models, closely validating their assumptions by talking to potential customers. “As we investigated pivoting to a focus on a B2B data service, we quickly realized that there is an incredibly disparity between the data about CPG (about half of the food industry, by consumer spend) and restaurants,” says Massa.

Food Genius recognized that a significant opportunity exists to give the restaurant industry what the CPG industry already has- “actionable insights,” as Massa puts it. These insights are pricey, though. A monthly license for the individual plan, which includes full menu data but not geographic filters, maps or pricing, is $2,000 per month per user. The first 20 individual plan customers, however, will receive an “early adopter discount” of $899 per month. The enterprise plan, which includes all features – maps, geo filters, and pricing data – as well as custom training and live support, is $10,000 per month per user.

Current options for such insights include incumbents like Datassential, Mintel and Technomic. Datassential has a database of over 5,500 menus and 600,000 dishes; Mintel’s database has 2,600 menus and 1.5 million menus; and Technomic has “thousands” of US and International menus- its U.S. based subscription consists of the Top 500 Chains, 150 emerging chain and 100 independents.

Food Genius plans to set itself apart by using big data mining technologies and machine processing to spot trends faster than any of these companies currently can. Only time will tell how successful its new real-time, big data product will be in capturing the sales and marketing dollars of CPG companies and restaurants from its competitors.

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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/09/18/food-genius-funding-for-real-time-analysis-restaurant-trends/feed/ 0 Good Nutrition Data: No Longer Hard To Find? https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/08/16/nutrition-data-api/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/08/16/nutrition-data-api/#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:55:59 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=8204 Nutritionix is building a suite of tools that allow restaurants and food brands to organize and publish their nutritional data, thereby making it easier for consumers to interact with it. They will also be launching a Nutrition API pilot program in late October to give developers free access to their nutrition data,

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]]> Changing diets and consumer preferences are forcing restaurants and food brands to find ways to share nutrition and ingredient information with their customers. Also, restaurant chains with 20 or more locations are now required to  provide detailed nutrition information on their menus, thanks to a provision upheld in “Obamacare.” But many don’t have  have central databases to easily organize and publish this data.

Similarly, startups building recipe, grocery, and restaurant nutrition and discovery tools face major challenges with obtaining accurate consumer packaged good (CPG) data and nutrition data. These startups are forced to clean and restructure data on 7,500 basic items from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database or to license expensive – $100,000+ annually- and often outdated, CPG databases from companies like ESHA, Nutribase, Gladson and FoodFacts.

Nutritionix is trying to tackle this problem by building a suite of tools that allow restaurants and food brands to organize and publish their nutritional data, thereby making it easier for consumers to interact with it. Through Nutritionix’s widgets – interactive menus, allergen menus, nutrition calculators and nutrition transparency ratings- customers can get accurate nutrition and allergen information for menu items. The company is currently working with 24 restaurants, including McAlister’s Deli, ChickPea and zpizza.  They also recently announced they will be launching a Nutrition API pilot program in late October to give developers free access to their nutrition data, which will extend the reach of any participating company’s data. The API will include 40,000 menu items from 350 restaurants, 10,000 items from the USDA SR24 database and 10,000+ CPG items from over 1,500 food manufacturers. Currently, the company already has over 150 developer on their API waiting list.

I got a chance to chat with co-founder Matt Silverman about Nutritionix’s business model and their API.

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Danielle Gould:  What problems are you solving?

Matt Silverman: For consumers: Solving the problem of how to find accurate nutrition and allergen information for foods you eat while on the go.

For restaurants and food brands: Solving the problem of how to allow your customers to interact with your nutrition data, and ensure that anyone can eat at your location regardless of their diet preference or allergies, as long as they are able to access and interact with the nutrition data.

For developers: Allowing them to focus on the interface and execution of their diet and nutrition apps, without having to worry about creating their own nutrition database.

DG:  On your website, you announced a lofty goal of enlisting 1,000 restaurants by the end of 2012. How close are you to meeting that goal?

MS:  We currently list nutrition or allergen data for at least 350 restaurants. Shortly after that announcement, we also started listing data for food manufacturers, and we already have 1,500 food manufacturers listed as of today. Restaurants are a lot slower than we anticipated to add, and many of them are scrambling to still analyze their nutrition information before the FDA rules set in by 2013.

DG:  What is your value proposition for restaurants and food manufacturers?

MS:  We provide two essential tools for restaurants and manufacturers:

1. An enterprise-class web-based platform to internally organize all of your nutrition data, including recipe components. This is crucial for any food business to adequately organize complex nutrition data.

2. We provide incredibly consumer-friendly widgets that food brands use on their website to turn nutrition into a marketing tool. By making their nutrition data interactive with our widgets, they actually drive more traffic to their website, and allow customers to figure out how to eat at their locations regardless of their dietary restrictions.

DG:  Do you verify the accuracy of data? If so, how?

MS:  Currently, each brand is responsible for the accuracy of their data before submitting it into our system. In most cases, it is actually a registered dietitian who represents the brand and submits the data to us. We are working on a number of few algorithms that will scan our datasets to look for pattern mismatches in nutrition data, which will ultimately help us eliminate any data entry errors in the future.

DG:  You recently announced that you will be releasing an Nutrition API pilot program in late October. What data will developers be able to access through the API?

MS: In Phase 1 of our API release, developers will be able to access:

  • Restaurant nutrition
  • 350 restaurant concepts, with over 40,000 menu items
  • 10,000 common food items from the USDA SR24 database
  • 10,000+ consumer packaged good items from over 1,500 food manufacturers

DG:  What is your business model?

MS:  We charge a subscription fee to food brands to use our interactive tools, and to be listed in our directory. This way we are able to give free access to developers, which encourages great growth in nutrition app development, which greatly increases exposure for any of our participating brands by linking them into millions of health-conscious consumers.

DG: What are the most interesting things you’ve learned, or greatest challenges, you’ve faced building Nutritionix?

MS:  One of the most interesting things we’ve learned is just how much consumers appreciate it when companies do not treat nutrition as an after thought, but instead make it truly usable to customers. We get a lot of people writing in to us thanking us for making it possible for them to actually sort through a menu to find Gluten Free items, or to find a meal that is low in sodium at their favorite restaurant.

One of the greatest challenges of our business is selling such a new product to restaurants and food manufacturers, as most of them do not even know that they need it until we demo it for them.

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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/08/16/nutrition-data-api/feed/ 3 FixAntibiotics Helps Consumers Find Meat Raised Without Antibiotics https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/07/05/real-time-farms-launches-fixantibiotics-food-finder/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/07/05/real-time-farms-launches-fixantibiotics-food-finder/#respond Fri, 06 Jul 2012 02:58:30 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=7773 Real Time Farms launched the FixAntibiotics Food Finder. The first of its kind map enables consumers to find retail locations, farmers markets, farms and restaurants selling meat from animals raised without antibiotics.

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Last week, food tech startup Real Time Farms, in partnership with FixFood’s “Meat Without Drugs” campaign,  launched the FixAntibiotics Food Finder. The first of its kind map enables consumers to find retail locations, farmers markets, farms and restaurants selling meat from animals raised without antibiotics.

Their current farm data has been crowdsourced over the past 2.5 years from Real Time Farms users and from their Food Warrior interns, who personally interview individual farmers. Their farmers market data is also crowdsourced, but is cross-checked against the USDA’s farmers market data. Finally, their retailer information comes directly from Whole Foods, Applegate and Organic Prairie.

In the future, they will be adding data sets from the American Grassfed Association and the National Organic Program.

“By getting data from other certifying agencies,” says Rosaen, “it helps bolster the accuracy of the claims that they are in fact antibiotic-free, because they have to be to be certified.”
Soon, you will also be able to filter by growing practices, like antibiotic-free.
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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/07/05/real-time-farms-launches-fixantibiotics-food-finder/feed/ 0 Zokos Aims to Feed Hunger for Real Life Interaction https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/04/25/zokos-aims-to-feed-hunger-for-real-life-interaction/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/04/25/zokos-aims-to-feed-hunger-for-real-life-interaction/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:37:21 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=7347 Zokos is a new startup that aims to make it easier for people to connect in real life - over food- by reducing what they have identified as the "barriers to entertaining." Last week, the Brooklyn-based startup launched their first tool, a platform designed to help hosts manage an event and share the costs with their guests.

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Zokos is a new startup that aims to make it easier for people to connect in real life – over food- by reducing what they have identified as the “barriers to entertaining.” Last week, the Brooklyn-based startup launched their first tool, a platform designed to help hosts manage an event and share the costs with their guests.

How it works: party hosts set a goal for the number of guests they would like to invite and the amount of money they need to cover the costs of the event.  Similar to  Kickstarter, guests must pay to RSVP, but are not charged until the goal has been met. Zokos charges a 3 percent fee and $.30 per guest.

Zokos grew out of co-founders Christopher Kieran, Bradley Baer and Andrew Hapke’s experience as members of Veggie Dinners, a 300-person dinner club, while in graduate school at Yale.

“We had a lot of fun in Veggie Dinner at Yale,” said  Hapke, co-founder and chief marketing officer. “We learned that with the right collaborative tools, people really start coming together and enjoying each other’s company more  often.”

The co-founders learned the hard way that the Veggie Dinner model was too complicated to scale and built a platform that could facilitate human interaction through dinner parties, wine tastings, tailgating parties, cooking classes and more.

The dinner party market is a tough one. It will be certainly be interesting to see how Zokos fares in comparison to others like Housefed and Gusta, who have developed similar products. Gusta offers more functionality like analytics, but charges a 10% transaction fee. Housefed is no longer in operation.

 I got a chance to catch-up with Hapke to learn more about Zokos.
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Danielle Gould:  How much of a pain point is dinner cost for someone when they consider hosting a dinner?

Hapke:  We see our site addressing what we call the “barriers to entertaining” one by one. The fact that it is expensive to entertain is just one of the barriers to entertaining. Other tools we will continue to develop are: tools to help you achieve an interesting mix of guests at your party, tools to help you be more certain about who is coming and who is not, and tools to help you decide what and how much to prepare for your party. A quote from the Food 52 discussion about our site yesterday puts the need perfectly:

“My daughter, who is one of the 52% of college graduates looking for work and underemployed at the same time, just called to tell me that now she can make her beef short ribs recipe for her friends. They have been demanding it, and the money thing was difficult. Now she knows how many people are coming and has the cash to buy the quality of products she knows is necessary. My daughter and her friends have quite sophisticated palates, and this is giving them room to really step out in the food world.”

DG:  What have been the greatest challenges you’ve faced with building Zokos?

AH:  Realizing that our beloved veggie dinner model was difficult for people to understand and wouldn’t scale very well. It was hard to let go and make that change, but we did a lot of collective soul searching and figured out how to keep all the fundamentals of our original intent. We just want people to get together. We want real life social interactions to be better quality and more frequent. It turns out food is the world’s favorite reason to come together and we’re very happy to facilitate that.

DG:  Could you describe why you decided to pivot from a product that supports the Veggie Dinners model to a product that helps hosts share dinner party costs with their guests?

AH: We heard over and over again that the same few people always end up hosting, either because they love to, they have the right space for it, or they are the best cook. Others don’t like hosting and always felt guilty for not reciprocating, but they’re great party guests and they love home cooked meals. With our model we can help make it easier for natural hosts to host more often and buy better stuff. The best part is that it is always cheaper than going out, and (in our opinions) more intimate and enjoyable to entertain at home.

DG:  How frequently does the average person host dinner parties?

AH: We have heard a few interesting statistics. For one the market for “at home social occasions” is 33 billion dollars annually and growing. Forty percent of consumers said they plan to entertain more often in the next year. Two thirds of millennials consider themselves casual cooking enthusiasts. They cook an average of nine elaborate or gourmet meals per year.

DG:  What is your business model and who is your target market?

AH: Right now we take a small transaction fee when a host chooses to have guests share the costs of a party. The first group we are targeting is students and young professionals who love to socialize and love food.

DG: What are the most interesting / unexpected things you’ve learned?

AH:  People are seriously flaky! We are working on that too, don’t worry!

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]]> https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/04/25/zokos-aims-to-feed-hunger-for-real-life-interaction/feed/ 16 Infographics of the Week: What 7.68 Million Food Ratings Tell Us About Our Eating Habits https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/04/19/infographics-of-the-week-what-7-68-million-food-ratings-tell-us-about-our-eating-habits/ https://foodtechconnect.com/2012/04/19/infographics-of-the-week-what-7-68-million-food-ratings-tell-us-about-our-eating-habits/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:07:23 +0000 http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/?p=7355 Massive Health visualizes their key findings about when, where, what and who people eat with.

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Over the past 5 months, Massive Health has collected over 7.68 million food ratings from people in 50 countries through The Eatery, an iPhone app that helps users track and analyze their eating patterns. Today, they are releasing some of their key findings about when people eat, where people eat, what they eat, and who they eat with, as a series of infographics. For more information about the company and  to see the infographic detailing at how people think they eat (and how healthy they actually eat) click here.

Key Finding on When We Eat

  • We eat 1.7 percent less healthy after each hour that passes in the day
  • Breakfast is the healthiest meal of the day. Dinner is 15.9 percent less healthy
  • People who eat breakfast eat 12.3 percent healthier during the day
  • On the weekend, we eat more unhealthy foods – including 1.4  times as many croissants and 1.6 times as much beer

 

Key Findings On Where We Eat

  • Americans who live along the coast eat healthier than those who live in the Midwest and the south
  • We eat 12.7 percent healthier when we eat at home (vs. eating out)

 

Key Finding On Who Eats What

  • New Yorkers eat 3.2 times more arugula than other cities (NY’s health rating is a high 83.6 percent)
  • Philadelphia residents eat 3.7 times more bagels (Philly’s health rating is a low 28.6 percent)

 

Key Findings On Who People Eat With

Our friends influence what we choose to eat by 34.5 perent.

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