What's cooking at Boston's food tech startups?
These days, asking that question was inevitable, as our mind is hopelessly focusing on food (especially carrot cake). Right before Turkey Day, we asked the companies we had included in this list of 10 local food tech startups to watch to let us know their latest updates.
Indeed, things have happened in the past six months in the local food tech space. Some startups won competitions and brought home funding; one shifted its focus and became a marketplace for restaurant influencers; one, sadly, went out of business.
Here are the most significant updates we received.
Food For All
The Food For All app aims at reducing food waste by allowing users to purchase restaurants’ leftovers for a discounted price up until an hour before they close. In October this year, the company took home from HUBweek the title of Demo Day Winner, which came with $10,000 in funding, a spot at the MIT Sloan Executive Education Program and office space at WeWork. Also, the company was one of the top 26 finalists of this year's MassChallenge Boston cohort, which was announced in September.
ForkOut Media
Started as an app to plan nights out with friends, ForkOut rebranded as ForkOut Media eight months ago. Now billing itself as an 'OpenTable for influencers,' the startup co-founded by Caleb Singer and Lida Tang is an open network of around 50 influencers offering their digital marketing expertise to restaurants. Here's how it works: Restaurants that want to increase their digital presence connect with one or more influencers via ForkOut Media and identify goals for a digital campaign. If influencers meet that goals (which might include specific metrics for page views, reach and so on), they get paid; otherwise, their services are provided for free. "The whole goal of the app was really trying to help people discover new restaurants," Singer said. "I think what we're doing now is a continuation of what our mission was, in a more direct way."
Just Add Cooking
The five-year-old meal kit service closed its doors on Nov. 5 after experimenting with different forms of fundraising, including a WeFunder crowdfunding campaign that had a target of $300,000. Over this year, Just Add Cooking also tried different sales channels for its products, adding in-store purchase to its signature delivery service.
Spyce
After opening their first fast-casual restaurant powered by robots in May, the four co-founders of Spyce are adding accomplishments to their successful track record—and more options to their menu. In September, they closed a $21 million Series A round led by Collaborative Fund (one of the backers of healthy salads chain Sweetgreens) and Maveron, with additional participation from existing investor Khosla Ventures. In addition to their one location in Downtown Crossing, the 'Spyce Boys' (Kale Rogers, Michael Farid, Brady Knight and Luke Schlueter) are planning on opening new robotic kitchens. All MIT graduates aged 24 to 26, they were included in this year's Forbes 30 Under 30.
The Dinner Daily
Still based in Westford, Mass., and still a self-funded venture, The Dinner Daily creates a weekly, five-day, personalized dinner menu and shopping list for users based on their specific dietary needs. Since April, the four-year-old startup launched by Laurin Mills started focusing more on the wellness space. One of the partnerships they added (after the one with Peapod they announced in March) is with Tufts Health Plan: thanks to it, both members and employees have access to discounted prices for The Dinner Daily service as a wellness benefit. Currently, the company has a team of 10.
