The Feed

John Nelson is the Founder & CEO of Vroom Delivery, the first white-label online ordering platform designed exclusively for convenience stores. In this episode, we’ll chat about why the c-store industry is unique from grocery and restaurant categories, the technology stack powering these retailers, and how Vroom is helping smaller chains compete against players like Gopuff and DoorDash’s DashM...

Stefan Kalb is the Co-Founder & CEO of Shelf Engine, an automated ordering and intelligent forecasting system that helps regional and national grocers like Target and Kroger improve their gross margins by an average of 30%. In this episode, we’ll chat about Shelf Engine’s unique pricing model that guarantees gross margin improvements, how it forecasts store-level inventory, and how its auto-re...

Michael Saunders is the Co-Founder & CEO of Captain, a white-label restaurant ordering platform that recently launched Supper Club, a web3 eating community where foodies get rewarded for supporting their favorite restaurants. In this episode we’ll chat about the potential for the blockchain to power restaurant transactions, the evolution of restaurant delivery, and the myriad use cases for web...

Kevin Honaker is the Co-Founder & CEO of BiomeSense, a startup developing a novel biosensor platform that continuously measures the trillions of microbes in our guts with just a single piece of toilet paper. BiomeSense counts the leading researchers in the microbiome space like Dr. Jack Gilbert and Dr. Rob Knight as co-founders and advisors. In this episode, we’ll chat about the links between...

Carle Stenmark is a General Partner at VMG, a hybrid consumer growth equity and software venture fund with over $1.2bn in committed capital. The fund has backed names like Spindrift, Stone Brewing, and Kind on the consumer side and Wee!, Afresh, and Swell on the tech side. In this episode, we’ll chat about how VMG leverages its software investments to help its portfolio brands, the state of valuat...

Art Sebastian is the VP of Digital Experiences at Casey’s, the third-largest convenience chain and the fifth-largest pizza retailer in the US. In this episode we’ll chat about the role of convenience stores in a world of quick commerce, how Casey’s has leveraged loyalty to drive customers to order prepared food alcohol, and groceries, and the digitization of the supply chain.

Brandon Hill is the Co-Founder & CEO of Vori, an inventory management platform optimizing the supply chain for underserved independent grocers. In this episode we’ll chat about how Vori’s software helps reduce retailers’ food waste, manages their pricing, and brings real-time inventory to online marketplaces.

Zach Noren is the Enterprise Partner Manager of Restaurants at Uber Direct. In this episode, we’ll chat about how Uber is providing whitelabel logistics for global QSR, grocery, and convenience chains, how it’s leveraging its earner base to drive down the cost of last mile delivery, and the role of middleware that makes everything talk to each other.

Sarah Mastrorocco is the VP & General Manager of Access to Food & Nutrition at Instacart. In this episode, we’ll chat about the $100bn+ opportunity for grocers to accept online SNAP EBT payments, how the platform is expanding nutritional access for tens of millions of Americans, and the future of content and commerce. Note: The host is an investor in a limited partnership that is a shareho...

Karuna Rawal is the CMO of Nature’s Fynd, a fungi-based protein platform with $500mm in funding from investors like Bill Gates and Al Gore. In this episode, we’ll talk about how Nature’s Fynd can be used across applications like dairy and meat, its strategy to sell itself as an ingredient to other CPGs, and the future of decentralized fermentation in emerging Asian and African markets.

Brandon Barton is the CEO of Bite, a digital ordering software startup specializing in dynamic drive-thru displays and kiosks for QSR and fast casual brands. In this episode, we’ll talk about the future of on-premise dining, how personalization is improving his customers’ top-line growth, and of course, his hot takes on the latest trends within the broader intersection of food and technology.

Na’ama Moran is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cheetah, a mobile app-based distributor to thousands of independent restaurants throughout the Bay Area. In this episode we’ll talk about the competitive landscape of digital players like Choco and Pepper, how the startup has begun acquiring traditional mom and pop distributors, and how it’s now leveraging machine learning to help restaurants maintain ju...

Marc Lotenberg is the Founder & CEO of Dorsia, a new reservations platform leveraging dynamic pricing to bring revenue management to the fine dining industry. In this episode, we’ll talk about what restaurants can learn from nightlife and travel industry pricing, the future of frictionless payments, and the walled garden of the reservation tech ecosystem.

Jordan Bramble is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Local Kitchens, a next-generation food platform that helps local restaurants scale their pickup and delivery through a network of suburban-centric micro food halls. In this episode, we’ll chat about Local Kitchens’ proprietary tech powering its online and offline guest experiences, how it stands out from traditional ghost kitchens, a...

Tyler Huggins is the Co-Founder and CEO of Meati, an alt protein startup creating fungi-based substitutes for chicken, beef, and more. In this episode, we’ll chat about the current state of modern consumers’ relationship to meat, how Meati is providing a superior alternative through its nutritional profile, and how it’s been able to attract a roster of culinary thought leaders in the industry.

Rishi Nigam is the Co-Founder & CEO of Franklin Junction, a marketplace of licensed  brands like Fuku, Milk Bar, and Nathan's Famous and 350+ global enterprise restaurant host kitchens that fulfill orders for delivery. In this episode, we’ll chat about how the platform identifies new opportunities for CPG and restaurant brands to scale delivery in new markets, how the economics work betwe...

Zhong Xu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Deliverect, a leading online order management platform powering the digital backbone of restaurants and CPGs. In this episode, we’ll chat about the platform’s latest virtual brand marketplace for restaurants, how Unilever is using it to spin up 24/7 on-demand ice cream storefronts, and how merchants can successfully leverage the power of third-party marketpl...

Matt Jozwiak is the Founder & CEO of Rethink Food, a New York-based non-profit that has built a unique system that empowers local restaurants to provide nutritious ready-to-eat meals to local communities. In this episode, we’ll chat about how restaurants are donating surcharges from each check to feed local communities, how Rethink is building a marketplace to match local supply and demand for...

Josh Domingues is the Founder & CEO of Flashfood, a mobile marketplace that connects shoppers to discounted produce and fresh food from local grocers that would have normally been thrown out. If food waste was a country, it would be the third largest global emitter of greenhouse gasses behind the US and China. In this episode, we’ll chat about the inflationary pressures that are challenging fo...

Matt Mahar is CEO of Cana, the world's first molecular beverage printer (or Star Trek beverage replicator). The startup is creating its own "app store" of beverages, allowing anyone to download tea, coffee, juices, sodas, and cocktails for 29 cents to $2.99 per drink without any packaged waste. In this episode, we’ll chat about the science behind Cana’s secret sauce, the immense environmental impa...

Alex Munoz-Suarez is the CEO of Fuku, a seven-year-old quick service fried chicken sandwich concept birthed from David Chang's Momofuku group. Fuku is now live in over 20 locations nationwide through a mix of ghost kitchens, stadium concessions, and corporate-owned locations. In this episode, we’ll talk about Fuku’s opex-light virtual licensing partnerships with Franklin Junction and Family Style,...

Larissa Zimberoff is an investigative journalist focused on food tech and author of Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat. Larissa has dug deep into startups like Just, QOA, Upside Foods, and AppHarvest for publications like Bloomberg, Fast Company, and Wired. In this episode, we’ll discuss Larissa’s critical eye towards trends like cell-cultured meat and ugly pro...

Atul Sood is the Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United, one of the leading ghost kitchen providers in the US with 13 live facilities. The startup has recently partnered with Simon Property Group and Westfield to open next-gen food courts within their malls as well as Kroger to allow shoppers the ability to mix and match from different virtual and physical restaurant brands in a single takeout o...

Stephen Klein is the Co-founder and CEO of Hyphen, an automated makeline for salads, bowls, tacos, and burritos, reducing total restaurant labor costs by nearly 50%. Thanks to its pricing model that charges restaurants as low as 70 cents per meal, the startup is transforming the fixed cost of kitchen labor into a variable "AWS for restaurant labor." We’ll chat about what sets Hyphen apart from oth...

Zeke DeSantis and Conrad DeMasi are the co-founders of Provecho, a link-in-bio recipe product for the next generation of chef creators building their audiences on social media. On TikTok alone, there are nearly 60 billion views for content tagged #FoodTikTok, but no easy-to-follow recipe guide nor a streamlined way for culinary influencers to monetize their recipes through branded sponsorships. In...