Big Brands Pilot Zero Waste E-Commerce Platform, Blue Apron’s New Retail Line + More

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

As part of biodiversity month here at Food+Tech Connect, we’ve launched an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 CEOs, execs, farmers and investors.

Big Food companies have joined a new recycling initiative by TerraCycle, aimed at collecting used plastics bottles and other durable packaging from homes and re-using them. The platform will run through an online shopping platform called Loop.

An on-demand labor platform has come out of stealth after 3.5 years called Jyve. It recently raised $400 million to fuel the growth of its retail gig economy. Blue Apron has shifted its meal kit strategy with a scaled-back version called Knick Knacks on Jet.com.

After Munchery announced its shutdown of all operations, small business vendors were left to pay the bill. One of its former couriers has now filed a class action lawsuit.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. Introducing Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability

We interviewed 45+ CEOs, execs, farmers and investors about the role biodiversity plays in our food industry. Read this week’s published responses from Crop Trust, General Mills, Impossible Foods, Kuli Kuli, Row 7 and Sir Kensington’s,

2. A Coalition of Giant Brands Is About to Change How We Shop Forever, with a New Zero-Waste Platform – Fast Company

Loop will send you name-brand products, like Tide detergent, Crest mouthwash, or Häagen Dazs ice cream. When you’re done, you ship the empty container back, where it gets cleaned and reused for the next customer. Each package in the system is designed for 100+ uses.

3. Blue Apron Introduces New Retail Line on Jet – Grocery Dive

The new meal kit line, called Blue Apron Knick Knacks, bundles sauces, grains, dairy, spices and step-by-step recipes that customers then pair with their choice of a retailer’s produce or protein.

4. How Jyve Secretly Raised $35M & Built a $400M Retail Gig Economy – TechCrunch

The on-demand labor platform has come out of stealth after 3.5 years. It has 6k workers doing tasks for 4k stores across the country. Funding was led by SignalFire and joined by Crosscut Ventures and Ridge Ventures.

5. Vegan Dairy Alternatives to Be Worth $30B Billion By 2023 – VegNews

Major factors driving the increase in consumption of dairy alternatives include the perceived health benefits of plant-based products, consumers’ preference of plant-based milk alternatives to dairy milk and increasing cases of lactose intolerance.

6. Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Against Munchery – Eater

A courier for the meal delivery startup led the complaint.

7. FoodMaven Raises $10M with Tao Capital and Walton Family for Food Waste Tech – AgFunder

The funding will be used to help the company with a rapid expansion campaign, which involves making continued acquisitions, leading up to a $50m to $70m Series B round in early second quarter of this year.

8. WeWork Opens Combination Cafe, Retail, Coworking Space in NYC – Curbed

Billed as a “town square” for mission-driven projects and small businesses, Made by We, a new retail and coworking concept opens in New York’s Flatiron district. It’s the latest expansion of the extended We universe.

9. Chef’d Returns From the Dead to Invade Retail Stores Across the US – The Spoon

Shuttered meal kit company Chef’d is back from the dead, this time as a clean-label retail kit courtesy of True Food Innovations. The meal kits will roll out under the Chef’d and True Chef monikers in retail outlets in 2019.

10. CEO Hix Steps Down at Albertsons-Owned Meal Kit Company Plated – Crain’s New York Business

The CEO of Plated is stepping down with no reason for departure or plans for where he is going next.

11. Your Kid’s Fruit Juice May Contain High Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals – Fast Company

Out of 45 leading fruit juices, almost half had potentially harmful levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead. Organic juices did not have lower levels than conventional ones.

12. 120,000 Pounds, Recalled: What’s Happening to America’s Chicken Nuggets? – New York Times

Three separate recalls have been issued this month by Tyson Foods and Perdue. The reasons vary, but many nuggets contained rubber or wood.

13. Women, Women of Color & Gender Non-Conforming Innovator Database

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood

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