DECEMBER 2019 RETAILOBSERVER.COM
35
An Industry Working Together to Solve Hard
Problems in Food Tech and the Future Kitchen
SKS 2019
A
t the first SKS in 2015, a group of like-
minded folks in the food tech and connected
kitchen worlds got together in an old cannery
for a day because they knew that change was afoot,
and they'd only just begin to think about doing
something about it.
Sure, it was noisy, crowded, and we only had an
old couch on the stage. I still feel bad about making
three adults sit there. But the connections formed
on that day have flourished ever since.
Fast forward to SKS 2019, and it's clear that
we've come a long way as an event and an industry.
Now we're not only in a beautiful waterfront venue
with lots more space for our breakout talks, startup
and sponsor displays and dedicated meeting
spaces, but the conversation has moved on from
the theoretical to practical solutions for getting
things done.
Here are some big takeaways from the staff of
The Spoon during our two days in Seattle. Here,
Chris Albrecht, Jenn Marston, Catherine Lamb and
Michael Wolf describe what they took away from
SKS 2019.
CHRIS : Robots are ready to grapple with bigger
issues.
When it comes to food robotics and automation,
the questions are evolving from straight technical
ones like "Can a robot do X?" to deeper existential
ones like "Great, but what does that mean for the
people using and working with them?"
During our panel discussion, Chas Studor,
Co-Founder and CTO of Briggo, described how,
before installing its automated Coffee Haus at SFO,
the airport required changes to make the kiosk
accessible to the visually impaired. Briggo's solution
was to attach something akin to a Bat Phone on the
side of the machine. Visually impaired customers
can pick up the phone and speak directly with a
Briggo rep who'll place their order.