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A Recipe for Smart Food Services

13 May 2022

 

Apps, smart kitchen appliances, meal kits (e.g., HelloFresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef), food and grocery delivery services (e.g., Just Eat, Amazon Fresh, Instacart), and other food innovations make our lives easier, but their value would be demonstrably higher if they were combined into one smart food solution, personalized to our needs. While such a solution is not yet available, some companies have begun experimenting with holistic ideas and it is worth looking into their efforts.

In our previous blog, we examined how companies have started to move beyond mere technical innovations (smart home 1.0) and frictionless services by developing new business models that fulfill homeowners’ needs (smart home 2.0). Applied to food, today’s 1.0 services mostly focus on convenience (e.g., food delivery). Smart home/food services 2.0, however, will cleverly use artificial intelligence and the accompanying data sources to personalize meals and help us live a healthier life.

A truly smart refrigerator…

Let’s take the smart refrigerator, an old time favorite in smart home discussions, as an example. Several companies already offer smart refrigerators, including Samsung, GE, LG and Haier. At this moment, most of these appliances can identify the items stored within; thereby keeping track of expiry dates.Internal cameras make it possible to review contents via a mobile app while shopping.

Some fridges also have external screens that add items to a shopping list, and can access the weather or calendars of family members. A few even have facial recognition, so they can give family members a “personalized experience”, though that is currently limited to decorating the fridge home screen with personal calendars and favorite apps.

…becomes part of a personalized, data-based nutrition service

Useful as all these smart refrigerator functions may be, they are mostly gimmicks that do not offer a nutrition solution. What, however, if we were to make that smart fridge part of a personalized, data-based nutrition service?

To ensure that the service is truly personalized, it begins with a DNA test – a nutrigenomics test to be precise – that suggests diets based on genetics. Such tests are already available from companies such as 23andme, Nutrigenomix and DNAfit. Thesereports take into account everything from your risk for lactose intolerance, including advice about which foods to eat or avoid, vitamin and nutrients requirements and tips to lose weight.

The smart home will combine this advice with health check data from your physician and real-time information on glucose levels and heart rate to adjust mealtimes to the your body rhythm. Naturally, your home will also consider your daily schedule when planning your meals.

Next, your smart fridge will order the ingredients for your meals, based on the budget you have set and adjust for guests and vacations. The refrigerator tracks food levels and expiry dates to minimize waste and takes into account preferences for (locally grown) sustainable products from companies such as Vital Farms (ethically produced agricultural products such as pasture-raised eggs, butter and ghee) and Cal-Maine Foods (sustainable fresh eggs and egg products). These sustainable products are delivered by the local supermarket or, perhaps, even local farmers. The delivery service could even have special access to your home via a smart lock and key.

Screens on the refrigerator will help you when you are preparing your meals by running timers, providing cooking assistance (e.g., how to cut and peel a mango) or even streaming a cooking program so you can cook with the assistance of a chef. Indeed, cooking content (e.g., Food Network) might become a unique selling point of your fridge. Since the fridge keeps track of expiry dates on products, it will suggest recipes using the ingredients that expire first.

By using the feedback from your wearable devices (e.g., Apple Watch, Google Fitbit) (heart rate, glucose levels) and from your comments on recipes, your home will continuously update your nutritional profile. Adding other health and fitness services (e.g., your fitness app, sleep monitor service) will further enrich that profile.

Farfetched?

The scenario described above sounds farfetched. Indeed, it will probably take many years before it becomes possible. Through experimentation and trial and error, companies will figure out new ways in which our homes can help us to live healthier lives. This blog shows that some of the ingredients already exist; we only have to figure out the best recipe to bring them all together.

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