Trend Summit Speaker Key Takeouts - Brian Spears & Peter Schroder

The fourth article in our series of blogs wrapping up the key takeouts from the various speakers at the 2021 Trend Summit, this time covering Food & Delivery Tech with Brian Spears, New Age Meats, and Dr Peter Schroder, Karakuri.

All of the talks and keynotes are from our 8th Annual Food & Beverage Trend Summit, connecting thousands of industry influencers from across the globe with a host of insightful guest speakers and keynotes to inspire and 'make sense' of the future food and beverage trends horizon for 2022/23.

Here are the key takeouts from the two discussions.

Brian Spears - New Age Meats

Founder of New Age Meats, Brian Spears sheds light on the concept of producing meat from cell culturing and harvesting, combining animal cells with plants to produce meat that still delivers on the sensory experience of eating meat - through flavour, taste and smell - but without the animal agriculture that is damaging to our planet.

This sensory experience is important to meat eaters and is a key factor in what Brian and his company focuses on. He also discusses the increasing number of 'guilty meat eaters', those who love to eat meat but not the way it's made. It's clear that companies like New Age Meats have a significant role to play in solving issues in the current food system where more sustainability is needed. And it's great to see this concept, which until recently has seemed futuristic, coming to life.

Dr Peter Schroder - Karakuri

Robotics and automation in food and drink is nothing new, but Peter Schroder, CTO of Karakuri, shows us exactly what they're doing to help provide kitchen robotics that perform the roles that people don't want to do.

And this isn't something for the future, it's already in use today, with Karakuri's trial in Ocado's canteen for example, where their robot Semblr assembles custom rice bowls depending on the requirements and wishes of the consumer who orders through an app. This customisation and also transparency to see what exactly is in the meals we order, and the ability to tailor things such as calorie content, is being warmly welcomed by consumers. The robots are coming, but in a good way and one that will benefit the way we enjoy food and drink in the near future.