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PODCAST

The Spoon Podcast

Join host Michael Wolf as he explores the world of food, ag and how innovation is changing what we eat.

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All Episodes

30:03

Where Are Grocery Stores With AI Adoption in 2026?

The Spoon Podcast ·

2026/03/25

Mike is joined by Matthew Schwarz, CEO of Afresh, who discusses the company’s expansion from fresh produce to an all-in-one AI solution for the entire grocery store. Matt explains how the company's AI tech has prevented 200 million pounds of food waste annually and explores the rise of agentic AI, the balance between automation and humans, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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46:04

Why The Future of Food Testing May Be in Your Brainwaves

The Spoon Podcast ·

2026/03/13

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf talks with Mario Ubiali, founder and CEO of neuroscience company THIMUS, about how brainwave data and AI could reshape how food companies develop new products. Ubiali explains how his company uses wearable EEG technology to measure consumers’ neurological responses to food, capturing signals around liking, familiarity, and emotional engagement that traditional surveys often miss. The conversation explores why consumers frequently say one thing

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40:27

From Wallaby Milk to AI: Nora Khaldi on Decoding...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2026/02/12

In this episode, Mike sits down with Dr. Nora Khaldi, founder and CEO of Nuritas, to explore how a postdoctoral epiphany about wallaby milk led her to build one of the first AI-powered molecular discovery platforms in food. They discuss how Nuritas uses AI to uncover, validate, and scale molecules into clinically validated ingredients, why ingredient discovery has historically taken decades, and what she's learned over the past decade building Nuritas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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64:08

How AI is Changing Agriculture

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/12/12

In this episode, Mike is joined by Tim Beissinger (CTO of Heritable) and Charlie Andersen (CEO of Burro) to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping agriculture. The conversation explores everything from AI-driven plant breeding to how autonomous robots are tackling labor shortages, improving yields. Both Tim and Charlie will be at CES in January, so make sure to check the CES Ag Tech conference (produced by The Spoon and MIke!) out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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25:37

Eliot Horowitz Wants to Reinvent Robotics Like He Did...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/11/11

In this episode, Michael talks with Eliot Horowitz, founder of MongoDB and now CEO of Viam, about why the physical world is lagging behind the AI revolution and how Viam is building the foundational platform robotics has been missing. Eliot shares why robotics needs its “AWS moment,” how better tools can shrink development timelines from years to months, and why practical automation, from kitchen assistants to back-of-house restaurant robots, will arrive long before humanoids. Learn more about

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30:14

Building a Social Impact Food Company With Anna Hammond

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/10/29

In this episode, Mike is joined by Anna Hammond, founder of Matriarch Foods, a social-impact food company that turns farm surplus and manufacturing byproducts into shelf-ready ingredients and meals for food banks, disaster relief, and food service. Anna has an interesting career journey, going from museums and art publishing to building a triple-bottom-line food startup tackling food waste at industrial scale. Mike and Anna discuss her career path, the economics of upcycling, and how food waste is

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39:06

The State of All Things AI in 2025 (Part 1)

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/10/19

This episode features a wide-ranging conversation between The Spoon's Michael Wolf and his old friend, long-time veteran tech journalist Derrick Harris, about the state of AI in 2025.Topics discussed include: The evolution from the early cloud and big-data era to today’s generative-AI boom How Nvidia became dominant on the training side How inference is becoming the true infrastructure bottleneck, Why ChatGPT was a consumer inflection point How the AI ecosystem is stratifying

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31:41

Are Food Companies Really Embracing AI?

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/10/06

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike welcomes Shiru CEO Jasmin Hume to the podcast to catch up on where things sit within the AI and food space in the context of Shiru's own evolution over the past couple of years.The highlights include: Talking about how VCs and entrepreneurs talk differently about how AI is being embraced in food Who will own the foundation models for food in the future How Jasmin and Shiru have evolved their company and how they talk with food brands about

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38:32

The Good (and Bad) of AI-Powered Food Tracking Systems

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/08/14

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike talks with Steve Statler, CEO and co-founder of AMB.AI, about the rise of ambient AI and energy-harvesting Bluetooth beacons could transform the supply chain. Steve shares his journey from pioneering Bluetooth beacons at Qualcomm to envisioning a future where everyday items like food, medicine, and clothing are connected and continuously monitored for location, temperature, and even freshness. The conversation explores the potential for reducing food

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46:50

A Conversation With Mark Cuban

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/08/02

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf sits down with Mark Cuban for a wide-ranging conversation recorded live at the SKS 2025. Mark and Mike discuss the transformative power of AI, exploring why Cuban believes it's more disruptive than the internet, mobile, or streaming, and how it's already reshaping education, jobs, and entrepreneurship. Cuban shares his views on the broken U.S. healthcare system, his motivations behind launching Cost Plus Drugs, and how GLP-1s might reshape food and

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48:03

From Reality TV Producer to Recipe AI Entrepreneur...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/07/29

In this episode, Mike catches up with Babette Pepaj, founder of Bakespace and the new AI-powered platform BakeBot. Babette shares her journey from reality TV producer to social media pioneer, launching one of the first food-focused social networks in 2006. She reflects on the rise of food bloggers, the shifting digital landscape, and how she’s using AI to create more responsive, accessible, and personalized cooking tools for home cooks. Babette will be at Smart Kitchen Summit. Head over to

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40:15

From Surfer to Robot Delivery CEO With Coco's Zach Rash

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/07/21

This episode's guest is Zach Rash, the co-founder and CEO of Coco Robotics. Mike talks to Zach about his journey from aspiring professional surfer to becoming of a robot delivery company backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman. Zach shares how he and his co-founder started building robots out of their UCLA dorm room during the pandemic, why they focused on human-piloted delivery over full autonomy, and how Coco has grown into a multi-city operation. Zach will speak at Smart Kitchen Summit. You can get

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48:56

Why It's So Hard to Build Hardware in America

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/07/11

On this episode of The Spoon podcast, catches up with with longtime food tech innovator and friend of The Spoon Scott Heimendinger about the hidden challenges of U.S. manufacturing, the future of kitchen robotics, and why tooling expertise has all but disappeared in America. Scott shares insights from his stealth startup Seattle Ultrasonics and his experience navigating domestic vs. overseas prototyping. The two also explore whether a new wave of robot-ready kitchen appliances is coming, what

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12:23

Live From ReFED 2025: Leanpath's Andrew Shakman on...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/06/27

We were live this week at ReFED's Food Waste Solutions Summit in Seattle. We had an interview stage on the show floor, where we caught up with a number of great folks to hear their thoughts on innovation in food waste and beyond.This conversation is with Andrew Shakman, the CEO of Leanpath. You can read my article about this conversation at The Spoon. You'll also want to check out Eva Goulbourne's conversations with folks from the ReFED conference over on her podcast, Everything But The Carbon

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36:15

Building a Home Cold Brew Coffee System with Mesh Gelman

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/06/05

In this episode we sit down with Mesh Gelman, the founder and CEO of Cumulus Coffee, to talk about reinventing the cold brew experience. A former Starbucks innovation executive, Gelman shares how his journey from coffee burnout to cold brew evangelist led him to build a sleek countertop system that delivers barista-quality nitro cold brew and cold espresso in under 60 seconds, without the need for nitrogen tanks. The two dive into the challenges of building a hardware startup, the evolution of

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35:46

Leaving an Iconic Restaurant & Reimagining a Career...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/06/02

This episode's guest is Brian Canlis, a third-generation co-owner of the famed Canlis restaurant in Seattle. Brian's last day at Canlis was last week as he looks to launch a new adventure with his college roommate Will Guidara, owner of Eleven Madison Park and author of Unreasonable Hospitality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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38:20

The Future of Biotech Discovery With Reshape's...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/05/05

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, host Michael Wolf sits down with Carl-Emil Grøn, CEO and co-founder of Reshape Biotech, a Copenhagen-based company transforming the world of biotech research. While much of the tech industry has embraced automation and AI, Carl-Emil realized that biotech labs were still operating like it was the 1990s. Reshape is changing that by bringing robotics, machine learning, and a vast proprietary dataset to the lab bench—helping major companies like Unilever and Nestlé

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47:27

Blended Capital, Big Impact: Funding the Food System...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/04/30

This episode's guest is Eva Goulbourne, founder of Littlefoot Ventures and one of the most insightful voices at the intersection of food, climate, and finance. Eva’s career has taken her from the halls of the World Economic Forum to the launch of ReFED, where she helped build one of the most influential organizations in food waste reduction. Through her work at Littlefoot, she advises brands, foundations, and startups on how to drive meaningful change across our global food system. She’s also the

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57:27

How to Lead a Cult Brand Into the Future With Big...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/03/05

This week's guest is Dan Gertsacov, CEO of Big Green Egg, who shares his journey of transitioning from leading digital strategies at global giants like Google and McDonald's to steering an iconic, community-driven cooking brand. Dan talks about his approach to taking over a brand that's only had two CEOs before him (and working with the company's founder, Ed Fisher), and how he envisions taking the company into the future (hint: it doesn't include AI-powered grills). If you haven't checked out our

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27:46

Food Scientist Adam Yee on How Podcasting Has Changed...

The Spoon Podcast ·

2025/02/05

In this episode, Mike welcomes Adam Yee to discuss his journey in food tech, his extensive experience as a podcaster, and his evolving role in the industry. The conversation covers Adam’s first-time experience at CES, the origins of his My Food Job Rocks podcast, and how podcasting has shaped his career—from networking opportunities to job offers. Adam shares insights from his time as a food scientist, his role in various startups, and the founding of Sobo Foods, a company focused on innovative

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31 results

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