I’m not sure if it’s because the winters are unbearably cold or the clichés are terribly old (save the deep dish pizza runs for when the out-of-towners visit), but Chicago’s food scene has really been heating up. No, I’m not talking about the newest hot spots; though I do love me some Green Street Smoked Meats, a Parson’s chicken sandwich or a whole fish at Fulton Market Kitchen. No, I’m talking about Food-Tech.
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I’ll admit I’m a bit bias, having helped build the foundation for Every Last Morsel last summer at Coolhouse Labs I met more people in the Chicago food ecosystem than I ever thought possible. However, there’s something really awesome going on in Chicago that I think is worth mentioning: the lines between food and tech are blurring. An industry traditionally slow to change is welcoming new technologies and embracing the efficiencies that come along with it. Success stories? You betcha.
GrubHub Seamless
I might as well start with Chicago’s favorite hangover app. Don’t lie, it’s a go-to on your most lazy of days, and it’s pure genius. They paved the way for Food-Tech and proved that a simple idea paired with hungry Chicagoans can make millions.
Food Genius
On the geekier side, there’s a company analyzing big data for the food industry. With data gathered from over 100,000 unique menus, 330,000 operator locations and 22 million menu items, the insights they’re finding are changing the game. Again, pure genius (as the name implies).
Fooda
Working lunches used to be boring. The place around the corner again? Not anymore. Fooda brings delicious and diverse restaurants to the workplace, boosting restaurant sales and employee morale in one fell swoop.
Aside from the few dozen Food-Tech companies listed on Built In, I’ve stumbled upon a handful of other ones over the past few months that are equally as promising. Meal Sharing provides a platform for you to eat home-cooked meals in over 425 cities, or to host a meal and meet some new friends. TableSAVVY let’s you make last-minute reservations at some of Chicago’s most exclusive restaurants. Crowdsourced courier companies like Postmates and WeDeliver are being used to pick up restaurant orders and cross off grocery lists. The use for technology in the food space has endless possibilities, and Chicago has been a breeding ground for great food ideas.
Sure, New York City may be giving us a run for our money with Food +Tech Connect, but our own Food Tech meetup boasts nearly 150 members and is steadily growing. We’ve also got culinary innovators such as Homaro Cantu and Grant Achatz blurring the lines between food, science and tech, which is a whole other story. There must be something in the air in the Windy City because when it comes to anything food we’re innovating left and right. As a self proclaimed foodie, I’m excited to see the space continue to grow.
If you’re interested in keeping the Food-Tech discussion going, join me on August 23rd for a Meal Sharing event that’s putting Chicago in the spotlight: Rooftop Cinema Night. There’s no fancy plated dishes or single topics for discussion. It’s just a forum for people to hang out and talk all things Chicago and food.Want to talk restaurants? Sustainability? Distribution? Farming? Cooking? We can chat about them all. Let’s make new connections and keep growing the Chicago Food-Tech scene while it’s hot.
