February 14, 2019

Israel food tech startup Tastewise has announced the launch of its AI-powered intelligence platform designed to predict rapidly changing food trends and consumer tastes.

The company’s platform leverages machine learning to determine future culinary trends by analyzing billions of consumer food and beverage touchpoints through the consideration of more than 1 billion online shared food photos every month, 153,000 U.S. restaurant menus, and more than 1 million online recipes. Through the application of AI, Tastewise is able to work with restaurants, hospitality groups, and food brands to isolate market opportunities, identify consumer likes and dislikes, and to earmark new ingredients to be better able to quickly respond to changing trends.

Founded by former Google exec Alon Chen, and Eyal Gaon, Tastewise is able to “capture food innovation in real time”, and to give industry professionals a jump-off in being able to select what dishes or products would be best received.

“Today, many of us are adventurous eaters, constantly searching for new food experiences, while prioritizing our health,” says Chen. “In this new environment, all CPGs and restaurants whatever their size have to become as dynamic as food trucks and pop-ups. Tastewise provides the freshest analytics to help them stay at the forefront.”

Historically, restaurants would change their menu every few years, and new food product launches would be tied to focus groups and questionnaires that would lack “food insight at speed”, creating a lag for packaged good companies.

Today, the internet and social media have created an accelerated globalization and heightened consciousness in regard to how consumers relate to their food choices, and the food choices linked to those views.

“Trends and consumer insights need to be a lot more dynamic in the food industry because otherwise there is going to a be lot of missed opportunities,” Chen told Food Dive. “If it will take you six months to run a survey and then, based on the survey, analyze it and then get insights, and only then go for production or change your menu, then all of this planning, you are building for a trend that already happened six months ago.”

Connected with the launch of its technology platform, Tastewise has also released a free Consumer Food Trends Report including a map that indicates where the top health food opportunities are for both brick and mortar and virtual restaurants in each U.S. state.

The report reveals key insights, including unmet demand for healthy food in the U.S. valued at $9.18 billion. Diving deeper:

• There is a 246 percent gap in demand for vegan food in Boston, translating to $41.9 million.  
• In Denver, there is a 325 percent gap in unmet demand for fitness-related foods, valued at $33.5 million.
• Shoppers in Philadelphia want more organic food options, where there is a 387 percent gap in unmet supply translating to $53 million.
• In San Antonio, there is a 767 percent gap in unmet demand for handcrafted foods, translating to $362 million.
• And ingredients such as musubi, Zhoug, bone marrow, ube, and truffles, are moving into the mainstream.

“Diving far deeper than simply understanding consumer preferences, their insights help us select target audiences, catch micro-trends as they sweep from neighborhood to state level and design menus to suit our guests’ tastes, even pinpointing exactly what it takes to concoct a sensational cocktail,” said Guy Heksch, global vice president of Marriott International-owned Pure Grey Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group.

“Tastewise brings science to the art of creating innovative food experiences and propels us to act faster than ever before. Their technology is a complete game changer for us, and I suspect it will be for the hospitality industry as a whole.”

-Lynda Kiernan