My guest today is Kevin Brown CEO and the co-founder of Innit. Now, Kevin has more than 20 years experience in food tech, search security and cloud sectors, and wants to announce a new partnership that they have. That's really going to change the way we think about grocery shopping. There's no question that during the pandemic we've had a lot of retailers invest in a lot of technology. And to be honest with you, the reality is that some of the retailers have thrown away a lot of money because they just haven't really looked at what that customer experience is all about.
My guest today is Kevin Brown CEO and the co-founder of Innit. Now, Kevin has more than 20 years experience in food tech, search security and cloud sectors, and wants to announce a new partnership that they have. That's really going to change the way we think about grocery shopping. There's no question that during the pandemic we've had a lot of retailers invest in a lot of technology. And to be honest with you, the reality is that some of the retailers have thrown away a lot of money because they just haven't really looked at what that customer experience is all about.
Welcome to Lost in the Supermarket. My guest today is Kevin Brown CEO and the co-founder of in it. Now, Kevin has more than 20 years experience in food tech, search security and cloud sectors, and wants to announce a new partnership that they have. That's really going to change the way we think about grocery shopping. There's no question that during the pandemic we've had a lot of retailers invest in a lot of technology. And to be honest with you, the reality is that some of the retailers have thrown away a lot of money because they just haven't really looked at what that customer experience is all about. So Kevin, welcome to Lost in the Supermarket.
Kevin:Well, it's great to be here. Thank you.
Phil:Tell me about this announcement between you and Google.
Kevin:Well, we're really excited. We've worked with a couple of different groups at Google over the past years, but this new partnership with Google cloud is really strategic for us. Uh, and I think a good indication of where the market needs to go pretty quickly. So, uh, we are, uh, teaming up with the Google cloud team. Uh, they bring the entire cloud stack. They bring all of the technologies inside Google. So think of everything from search and voice, uh, to AI and recommendations all of the incredible technologies inside Google. And we're a strategic partner for them really focusing in on how do you connect that to grocery retail? So, uh, we've got technologies that are very complimentary and that we've been integrating around personalized nutrition, shoppable recipes, meal planning, guided, cooking, even, uh, integration into the smart kitchen. So, uh, that, that that's really where the pieces come together.
Phil:So from a retailer standpoint, you know, you go to them and you say, Hey, we can do all the things that you just mentioned. What are you hearing back from the retailers? Are they embracing it or are they scared of it or are they looking at and saying, you know, this is just something we don't have time to put on our plate.
Kevin:So a year ago it was sort of the first movers and the earlier thinkers. And it was the big guys, right? Yeah. You had the Walmarts and Amazons and Instacarts that had a big R and D investment. And they were starting to set the agenda with the pandemic. Uh, a lot of the strategic equation has changed for grocers because they realized they need to have a direct line to their customers and they need to be able to meet those customers whenever and wherever they want to shop and interact. And so that omni-channel digital experiences now, uh, gotten a lot higher priority. And so we're seeing is a lot of, uh, companies that were thinking about it are moving to action. Uh, and so that's perfect timing for us to be showing up together with Google so that we can bring all of the needed technologies and deliberate in a platform approach. So instead of onesy twosy, uh, features here and there, this is really taking a strategic look at what are all of the engines and the intelligence underneath that are gonna enable you to, to, to bring out a whole roadmap of, of, of capabilities.
Phil:So we've been hearing a lot about personalization in the industry. Everybody wants it. Um, you've got the intelligence to do it, but explain to us what a retailer, um, can do when it comes to shopper personally.
Kevin:Yeah, this, this is a really great question. So, uh, for, for the last years, we've really gone deep on this topic. So we acquired a company that was the leader in personalized nutrition, uh, called Shotwell and integrated that technology. So today, uh, you know, uh, we, uh, started rolling out in Europe, we're doing personalized nutrition for some of the biggest players like Carrefour in our Marsha. Uh, so every product in the store now has personalized nutrition information. You know, that could be a score. It could be an allergy alerts, could be many different, uh, types of things. So in order to personalize food personalization, you know, varies, you know, if you're buying a sweater or you're buying consumer electronics, it might need something different when it comes to food. Uh, there are a number of complications that people are struggling with. It's their diets, it's their allergies. Uh, they're trying to eat more of this. They're trying to eat less of that. They have taste preferences. Uh, all of that, uh, you know, requires some real scientific depth. You don't want to fake it when you're dealing with someone maybe who has a medical condition, maybe you know, that their, you know, their doctor put them on a diet. They're trying to really make a difference in their health. And so, uh, what we've done is, uh, we, uh, acquired this company a couple of years ago and we've then gone deeper with a whole scientific panel. Uh, we've got, uh, you know, all of that science coming into the nutrition algorithms. So for millions of products, we can essentially calculate a personalized score for you, uh, for this product. And so, as you think of the future experiences for a grocery store, uh, how do you automate the shopping instead of having to search for 47 different products and, uh, one at a time in the search box and put them in your cart, uh, you know, you want to be able to do things like, you know, a shoppable recipe where you click once and all 12 ingredients are then selected, but if you're going to select the right product, uh, you need to understand things like what are, what is my favorite brand of yogurt, or, you know, or, uh, does this fit with my keto diet or does this have any, uh, soy in it because there's an allergy situation and we don't want to automatically choose groceries that might conflict with someone's health or diet. So this is pretty serious stuff in terms of the depth of that. We're also working with healthcare organizations, uh, to, you know, to really bring some of that dietary nutrition and cooking help. Uh, and, uh, for the grocery stores, I took great opportunity to expand the relationship with their consumer. It's not just a shelf full of products. It's really that guidance and inspiration and helping them get the right ones for them.
Phil:I would assume that it also helps the retailer, uh, project, what their, what products they're gonna need on the shelf, what they might be missing on the shelf. Once you get that consumer data,
Kevin:Uh, you know, think of all of the metadata, you know, we've got food ontologies, like all of the structure, uh, that can then start to inform every decision that you're making about, you know, your assortment, uh, around, uh, which kinds of promotions, and then be able to micro target them. So this the same thing happened in, you know, like, you know, advertising, everyone used to see the same billboard or see the same, you know, sort of television commercial, whether or not they needed the product now, you know, advertising on the internet, it's very targeted and it's based on a lot of different factors and it's, it's all about the data and how do you use that? And so the same is going to be true for food. You know, there's 30,000 products in the store. Uh, how do we build the store around me? How do we, you know, bring the, the, the meal ideas and inspiration and new products, uh, you know, discovery, all of those can now be keyed around me and my needs and my family. And, uh, you know, you can help me cut through that clutter of the 30,000 products, uh, and, and find the right things, you know, with, you know, with, you know, really a seamless experience. Uh, that's, that's the kind of grocery store that people will buy more of their food from. And in fact, uh, it can even start to eat into the, the restaurant portion of their budget because, you know, we can make it much easier to cook it since once the groceries arrive, we have step-by-step videos that help them turn it into dinner.
Phil:So you talked about data, collecting the data on the products. How do you do that in an era where, especially since the pandemic, a lot of companies are reformulating to have ingredients that offer better immunity or healthier ingredients. We really see those 30,000 products changing consistently. How do you keep that updated?
Kevin:Well, th this has been one of the things that we've done, we've offered, you know, services, uh, you know, for, for years around this. And so we work with some of the grocery industry, data providers, uh, you know, and we can also work with, uh, you know, any data that, you know, let's say a retailer has, uh, you know, we have partnerships in some cases with brands. So we have multiple sources that we can aggregate. And sometimes, you know, uh, you know, two or three fields are our most reliable from source a and then the other ones you want to get from sort of speak. So, uh, you know, that that's sort of the plumbing that, that we have to worry about. Uh, but we work closely with all of the, the, you know, kind of the official grocery industry sources to make sure we have good data.
Phil:You, you also mentioned, um, the internet of the future as it relates to kitchens. How do you see integration happening in my home?
Kevin:Yeah, this is, this is a really exciting opportunity to essentially connect the store and the home. Uh, so if, if I think about, uh, the technologies we're already doing today, so one of the technologies that we've done with Google is their smart displays. So it's a voice command. Uh, you can essentially, uh, you know, sorta tell it a search for, for dinner, we'll pull up recipes, uh, we'll, you know, have step-by-step instructions that are playing on your countertop as you're chopping away. And, you know, if you've never chopped an eggplant, but you want to try a new dish now, you know, it's sort of a superpower, you know, we gave it to my 18 year old daughter who hadn't really cooked and she made us dinner three nights in a row. So we can really help people with very pragmatic on from the kitchen counter help. Uh, and then we've also done a lot of work to extend that into the appliances themselves. So we've worked with a number of the big appliance companies, so that you can say start the oven and we'll send a, you know, eight step, you know, recipe with cooking instructions that automatically runs the oven for you. So, you know, as you now have wifi and technology being added into the kitchen appliances, you're going to have a future, and it's going to be, you know, it's going to take a few years to roll those in and replace. Someone's old evidence, et cetera, but what's going to happen. Think of, you know, like Nespresso. So you've got the pod, you've got the Nespresso machine, you know, my co-founder ran the espresso. He was CEO of Nestle and various parts of the world. You know, uh, there's a connection between the food and the appliance, and it's a beautiful virtuous circle. And so what we can do is if you can now start to get Neal solutions from your grocery retailer, uh, they deliver them to you. They're helping you prepare them on the kitchen counter, and then finally it automatically cooks itself in your oven. Uh, you, you can get some pretty incredible results. So, you know, the, the president of the French culinary academy is on our team. Uh, he stood in our kitchen lab and cooked a thousand chickens with us to, uh, so every homeless shelter in the neighborhoods eating great, you know, Michelin star chicken, but we, we want to perfect. How can we automate that cooking process and, and bury it according to, you know, Hey, this is a 4.1 pound free range chicken, and this is a, you know, general electric appliances, you know, model, you know, X, Y, and Z, and putting all that together. So we've done some of the work there too. So we think that there's a roadmap of innovation that will matter over the next five to eight years, that's going to change the way people grocery shop and the way that they prepare food at home. And so what we're really excited about is together with Google, being able to come in and, and really partner really team closely with the retailers, uh, to listen to what's important for your market, what are your objectives? And then we have the whole toolbox of technologies. And since then it has been working in the industry alongside many of, uh, the players. Uh, we, we speak the language. We understand how to then turn that into experiences that make sense, uh, that, that can align with their strategy.
Phil:So it looks like my kitchen is finally going to catch up to a Rosie, the robot in the Jetsons, and I, and I'm not going to have to do much except eat, uh, eat the food. Um,
Kevin:I'm doing it three or four nights a week. That works great.
Phil:Um, so let me, let me ask you, um, you mentioned the future. What is the future look like in five years for grocery shopping?
Kevin:So, uh, let's start with this year and then extended out a little bit. So this year we can start to bring, uh, much more automation, um, uh, experiences like shoppable recipes, uh, personalized meal planning, uh, that all can, uh, essentially, uh, you know, increase engagement with the consumer can give them a way to cut the shopping time from 35 or 40 minutes down to 10 minutes. So we can, we can make some immediate jumps forward in terms of how people put together their plan for meals this week. Uh, and then, you know, as we start getting into the next phases, people can start to put in some of their dietary preferences, some of their allergies, you know, uh, I'm trying to eat more of this, or I'm trying to, you know, everything from healthy pregnancy to, you know, heart healthy, you know, many different objectives. You'll start to see those be embedded into the shopping experience. So when, you know, you, you search on something, you pull up, you know, yogurts, there's some yogurts that might be rated a, you know, an 86 for you. And there's some that might be a 34, uh, because, you know, they have got too much added sugar or you have an allergy or something. And so you're going to start to see every product that's on the shelf, be personalized in terms of what's recommended and even what order it's sorted when you search for something. So again, that the store will start building itself around the preferences. And then as we can start to connect to the home, uh, within five years, you're going to have a much larger installed base of connected devices there. Uh, and so, you know, we'll really have an opportunity to sell someone, you know, uh, you know, an inspired them at the very beginning of the process and then walk them through all the steps of it, including automatically cooking it. So, uh, we think that that's going to be pretty exciting, uh, and, uh, we've had great returns, uh, you know, for the early units that are starting to roll out. So, uh, you know, we're very bullish on, uh, people cooking at home. It's, you know, it's much more economical, it's much healthier. Uh, and, uh, we're really excited to see the retailers leaning forward. Uh, part of it's because of competition. You've got the big guys that are setting the bar high, uh, but, uh, also there's a realization that there's new behaviors, there's new needs, there's new motivations for people. And if you can really sort of personalize that experience and make it really sticky and meaningful, uh, that that's just a great business. That's a great way to hold on to those customers, increased share of wallet, upsell, increased basket size, all of those.
Phil:So, Kevin, I think it's time that I upgraded my kitchen, uh, with all the technology that that you've talked about. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on Washington, the supermarket it's exciting. Um, and it's great for consumers and for retailers. So congratulations.
Kevin:Well, thank you. It was really great to be here. I really appreciate it.