Experts Discuss How Specialty Brands Can Innovate With AI
“The rules are changing faster than at anytime in our lifetime,” said Michael Wolf of The Spoon, during “FoodGPT: How Specialty Food Makers Can Leverage AI for Business Growth,” at the Summer Fancy Food Show, Sunday.
He related that while Netflix took 10 years to reach 100 million users and Facebook took 5 years, Chat GPT, the artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI, took just two months to reach the milestone.
Kraft Heinz is leveraging AI by teaming up with NotCo, a Latin American startup that created their own AI, called Guiseppe, that can match the taste, texture, and smell of animal-based products and replicate it using only plant-based ingredients, explained Wolf.
Dominos leverages AI to make pizza ordering easier on its website and Taco Bell uses a voice powered by AI in its drive-through.
He suggests that specialty brands looking to get into the space, do the following.
- Become AI fluent by subscribing to newsletters and learning the basics.
- Make someone in your company your Chief AI Officer or become one yourself
- Integrate these tools into your personal life.
- Use tools that are ready today for your business.
- Partner with others when you see a bigger strategic need.
- Understand the rules of changing and act accordingly.
Wolf was joined on stage by Ian Leaman of Pantry AI, Kate Sullivan of Uncracked, and Dylan Nugent of Prose Foods.
When asked what specialty brands should look for when choosing the AI platform that’s right for them, Sullivan suggested considering data quality.
“A lot of the models and platforms rely on data for input,” she said. “It all comes down to the quality of the data, so if possible, do due diligence on the tool and not only what kind of information they’re collecting but what is there vision and mission and does it tie into your business model.”
Brands should also consider what type of business problem they’re hoping to solve, she said, and ask questions such as "do you have detailed case studies to share? What are key performance metrics that you look for?"
Leaman suggested demoing an AI platforms and Nugent advised brands to determine what a tool is and isn’t good at, during their analysis.