The Great Foodtech Revolution with HNGRY Founder Matt Newberg

The future of food involves tech and efficiency. Host, founder, and producer of HNGRY, Matt Newberg, examines the impact of technology on our relationship with food. We sat down with Matt to chat about the future of food, the intrigue of cloud retail, and the opportunities present with quick commerce.
November 1, 2021
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PUrple background with the Tydo and HNGRY logos with white text that says "The Future of Foodtech"

The Great Foodtech Revolution with HNGRY Founder Matt Newberg

After closely tracking the rise of ghost kitchens, Matt Newberg began studying global shifts in consumer behavior surrounding food. He’s now the founder of HNGRY, a new media company analyzing the impact of technology on our evolving relationship with food. 

We sat down with Matt to dive deep on the future of food, opportunities in quick commerce, the role of performance analytics in modern retail, and the next generation of virtual storefronts. 

Macro Shifts in the Future of Food 

In Matt’s own words, we’re in the midst of a global food tech revolution. 

From cloud kitchens and online grocery to last-mile delivery, a seemingly endless array of new companies are being born at the interaction of food consumption and technological advances.

Diving deeper on macro shifts, dedicated spaces within retail stores and detached third-party facilities have spread to service major metro areas and supply the rising demand for groceries. 

In tandem, quick commerce platforms with GoPuff and the Ultra Fast Guys have exploded in popularity. On the product side of things, Matt points out the continual innovation in market niches like fungi-based proteins and brands in the coffee space like Cometeer and Blank St.

“The distribution of food and how it gets sold in a more convenient way is evolving. The technology behind CPG brands is shifting, but most of the value drivers lie at the intersection of physical distribution and retail.”

The Rapid Ascent of Quick Commerce

There’s a lot happening in the quick commerce space, but what’s most interesting to Matt is how brands are leveraging cloud retail solutions (another kind of micro-fulfillment option) and cloud kitchens to test new products and markets for prepared food. It’s also an opportunity to unlock new audiences. 

These platforms are essentially incremental sales channels, helping brands find new markets and consumers. Over time, brands can drive consumers toward their own direct ordering, but more often than not, it doesn’t make sense for a subscription versus a one-off purchase. 

According to Matt’s research at HNGRY, the brands that will thrive within these quick commerce channels are the ones who play toward convenience while also allowing for some degree of customization and prep on behalf of the consumer (e.g. Immi ramen). In turn, these products enable customers to customize their meals without making them from scratch in the kitchen.

“If you’re scaling a DTC food or beverage brand right now, you need to start thinking about how you can play in the next evolution of retail channels.” 

Layering on Performance Analytics

From Matt’s vantage point, tracking metrics should be the same as doing so on Instagram or on any other channel. It’s all about looking at the CAC and whatever margins a brand gives up to a wholesaler. At the end of the day, performance data still needs to be tracked and analyzed so brands can gauge the effectiveness of new channels and compare relative acquisition success.

In terms of metrics, brands should expect to see higher volumes with lower margins in retail, higher margins in DTC, and somewhere in between when selling through channels like Instacart.

“You’re either selling wholesale, online, or via digital marketplaces like Instacart or GoPuff. Critically, all of these metrics need to be aligned.” 

The Next Generation: Virtual Storefronts

As it relates to digital storefronts, basket sizes need to be quite large, according to Matt.

Or, in his words, you need to sell products that are of higher value and less time-sensitive for delivery. For example, frozen meat is the perfect fit for a virtual storefront since it’s a specialty product. Along the same vein, ButcherBox is unbundling the butcher or seafood counter of a grocery store by allowing users to shop from a virtual storefront on the Instacart platform for their monthly stock up. 

For the new sauce and spice brands that have continued to pop up, next-gen bodegas make a lot of sense since they can deliver in fifteen to thirty minutes in most major cities. According to Matt, more and more products will get pushed to the last mile and housed alongside each other, which will force DTC brands to collectively shift towards wholesalers and quickly enter retail.

“Brands are just realizing they need more and better touchpoints with their customers to build deep relationships. That’s where the future is heading.”


Checkout our roundup to learn:
  • What to pledge
  • How to improve
  • Which tools will set you up for success

Dale Wilson

Partnerships Manager,
adQuadrant
Resolution

I think the most important thing brands can do in 2023 is to better manage their customer data—both ethically and effectively. There’s an opportunity for brands to know their customers better than ever before—a clear benefit for both the customer and the brand. When you manage your data correctly, you’ll create stronger and more personalized ads, creative, site experiences, and so much more.

Tip

This is a classic: Let the data guide you. Go where the buyers for your products are and communicate with them on a personal level (i.e. by persona and funnel position) and nurture those relationships (past, present, and future customers). It’s possible—all through data.

Tool

It's an honest tie between Gorgias and Klaviyo. Both tools have amazing plans for 2023 and beyond, and I'm looking forward to seeing the impact both have on their clients this year.

Shawn Khemsurov

Co-founder,
Electric Eye
Resolution

We recommend that Shopify brands analyze and update their websites using data-driven decisions. Using analytics tools such as heatmaps and scrollmaps can help brands better understand how customers are interacting with their store.

Tip

Store owners tend to make assumptions about the way customers interact with their website. Most never go back and analyze their design choices to find pain points or areas of opportunity. By using heatmaps and scrollmaps, they can see where real customers are clicking and concentrating their attention. Leveraging this data, brands can start to iterate on design and make their online store experience streamlined and intuitive.

Tool

Hotjar provides a simple way to implement heatmaps, scrollmaps, and recorded user sessions on your site, helping you acquire incredibly informative user data. Additionally, it gives you the ability to create on-site surveys, which allows you to obtain direct and often critical feedback from users about their experience.

Katelyn Glass

Founder and CEO,
Fifty Six
Resolution

Test various attribution models and analyze the impact on your business. At Fifty Six, we are always here to help our clients identify and optimize their approach—a critical step in any successful marketing strategy.

Tip

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times–Customer Lifetime Value. And even more importantly, Future Lifetime Value (FLTV). With the ever-growing importance of first-party data, it is crucial that brands take a good look at their CRM and FLTV metrics.

Tool

OrderlyEmails is our go-to tool for transactional emails. It helps us level up our brands’ email aesthetics with customizable, quick-to-implement Shopify templates.

Lately, I’ve been really interested in Smile.io’s loyalty platform. Their UX is fantastic for teams with low bandwidth!

Tom Rees

Founder,
WIRO
Resolution

Stop allocating budgets to low-hanging fruit that doesn’t move the needle on conversion. Think about what’s really going to improve your CX and the return of undertaking different initiatives—not just on what’s top on your list of bugbears on the site!

Tip

One of the best ways to understand your customer behavior is by using HotJar. Their heat-mapping and screen recording tools shine a light on where customers are navigating to and from on your site, where they're rage clicking and experiencing frustration, and where conversion is dropping off within real life customer journeys and flows!

Understanding your customers’ pain points via data and analytics , will allow you to work with your CRO/CX Agency to solve customer frustrations and improve conversion.

Tool

Rewind backs up all product, customer, and order data for Shopify sites—essential since Shopify itself doesn’t provide this solution. It's saved so many of our clients time and money from administrative accidents.

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Jimmy Aristizabal

Partnership Manager,
TalentPop
Resolution

33% of customer service inquiries are pre-sale questions. What does this mean? If you’re not investing in customer service, you’re missing out on revenue-generating opportunities.

Tip

The benefits of elevating your customer experience:

  • 10% to 25% increase in AOV for customers who engage with live chat pre-purchase
  • 21x higher conversion rate for customers who reach out via Live Chat or SMS compared to other site visitors
  • 87% of customers who have a great customer experience will make another purchase
  • 72% of customers share positive experiences with 6 or more individuals
Tool

Gorgias is our favorite Helpdesk platform. They can reduce costs by 35%, primarily by decreasing the average ticket handle time. Their machine learning algorithms are trained on millions of ecommerce-related interactions across Gorgias’ customer base and provide accurate, automated replies for the most common ecommerce inquiries. This helps our agents resolve tickets faster, which provides the customer a seamless experience.

Jessica Grossman

Founder and CEO,
In Social
Resolution

Trust your agency! Agencies do the same things across multiple brands and niches, so we see the trends and have the practice and experience!

Tip

Don't be afraid of data and insights. If customers aren't clicking on your emails, try a new CTA. If your ads are driving good metrics at a small spend, start scaling. If your customers are complaining about a product, look into QA! If the data tells you something isn't working, let it go and try something else!

Tool

I'm supposed to say Tydo, right? 😉

Rikin Diwan

Chief Growth Officer,
soona
Resolution

Double down on differentiation. There will be a lot of headwinds this year and standing out from the crowd will set you apart.

Tip

A picture is worth 1,000 words. A video? Probably millions. In ecommerce that value translates into engagement, acquisition, and retention—everything you need to impact your bottom line.

At soona, we've seen the we've seen the impact of creative and the continuous split testing of it yield results. Our resolution is to challenge ourselves and double down on innovation and creative optionality so that each brand we work with can distinguish themselves in a crowded sea of D2C ecomm. We'd love to see our brands share this resolution and keep pushing the creative limits.

Tool

Klaviyo. We're using it to power our email and newsletter at soona too!

Shayna Silvers

Director of Marketing Strategy,
Absolute Web
Resolution

Optimize your returns strategy! This can lead to valuable customer insights, enhanced user experiences, and increased revenue and customer loyalty.

Tip

Brands need to dive deeper into understanding their customers to set themselves up for success. Conduct research to gain insights into customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. By doing so, you can develop targeted strategies that will enhance customer experience and boost overall retention.

Tool

Right now I would say Gorgias. Having a good customer service tool is crucial to building strong customer relationships.

Wes Buckwalter

Resolution

Start paying heavy attention to data, specifically around retention. We see a lot of effort put towards acquisition with the assumption that once someone buys, they are your customer forever. Instead, get to know your customer, understand their needs, and analyze their behaviors once they are on-site and judge their sentiment after they have visited. Work with a retention focused and data-driven agency to implement tools that contribute to repeat business and customer delight. It will pay dividends.

Tip

When surveyed, about 80% of ecommerce merchants think that they are delivering a great experience to their customers. However, when the same customers are surveyed, only 8% of those customers think that they are getting a great experience from the merchant. Now, more than ever, retaining loyal customers is an essential part of any online business and you should spend time with your customers to judge their experience with your website and products and offer improvements based on that feedback.

Tool

Tydo's report cards are an essential tool, along with Klaviyo for email and SMS, Recharge for subscriptions and memberships, Okendo for reviews and surveys, Rebuy for AI driven collections and upsells, Loop for self service returns... each tool is great on their own, but their strength as the ultimate tool comes from when they are used together!

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Report Cards

Free

Report Cards is a customized glimpse into your business, delivered to your inbox for free.

Report Cards consolidates all your key metrics across platforms for an at-a-glance pulse of your business.

Discover metrics for every team member so they can stay updated with the right data on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

It's free because we believe everyone should have access to the basics.

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Portfolio

Portfolio is a hub for analytics across multiple Shopify stores. The perfect tool for agencies.

See an aggregate view of all your data for all your stores in one place.

Make real time assessments on marketing initiatives across every storefront you manage.

Analyze the performance of one store versus another in seconds.

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