AI, Consumer Insights among topics discussed by industry leaders and pioneers.
The 2024 Smart Kitchen Summit (SKS) was held on June 4th and 5th in Seattle, bringing together industry leaders, culinary innovators, and technology enthusiasts. The event showcased the latest advancements in food and cooking technology, providing a platform for exploring new ideas, sharing innovations, and networking in the food tech space.
This year’s event was focused on reviewing the lessons learned from the first wave of smart kitchen technology and solutions, assessing the current state of innovation, and looking ahead to the future of the smart kitchen. According to the Founder of The Spoon and SKS, Michael Wolf, it was critical to “understand how we can meet consumers where they are in the kitchen and understand their needs” and build products that solve their cooking challenges and enhance their lives. To support this narrative, Fresco’s goal this year was to demonstrate how it has made this vision a reality by delivering valuable connected experiences to consumers.
AI was at the heart of many discussions, panels, and showcases, with an emphasis on the need for more verification, especially in recipes, ease of use, and strong connectivity with cooking apps. Fresco took center stage, highlighting both the platform and partners and participating in two of the many insightful talks at the event.
Some Highlights
Regan Burns, Head of Content at Fresco, joined Richard Gunther for a fireside chat on "Recipes and the Smart Kitchen: How Technology is Changing the Way Recipes Are Written, Shared, and Prepared."
Regan remarked on the evolution of recipes through technology and how companies, in particular, appliance brands, can use this to their advantage. Recipe content is a great way to help customers better understand their appliances and promote repeat use. For example, most consumers use their microwaves to reheat leftovers or make popcorn, but an app experience can open up many more functionalities to consumers directly through recipes and other automated programs.
Fresco CEO and Co-founder Ben Harris joined Kevin Brown from Innit on stage to discuss “Building Smart Kitchen Platforms.” This engaging discussion was moderated by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy from The Verge and drew significant attention from attendees eager to learn about the future of smart kitchen technologies. Ben described the confidence smart kitchens provide for home cooks, and how important the consumer’s needs and viewpoints are in building and improving the technology.
If you would like to watch this wonderful discussion you can do so below:
Interoperability is needed; nobody’s kitchen is single brand, and no one appliance manufacturer makes all the appliances that people need. To solve that, you need a cooking system that can work across the full kitchen and across multiple brands, and that’s what we’re building—both the cooking and then the KitchenOS.
Ben Harris
Fresco's CEO and Co-founderThank you to everyone who attended our discussions.
We're excited to continue these important conversations about the future of food technology. If you’re interested in learning more about Fresco’s KitchenOS platform, schedule a demo using the button below.
