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Juicero Is Shutting Down

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Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#71

Post by bllguo »

nickparker wrote: post #50
jpao79 wrote: post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

Interesting concept... Tracking what you have to suggest recipes or restock - that's the feature that seems most appealing. But I don't think you need a network like you describe to accomplish that. You could have a "smart" fridge or some other device that can catalog your food for you thru imaging and scans. Hell, you could just input a list you type up yourself. Like you say, Amazon could easily do this. They already have a part of it with their dash buttons and smart home devices. They have another part now with Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh.

The other benefits you mention are marginal at best, in my opinion. I would never pay a premium for tagged and tracked food like that.

Edit: Funny, there's a post on overengineering on the front page!

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#72

Post by dv_dt »

jpao79 wrote: post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

What value does this add over stocking various drinks, in containers, in a refrigerated case with no machine?

I've noticed that the digital multi-flavor soda dispensers create more customer bottlenecks compared the regular 4-6 nozzle dispensers. Having every customer figure out how to load a "juice pack" then operate the machine seems like it would have a similar inconveniencing effect.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#73

Post by keerthiko »

cortesoft wrote: post #59
nickparker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

How would tracking the food from origin to consumption allow the machine to reject rotten food? Things going rotten are not that predictable, even if you know exactly when and where it was packaged.

If it knows when and where for everything about an ingredient, it probably also knows the tagged expiry/best-before. It's easy to play it safe and just reject everything past expiry, even if it need not actually have gone bad. And consumers who prioritize contamination safety (not everyone believes expiry dates, but many do) can respect that.

There are cases where something can go bad before its expiry date, due to improper storage, but storage conditions until food reaches given appliance could be tracked too to account for that.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#74

Post by to3m »

trendia wrote: post #63
x0x0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is another teardown with a similar conclusion https://blog.bolt.io/heres-why-juicero-s-press-is-so-expensi...

I love how Bolt.io tore down a pair of Beats headphones and came to the opposite conclusion -- that they were a ripoff and that the components inside in no way justified the pricetag. But, take a look at the quality of the internals of Juicero vs. Beats headphones and realize that one of the companies is worth $1.5B while the other is shutting down.

I think you mean "so", not "but" :)

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#75

Post by pavel_lishin »

dv_dt wrote: post #72
jpao79 wrote: post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

What value does this add over stocking various drinks, in containers, in a refrigerated case with no machine? I've noticed that the digital multi-flavor soda dispensers create more customer bottlenecks compared the regular 4-6 nozzle dispensers. Having every customer figure out how to load a "juice pack" then operate the machine seems like it would have a similar inconveniencing effect.

> What value does this add over stocking various drinks, in containers, in a refrigerated case with no machine?

You can market it as "fresh".

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#77

Post by petra »

nickparker wrote: post #50
jpao79 wrote: post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

I think the future of food is different - it's about restaurant quality meals, for cheap, large selection, with zero effort. maybe via online ordering, maybe Whole-foods/Walmart. And you may need some fancy oven like combi-oven or solid-state microwave.

And even if we're talking cuts of meat, i think technology like MATS(microwave assisted thermal sterilization) may give you high quality meat that doesn't spoil for very long, so that won't be an issue.

And as for suggesting recipes based on fridge content or restocking (are those such big problems for consumers?) - there are probably other ways to solve that , like AI + camera, no need to reshuffle the whole supply chain.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#78

Post by aoenht2nte8 »

snake117 wrote: post #28

This will serve as a good example for future startups where taking one concept from one market does not always work in another market. Keurig managed to make a great product at an affordable price range, both the machines ($80-$250) and the K-Cups (~$0.85 per pod). However, a $400 machine, that just squeezes the pack for juice, and each juice pack running several dollars is enough to kill anyone's wallet. I liked how…

But how is it sustainable to grow fruit, pick it, wash and peel it, then cut it up and put it into some sort of disposable bag, then ship it to each individual who wants it, then require them to own an appliance that likely runs on fossil fuels to get the product out? They could have just shipped bottle of juice to the local supermarket and cut out the machine entirely. The waste would have been less because the bottles would have been recyclable, and they'd own the machines and use them in place in bulk. The shipping would be more sustainable because of the scale of doing all shipping to fewer grocery stores than all their customers (or at least all they hoped to reach eventually). The whole thing is wildly wasteful.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#80

Post by jjawssd »

GuiA wrote: post #67
nickparker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

What's "digitized food"? Does every single one of my strawberries come with a bar code on it? Or does everything come in Juicebro style pouches?

Agafia is a hermit surviving in the Russian wilderness for 70 years. I recommend the RT report on her because they do not try to force a conclusion to the contact. She is afraid of barcodes even though she barely has any contact with other people. During the last world war humans were assigned serial numbers for efficient tracking and resource allocation and extermination. Agafia and her people ran away from several regimes that were set on extermination of her people because of their beliefs. All food she comes in contact with must have barcodes removed because to her, barcodes are a sign of the devil. She will not accept anything with barcodes on it. All aid packages must have barcodes removed from them before she will accept them. According to her the next logical step will be to microchip/barcode all humans and track their activities. Then humans will be treated like cattle and easily controllable assets. Sounds familiar?
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