Introducing the Tinder of Dining: Chicago-based Sugr matches you with food places you’ll love

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If you live in a metropolitan area, picking the next best place to have lunch or dinner can be rather difficult. Do you want spicy or sweet? Are you looking to eat earlier in the day or later? Do you prefer to have a reservation when you walk in? Chicago-based startup Sugr wants to make dining experiences a little less indecisive and more tailored to your preferences.

“The incredible access to information that we have today sometimes makes the simplest decisions take way too long,” said Ruben Flores-Martinez, CEO and founder of Sugr. The discovery service uses machine learning to give users tailored results. The app also takes into consideration where people within your network are eating. “It’s basically a very simple neural network. The more you use it, the better it gets at predicting what you’ll like.”

Sugr has an array of neat features. Once a venue has been selected, you will have the option to hail an Uber. You can invite friends and family to the venue you’re planning to visit, should you wish to be in company. An option is also available to pay via Apple Pay, subject to if the venue has enrolled in this payment method. The app also doesn’t publish written reviews, a design feature that was intentional. “The power of online reviews leads to a lot of negativity. Instead, we want to validate preferences based on what your peers are doing. What my wife thinks is a lot more important than what a random stranger on the internet thinks. So we weigh recommendations based on what people in your networks are doing,” Flores-Martinez added. “We wanted to create a very smart product that could easily understand your personality, the things you like and connect with, and help you make those decisions better and faster.”

The service is pro-small business, as Sugr does not include major chains in its recommendations. However, its founder said “we want to create incentives that are sponsored by major brands, but are redeemable at local businesses.”

Working on an app that encompasses AI solutions and makes life a bit easier? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Illinois, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Reducing Agriculture Footprints in Dallas: Eden Green Technology develops Crisply, an optimal plant growth process

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A Dallas-based vertical farming company is revolutionizing how food is produced. Eden Green Technology’s Crisply is flaunting its lush, emerald green produce as a cleaner and safer alternative to traditional agriculture methods.

Soil, which can contain E. coli and Listeria, both of which have had their shining moments in American headlines as of late, poses more risks and has less of a yield when producing greens. In comparison, Eden Green’s vertical farming techniques require less water and land than traditional soil methods. The company has reportedly also reduced its cooling costs by one-eighth when compared to other greenhouse methods.

Free of pesticides, herbicides and chemicals, Eden Green uses a vine system where each plant is enclosed in a microclimate bubble. “We perfected this transformative vertical closed-loop solution to flow water, nutrients, oxygen and sunlight into the plants’ microclimate at the perfect ratio, in order to optimize the natural powers of photosynthesis to maximize output for people who need it most,” the company website boasts.

The seeds used are organic and non-GMO. All plants are grown under natural light and grow year-round. Eden Green expects to grow 10 to 15 harvests a year with a crop loss of 1%. This is a massive improvement when compared to traditional soil-growing, which yields two harvests with a crop loss of 30%. With these facts and figures, Eden Green is believed to be the first vertical farm with the scalability to meet the produce needs of regional food distribution systems.

“We pick our produce, package the same-day, and stamp the date when they are harvested on the package, so consumers know exactly how fresh their salads are. We also make it possible for our retail partners to put our produce on their shelves immediately after they’ve been harvested, in some cases that same day. No other company does that,” said Jaco Booyens, Eden Green’s co-chair.

The Crisply line will debut in Texas Walmart stores come mid-July. More information about Eden Green Technology and Crisply can be found by clicking here and here respectively.

Are you developing agriculture solutions? Are you reducing environmental impacts within agriculture? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

“It’s not easy being green”: Georgia-based AgVoice to foster sustainability, environmental goals

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The world’s population is at 7.6 billion and growing. With more mouths to feed than ever before, agriculture needs to keep up with the demands. Bruce Rasa, CEO of a program development called AgVoice, wants to help with the demands; after all, he has been in agriculture for some time. “I want to bring the power of technology to the farms and ranches to solve simple problems, enabling ag professionals to produce healthy food for the needs of a growing global population,” said Rasa in a statement from the AgVoice website.

To summarize, AgVoice is a mobile voice-interaction service that uses proprietary analytics and processing of raw voice files to capture insights via Bluetooth. The voice data that is collected can later be used for note-taking and analytics purposes. The recordings are also time-stamped and geolocated, which comes in handy when customers want to know about the origin, treatment and quality of their food.

“Agriculture is Georgia’s largest sector by number of workers. However, it is the least digitized sector, according to a recent study,” said Rasa in an interview with Hypepotamus. “We see an amazing global opportunity to serve not only our core customers, but have our data make a positive impact down the food chain. We want to champion the individual and help them get more productive.”

The program aims to optimize the use of resources in crop and animal production, which translates to positive impacts on the environment and helps users to achieve sustainability goals; AgVoice can also improve workflow management and documentation accuracy.

AgVoice is designed for use across the food and agriculture ecosystem, including livestock and crop production, agronomy, animal health and wellness, and machinery repair. The program is set to launch sometime in 2018. More information about AgVoice can be found by clicking here.

Are you developing a program that will help sustainability and environmental efforts in the agriculture sector? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Heinz is bringing Mayochup to America, but who really invented the mayonnaise-ketchup matrimony?

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Famous for ketchup and baked beans, the Heinz Company is now dead-set on introducing to American audiences what it claims is a novel concoction: Mayochup. Think of it as a union between ketchup and mayonnaise.

“Want #mayochup in stores? 500,000 votes for ‘yes’ and we’ll release it to you saucy Americans,” Heinz tweeted. Of the 930,000 votes on the Twitter poll, 55 percent gave their approval. That means the company will soon bring the bottled Mayochup onto American shelves.

Heinz’s rendition of Mayochup is already sold overseas, particularly in the Middle East. However, for many, Mayochup isn’t anything new and stories have peppered across the Internet on how the combination first came into existence.

Legend has it that in 1925, a young man was eating prawns with friends at a golf club in Mar del Plata, Argentina. As a joke, the young man requested different condiments from the kitchen to mix with the traditional aderezo of mayonnaise. The spontaneous experimentation resulted in a union between mayonnaise and ketchup, plus a dash of cognac and Tabasco. The friends called it “salsa golf” and found it was delicious with the prawns. “It was just a bunch of bored kids doing what bored kids do,” said Victor Ego Ducrot, author of The Flavors of the Homeland. Forty years later, salsa golf exploded in popularity with big brands, from Fanacoa to Hellman’s, producing the mix commercially. The young man who originally invented salsa golf was Luis Federico Leloir, the 1970 Nobel Prize in chemistry winner for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates. Leloir reportedly said, “If I had patented the sauce, I would have earned much more money than as a scientist.”

The mayonnaise-ketchup creation is popular across Latin America. Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela and others call it “salsa rosada.” Puerto Ricans call it “mayoketchup”. Variations also exist across other parts of the globe, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. Even the Brits have their own version, known as “Marie Rose sauce”.

In fact, America already has a home-grown mayo-ketchup origin story. Utah’s Don Carlos Edwards allegedly began serving mayonnaise-ketchup concoctions to his customers back in the 1940s, calling it “Fry Sauce”. It is now a staple in Utahan society.

So while Mayochup isn’t necessarily re-inventing the wheel, it does bring a new twist to the condiment by putting it in a bottle. Admittedly, this has raised scepticism among critics. Samantha Schmidt asserted in The Washington Post, “But whatever it’s called, wherever it’s consumed, many lifelong lovers of the sauce agree on one thing: it’s disgraceful to squeeze the stuff out of a bottle.” NPR station reporter Nadege C Green raised doubts about the ability of Heinz to produce a tasty concoction: “Yeah, you have to custom mix it. Gotta have the right mayo to ketchup ratio. I don’t trust this at all.”

We can’t know for sure until Mayochup hits the supermarkets. But one thing’s certain: Heinz knows how to put the “sauciest” in its sauces.

Are you experimenting with different condiments and packaging to add something new to the food market? Did you know your experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can get up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

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Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative

R&D Tax Credit Eligibility AI Tool

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What is the R&D Tax Credit?

The Research & Experimentation Tax Credit (or R&D Tax Credit), is a general business tax credit under Internal Revenue Code section 41 for companies that incur research and development (R&D) costs in the United States. The credits are a tax incentive for performing qualified research in the United States, resulting in a credit to a tax return. For the first three years of R&D claims, 6% of the total qualified research expenses (QRE) form the gross credit. In the 4th year of claims and beyond, a base amount is calculated, and an adjusted expense line is multiplied times 14%. Click here to learn more.

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“We want to build Texas into a global brand” – F&R Distilling Co. opens Whiskey Ranch in Fort Worth

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“I think people don’t realize what it takes to make a great whiskey,” Leonard Firestone said. “It’s a little bit of art, it’s a little bit of science. It’s time, of course.” Firestone is one of the owners behind Firestone and Robertson Distilling Co. founded in 2010. The company is known for its TX Whiskey and TX Straight Bourbon. The owners recently opened a huge Whiskey Ranch five miles from downtown Fort Worth. The facility was four and a half years in the making and will offer Texans and tourists an immersive whiskey experience.

In explaining why they started the company, Robertson said, “An ah-ha moment when we were in the process of building the company and kind of putting all the pieces together was the fact that Texas is the second largest consuming state of whiskey in the country, but very little of it was made here.” To change that, F&R developed its own distillery. It first debuted its signature TX Blended Whiskey in 2013 which went onto win the Best American Craft Whiskey title as well as double gold at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco that same year. As the Robb Report described the whiskey, “With a luscious array of flavors—chocolate, orange, cinnamon, and clove—yet a surprising lightness on the palate, the 82-proof whiskey is ideal for sipping neat or on the rocks—though it also makes an excellent cocktail.”

Robertson explained, “It’s important to know the reason all of this was done. We have a vision to distribute our whiskey around the world. We want to build Texas into a global brand.” When F&R first started, there were only about 10 active distillery licenses. Now, there are over 100. With the Whiskey Ranch, F&R hopes to solidify its reputation as one of the pioneers in the Texan distillery scene. The ranch Is expansive, stretching 112 acres of land and comes complete with a bar, a store, event space, an 18-hole golf course, and even a secret entrance leading to a speak-easy style dining room. It is currently only open on Thursdays and Fridays until December. Public daily tours will commence in January 2018, allowing visitors to see how whiskey is made from fermentation to bottling. Of course, visitors will also be able to sample the whiskeys. The new facility is expected to increase the company’s production from three barrels to 40 a day.

Did you know that the experimentation involved in creating a whiskey recipe as well as building the Whiskey Ranch facility could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit? If you are also developing similar experiments, you could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit, even if your whiskeys aren’t yet in production. To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE credits as well as CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

 

Eating crickets not just a fad: the protein empire of Austin-based Aspire Food Group

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With the holiday season just around the corner, you’re probably figuring out what to serve as a main course for your protein-hungry guests. Maybe turkey? Ham? Beef? Or how about crickets? Enter: Aspire Food Group, an Austin-based company promoting and developing insect products for mainstream food consumption. While crickets as a main course is still way off into the future, the company has already introduced a line of cricket-based foods, from snacks to protein shakes and even dog treats.

Protein consumption is on the rise in the United States. Production of traditional protein sources like meat, however, require massive amounts of land, energy, and water. With increasing demand, meat production alone can’t keep up. Mehmood Khan of PepsiCo Inc. aptly observed, “If we look around the world, there’s a big consumer trend on more protein. The question is: How are we going to do this in a manner that’s sustainable? Protein isn’t cheap. And animal protein has the greatest footprint on the planet.”

At the same time, the consumer demand for meat alternatives is on the rise. Sales of meat substitutes in the United States have increased to $700 million in 2016 and projections indicate that by 2021, annual U.S. sales of meat substitutes will amount to $863 million. Vegan products have also grown in global popularity, with a reported $9.7 billion in worldwide retail sales this year. By 2021, this number is expected to hit $11.8 billion.

Developing alternatives to meat isn’t easy. One needs a little flare and creativity to make a product that is cost-effective and doesn’t negatively affect flavor or texture so that it is still palpable to consumers. Drawing on the fact that nearly two billion people in the world already eat insects, Aspire Food Group hopes to introduce the critters to the American palate. Mohammed Ashour, the company’s CEO, said, “There’s definitely a psychological hurdle. A lot of insects are just simply gross to look at. This isn’t an overnight shift.” To help ease consumers into eating insects, Aspire Food Group developed a cricket powder known as Aketta that can be used in protein bars and cookies. It also developed whole-roasted crickets that come in familiar flavors like Texas BBQ and sour cream and onion. The response has been positive, with many pleasantly surprised at how tasty crickets can be.

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Insects are more sustainable to farm than livestock and Aspire Food Group’s farming practices prove how green and clean insect farming can be. Using autonomous robotics, internet-of-things (IoT), proprietary sensor technology, and a wide range of other tools, the company is ensuring its process is sustainable and effective.  It is even on track to implement a zero-waste system. As the first automated cricket farm in the world, Aspire Food Group is a pioneer in the industry of insect farming and it hopes to launch more farms across the globe.

Are you experimenting with protein alternatives to meat? Or developing more sustainable, automated farming practices like Aspire Food Group? You could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and get up to 14% back on your expenses. To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE credits as well as CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Virginia Tech University open food R&D center

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Virginia Tech University and Israeli food maker Strauss Group have started up an R&D agro/food tech program to help Israeli agriculture and food tech start-ups expand their activities in the US market.

Several Israeli companies were invited to make presentations to the Virginia Tech R&D team and Strauss Group in January. Later this year the staff of the selected companies will travel to Virginia to further their business development.

The R&D program will provide start-ups with funding opportunities, the chance to part take in business development meetings with experts from Virginia and facilitate excellent networking opportunities. Additionally, there is also the chance to test and trial different technologies, carry out consumer testing and allow for attaining necessary permits and regulation information.

Dr. Eyal Shimoni, vice president of Technologies at Strauss Group, says this project is about promoting developments of healthy food solutions and improving the quality of life for consumers worldwide.

Startups that specialize in food tech and agriculture are encouraged to apply to any future projects conducted by Strauss Group and Virginia Tech University. Possible future project focuses include sugar, salt and fat reduction technologies, improved nutrition methods and digital solutions, food safety, aquaculture, soil sciences and food process quality monitoring.

To find out whether your business activities qualify for the Research and Development Expenses Tax Credit, contact a Swanson Reed R&D Tax Specialist. 

Innovative Chocolate Shop Makes Zombie Bunnies

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Tired of traditional Easter bunnies? An innovative chocolate shop in Medford, Oregon, is selling Voodoo Bunnies – blood-splattered, zombie bunnies with exposed brains and eyeballs hanging out!

Voodoo Bunnies take up to five hours to make and are made only twice a year at Easter and Halloween. The idea originated from regular Easter bunny chocolates that ended up with defects. The chocolatier added marzipan and colored cocoa butter and the Voodoo Bunny was born.  They became so popular that they had to be removed from the website after going viral on Twitter.

Lillie Belle Farms Artisan Chocolates was started in 2002 by Jeff Shepherd, a chef who began selling truffles at a farmer’s market. Always experimenting, he has tried thousands of combinations, “from Thai chili and lemongrass to crystallised flower petals.”

Jeff’s R&D has certainly paid off. Now his shop is renowned across the country. Dessert Professional magazine named him as one of the 10 best chocolatiers in the US in 2009, and his salted lavender truffle won a silver medal at the International Chocolate Awards in 2013. One year, his chocolates ended up as Martha Stewart’s corporate gifts.

Other creative products from the shop include chocolate covered pears and the ‘Do Not Eat This Chocolate,’ made with a generous ratio of ghost chillies. They have even partnered with a local cheese shop, Rogue Creamery, to create an amazing cheese truffle. It took many failed attempts and they nearly gave up on the idea, but it was worth the perseverance in the end. As Jeff recalls, “One day we decided on using their Smokey Blue, organic milk chocolate and toasted almonds in an exact ratio and voila! The ultimate blue cheese truffle was born… We have been making them for 10 years now and while we are quite aware of how weird they sound, we also know just how incredibly good they are. We put about a year into the R&D. Now it’s perfect.”

As Lillie Belle has proven, investing in the creation of new product lines in order to differentiate a company can create a strong competitive advantage. Companies undertaking certain R&D activities can claim the state and federal R&D tax credit, which can then be reinvested into the business. To find out whether your business qualifies, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisors.

BeeHex Move R&D Operations to Ohio

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BeeHex is a 3D food production company, best known for their 3D printed pizzas. The company started as a NASA project to produce the first 3D printer to create food for astronauts (3D printing material can be stored for much longer periods than perishable and processed foods.)

Now the company is adapting to sell their printer technology commercially. BeeHex will develop production models of the 3D printers in its new Gahanna lab, which should be available to certain pilot customers by the end of 2017. Co-founder Jordan French believes that “a lot of industries are looking for solutions like this, giving employees tools to do things more efficiently.” Potential targets could include sports arenas, theme parks, restaurants or even the military.

BeeHex uses fresh ingredients to make fresh and freezable, oven-ready pizzas, which is an ideal food for 3D printing as it is constructed in layers.

The company aims to create printers that can take the customer’s preferences into account and make food on-the-spot. They have built an app that allows the customer to choose their preferred pizza size and type of dough, topping and cheese.  A conveyor belt that allows robots to then add toppings is also being developed. The technology could make it faster and easier to produce food for consumers with special requirements, without a chef having to learn specialized skills.

Like normal 3D printers, the pizza printer receives instructions from a computer and creates the pizza using layers. However, BeeHex printers use pneumatic systems instead of additive technology to move ingredients around. Initially taking six minutes to print, it now takes only a minute for a 12” pizza. A small sized pizza can then take just two minutes to cook.

Worried about the taste? BeeHex has partnered with Pasquale Cozzolino, a renowned pizza chef, who uses only the best Italian ingredients at his pizzeria, Ribalta. He stated, “I am looking forward to using my experience in the culinary industry to create a pizza that can be 3D printed without sacrificing quality ingredients and taste.”

If your company is using 3D printing, you may be eligible for the federal and Ohio R&D Tax Credit.  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.