What will a grocery store look like in 50 years? A New York-based food design agency intends to find out, and sooner than you might expect.
The group, known as Studio Industries, next year intends to open a “pop-up” store in New York that envisions a grocery store in the year 2065. The Futuremarket will include “smart shelves” that will display a unique offering to every shopper based on an embedded “Food ID” chip; and featured products will include limited varieties of “single origin” chips resulting from food manufacturers having embraced crop rotation and other sustainable agricultural practices.
Officials of Studio Industries including CEO Mike Lee, a former product innovation specialist at Greek yogurt company Chobani, debuted plans for the Futuremarket at the Future Food Expo this week in New York. He explained the concept was intended to spark the food industry to see beyond the constraints of their day-to-day business that tends to limit their ability to plan for the future.
“In other industries such as tech and automotive, innovation is part of the course. From Amazon showcasing how drones could one day deliver products to General Motors’ flying cars, for example, future-minded thinking is everywhere,” the group said in a presentation. “Truly big thinking can energize innovators and perhaps make those wild concepts a reality someday. We want to inspire the same for food.”
The group used the Expo booth to solicit potential partners in the Futuremarket project and to promote Studio Industries’ strategic services for food entrepreneurs.
The group produced four varieties of “Crop Crisps” — in packaging inspired by Wheat Thins — to accompany its presentation, saying each variety was available for only a year to reflect crop sequencing. Lee said additional details of the pop-up store including its location, would be announced at a future date. The Future Food Expo, showcasing food entrepreneurs, was part of the annual Taste Talks event held in Brooklyn Sept. 12-13.
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