Zume Explained

Zume, Inc.
Type:Private
Area Served:Worldwide
Key People:Alex Garden
Industry:Manufacturing, Food technology, Food delivery, Automation, Food packaging
Products:Sustainable products, Packaging
Location:Camarillo, California, United States[1]

Zume, Inc. was an American manufacturing-technology company headquartered in Camarillo, California.[2] Founded in 2015 as an automated pizza parlor, in 2020 the company shifted to food packaging and delivery logistics. In June 2023, the company was shut down.[3]

History

Zume was founded in 2015 as Zume Pizza[4] by Chairman and CEO Alex Garden[5] and Julia Collins.[6] [7] In 2016, it raised $6 million in Series A investment funding from Jerry Yang and SignalFire, a venture capital firm.

Zume's initial business proposition was the automated production and delivery of pizza, which would largely be made by robots and cooked en route to customers.[8] [9] In September 2016, it delivered its first pizzas. They were cooked in a van equipped with 56 GPS-equipped automated ovens, timed to be ready shortly before arrival at the address, and then sliced by a self-cleaning robot cutter.[10] The pizza preparation process was partly automated by November 2016.[11]

The company secured a patent on cooking during delivery,[12] [13] which included algorithms to predict customer choices, and planned to partner with businesses to provide other robot-prepared meal components, such as salads and desserts. In fall 2017, Zume raised $48 million in Series B funding.[14]

Baking pizzas in a moving vehicle proved to be impractical, and customers complained about quality problems with the robot-made pizzas; the idea was eventually shelved.[15]

Zume, Inc.

By 2018, the company announced that it would move away from pizza and make use of artificial intelligence and kitchen technology to become a platform for automated food trucks and would form a larger umbrella company, Zume, Inc.[16] In April 2018, the company announced that it would begin to license its automation technology.[16] It subsequently also began selling food packaging; it holds patents for sustainable food-delivery boxes. It projected revenues of $250 million and $1 billion in the final quarters of 2020 and 2021, respectively.[15] In November 2018, the company raised $375 million from SoftBank, giving it a valuation of $2.25 billion.[17] It subsequently focused on automated production and packaging for other food companies,[18] [19] and in 2019 it bought Pivot, a company which made plant-based packaging.[20] [21]

The company sought a valuation of $4 billion in 2019 and generated significant public attention.[18] Its packaging could not legally hold food in some jurisdictions, including San Francisco, because it contained PFAS, which are chemicals considered harmful to humans by the EPA.[15] In 2020, the founders of Pivot, which Zume acquired, claimed the company was incorrectly valued at the time they were purchased for $20.5 million, which purportedly included $10 million in stock.[21] By May 2020, the company started manufacturing compostable food packaging.[22] In 2020 it laid off more than 500 employees including its entire robotics and delivery truck departments.[23] In June 2023, the company was shut down.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Robotics Startup Zume Is Now Selling Masks. Business Insider . 5 May 2021.
  2. Web site: Zume's pizza robots are now turning waste into compostable packaging. CNBC . 2 August 2021.
  3. Web site: Fallen Pizza Startup Zume Shuts Down After Raising Millions. Bloomberg News. 2 June 2023. McBride. Sarah.
  4. Web site: Zume Pizza: Tech start-up that uses robots to make pizza raises nearly $50mn. FDF World.com. December 20, 2018 .
  5. News: Robotic pizza-maker Zume raises $375M. November 2, 2018 . Jonathan . Maze . Restaurant Business . December 20, 2018 .
  6. News: Marissa . Kendall . Zume Pizza: Made by robots, baked in delivery truck . . September 29, 2016 . January 2, 2017 .
  7. News: Laura . Entis . Jonathan . Baran . This Robot-Made Pizza Is Baked in the Van on the Way to Your Door . . September 29, 2016 . January 2, 2017 .
  8. Web site: Zaleski. Olivia. Inside Silicon Valley's Robot Pizzeria. Bloomberg. June 24, 2016 . November 6, 2016.
  9. Web site: John . Mannes . Robots and on-board ovens deliver on Zume's promise of better pizza . . September 1, 2016 .
  10. Web site: Savvides. Lexxy . See inside a robot pizza factory . . November 4, 2016 . January 2, 2017 .
  11. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/11/04/artisanal-pizza-with-robot-personal-touch/ZcT6G4trFQoPCukjKgABEL/story.html Artisanal pizza — with a robot’s personal touch
  12. News: Pie in the sky: Technology firms may struggle to disrupt the food business . . November 26, 2016 . January 3, 2017 .
  13. News: Mike . Elgan . Software is eating the food world . . opinion . December 24, 2016 . January 2, 2017 .
  14. Web site: A look at 42 women in tech who crushed it in 2017 . December 22, 2017. . January 11, 2018.
  15. Web site: McBride. Sarah. 13 February 2020. SoftBank's $375 Million Bet on Pizza Went Really Bad Really Fast. 10 July 2021. Bloomberg.
  16. News: Zume looks to life beyond pizza. Heater. Brian. April 25, 2018. TechCrunch. April 25, 2018.
  17. Web site: Robot pizza maker reportedly takes $375 million investment from SoftBank . . November 2, 2018 . November 5, 2018.
  18. Web site: Why a robot pizza startup could be worth $4 billion. Vox . 5 May 2021.
  19. News: Takahashi . Dean . Zume acquires Pivot Packaging to eliminate plastic in fresh food delivery . June 2, 2021 . VentureBeat . June 13, 2019.
  20. Web site: Zume buys packaging company, with eyes on plant-based plastic alternative. TechCrunch . 5 May 2021.
  21. News: Zume accused of fraud, non-payment by founders of company it bought. Schubarth. Cromwell. 2020-04-22. 2021-07-11. Silicon Valley Business Journal.
  22. News: Former robotics startup Zume is now selling face masks and appears to have stopped producing the food packaging that it refocused its business on in January. Hernbroth. Megan. 2020-05-18. 2021-07-15. Business Insider.
  23. News: Rennolds . Nathan . The $500 million robot pizza startup you never heard of has shut down, report says . Business Insider.