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Chipotle Mexican Grill makes business-changing tech investmentChipotle Mexican Grill makes business-changing tech investment

With its new Cultivate Next fund, the brand is investing in start-up companies

Holly Petre, Assistant Digital Editor

July 25, 2022

 

Welcome to First Bite, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, your daily source of news from NRN hosted by Holly Petre.

Today, we’re examining Chipotle’s latest investments in both the tech and plant-based space.

Chipotle announced Thursday it would be investing in two startup companies, Hyphen and Meati Foods, through its $50 million Cultivate Next fund launched earlier this year.

The first is a new robotics company designed to improve makelines with the use of, what else, robots. NRN senior editor Lisa Jennings sheds more light on Hyphen.

Meati Foods is a mushroom-based plant food company that’s using the meaty substitute to counter the chemical-packed plant-based alternative world.

Then we turn to our tech reporter, NRN senior editor Joanna Fantozzi, for more on how this impacts the tech sector and how these tools fit into that sphere.

Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode.

Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on CastosSpotify, or Apple Podcasts.

 

About the Author

Holly Petre

Assistant Digital Editor

Holly Petre is a digital editor for Nation’s Restaurant News as well as the host of NRN’s podcast, Extra Serving, and producer for Informa Restaurant and Food Group’s other three podcasts, One On One by Food Management, Off the Shelf with SN and In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn. Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture, fibers and Material Studies and Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native New Yorker, Holly enjoys her place on staff as the resident pop-culture expert and millennial with a sassy attitude and great sense of style.

Holly Petre’s work on Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality often covers marketing and trends, either aimed-at or examined-through the millennial mindset. Holly is responsible for introducing TikTok and Twitch to NRN and RH readers as well as explaining terms like “Karen” to staff and readers alike. She also spends her time on staff trying not to make every headline a pun.

Holly Petre hasn’t spoken at any events or on panels, but she is readily available with a killer shoe wardrobe and several witty quips.

 

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