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Comment by everdev | Hacker News Reader

It's amazing there isn't more disruption here:

- Everyone has to eat, but it takes a good amount of time to prep, cook, set a table, eat, clear the take and wash dishes

- There seems to be broad awareness of what makes a healthy diet, yet lots of difficulty adhering to one

- People have different tastes and given the choice will rarely choose the same food as those eating with them

Eating out satisfies the variety problem, but not always the time or health one.

A meal in a box somewhat helps the time problem (little prep) and maybe the health one, but not the variety.

There is no 10x solution yet, but it's not hard to think of one like meals in Star Trek that are custom and ready at the press of a button.

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"- People have different tastes and given the choice will rarely choose the same food as those eating with them"

There are social dynamics at play here, that you've probably felt yourself: People will feel the need to choose a different thing even it it's not their first choice, because choosing the same thing feels awkward (In the US at least, I've heard other cultures have the opposite dynamic, choosing the same thing to conform, even if it's not their first choice).

I had the same realization in 2015 and doubled down.

We have just spent 2.5 years developing automated robotic systems for personalized food preparation, cooking, packaging and retail. Custom hot meals from your smartphone, ready in minutes, actually cooked from fresh ingredients, to personalized orders. Full nutrition breakdown. Model is a wholly owned and operated network, which lets us extract additional efficiencies from a modern logistics network. We simultaneously solve for convenience and choice (plus consistency and availability, with the option to compete effectively on cost if we choose). Series A opens in less than two weeks.

Nice, congrats! Care to share a link to your company?

http://8-food.com/

As a Project Manager working within Food Industry, i think it is A HUGE POTENTIAL market untapped.

However, food business operate on extremely thin margin, and a potential 5x or 10x solution requires huge Capital investment. And before that there are lots of things that aren't automated. Even basic things like ERP aren't any good.

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