Technology firms may struggle to disrupt the food business

THE office parks of Silicon Valley boast many firms that are trying to change the world. But there are plenty with more modest goals. Zume Pizza, a tiny startup that is located a few miles from the sprawling headquarters of Google, wants to redesign the way pizzas are made. Zume has programmed robots to make pizzas that are then cooked inside vans as they hurtle towards customers. Ovens are timed to finish cooking in sync with the vehicles' arrival at their destination, so the pies are always piping hot.In recent weeks spies from rival pizza companies and from food-delivery firms have been driving by in unmarked cars taking photographs of the office and the vans, says Julia Collins, one of Zume's co-founders. To protect its business, the startup has patented the process of cooking food in ovens while a vehicle is moving (the patent probably gives Zume fairly defensible intellectual property, according to one patent lawyer). The company only operates in Mountain View, but has expansion plans. Since its founding last year it has reportedly raised $6m from investors, among them Jerry Yang, a co-founder and former boss of Yahoo, an early giant of...Continue reading
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