A German's pet of 82 teeth (video)

 

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AI and beer

A famous German brewery called Beck’s was 150 years old in 2023. To celebrate, they did something very new: they asked an AI chatbot named ChatGPT to be the brewmaster. They told the AI to create a new beer recipe using only the basic ingredients: hops, yeast, water, and malt. The result was a lager called “Beck’s Autonomous”. One newspaper reporter said it was better than Beck’s standard lager.

Beck’s is not the only company using AI. Other breweries in America, Britain, and Japan are also using AI to create new beers. In March Coedo Brewery in Japan asked an AI model to analyse the preferences of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, and then developed four craft beers, one for each age range The brewers say that customers are liking these new AI beers.

Why are they using AI? Prinz Pinakatt, boss of the beer business for Tilray Brands, Atwater’s New York-based parent company explains: AI helps them find new recipes they never thought of before. The computer can study very small details of flavours. It can look at the ingredients a brewery has and then create a new recipe. It can change the sweetness or acidity to make sure customers will like the beer.

One brewer in America, Beau Warren, started using AI in 2022. He gave the AI all his beer recipes and information about ingredients. Later, the AI suggested a very unusual recipe for a lager beer. The brewer said, "I would never have thought of that." But he made the beer anyway, and it was one of the best he ever made! His customers also liked the AI beers more than the human-made ones. Unfortunately, his brewery closed last year because of financial difficulties.

Scientists are also interested. In 2024 researchers in Belgium used AI to study 250 different beers, including lagers, blonds and West Flanders ales. They wanted to understand how changing the chemicals in beer changes the taste. “The models we develop help us to understand the complex relationship between the chemistry of a beer, its taste, and how consumers will like it,” says Kevin Verstrepen, a bioscience engineer who led the research team.

However, AI will not replace human brewers. Someone still needs to physically pour the ingredients, watch the machines and taste the beer. Prinz Pinakatt, boss of Tilray Brands, Atwater’s New York-based parent company, says "AI will help more in the future but the craft of brewing is still the most important thing. It will be very difficult for machines to make our beers completely by themselves." 

Adapted from The Economist

Food giants (article)

 

In 2015, famous investor Warren Buffett and a company called 3G Capital joined Kraft and Heinz together. Their goal was to create a huge packaged-food company. At the time, people couldn’t get enough of the company’s popular products, like sauces, sweet snacks, and processed cheese. But now, that big deal seems to have been a major failure.

Today, Kraft Heinz is worth only $32 billion, which is 60% less than when the companies merged. The company also thinks its operating profit will drop by 5–10% this year. There are now rumors that the company might split into smaller parts.

The situation is bad for two reasons:

1. Bad management over the last ten years — especially cutting costs too much.
2. Big food companies in general are facing hard times.

In fact, the 12 biggest packaged-food companies in the American stock market, like General Mills and Hershey, have seen their stock prices go down by 9% on average in the past year.

After surviving the inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, sales are now slowing down. New, smaller brands and government concerns about highly processed foods are also creating problems. At the same time, shoppers are spending less because of inflation and fewer job opportunities.

Why Are People Buying Less Packaged Food?

Since 2021, food companies have been raising prices to stay profitable while ingredient and labor costs went up. Even though politicians criticized this as “greedflation,” many Americans kept buying these products.

But now, sales are not growing. Some are even falling. Why?

• Many people are struggling with high prices and less money.
• A new law by Donald Trump (called the “Big Beautiful Bill”) removes food assistance for about 1.3 million people.
• More people are using weight-loss drugs that reduce their appetite, especially for junk food. About 4% of American adults took these drugs last year, twice as many as two years ago.

New Competition and Tough Retailers

Because prices of big brands are so high, people are turning to:

• Smaller or fancier brands
• Supermarkets’ own brands, which are often cheaper

The top 20 food and drink companies in the U.S. had 42% of the market in 2018, but now have less than 40%.

Big stores like Walmart, Costco, and Target are also putting pressure on suppliers. Due to tariffs (extra taxes on imported goods), these stores are forcing companies to accept the cost increases, while they themselves do not lose money.

Another Challenge: Government Rules

A new campaign called “Make America Healthy Again”, led by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is trying to limit unhealthy chemicals like artificial colors in processed foods.

Companies may have to change their recipes, which is not always easy. Some customers may not like these changes. For example, when General Mills took out artificial colors from Trix cereal, some people were upset.

One expert says food companies must find a balance between what government rules require and what consumers want.

What’s Next for Kraft Heinz?

Kraft Heinz may separate part of its business — such as ready meals and packaged meats — and focus on its popular sauces and spreads, which make more money.

This kind of company split has worked well before. For example, a few years ago, Kellogg’s divided its business into two parts:

• WK Kellogg (focused on U.S. cereal)
• Kellanova (the rest)

Now, Ferrero and Mars are buying these parts, and Kellogg’s shareholders have made over 40% profit since the split.

So, while some big food companies may get smaller, others might grow by buying new businesses.

Adapted from The Economist 

Ferrero and Kellogg: a $3.1b deal (video)

 

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