3D Printing, this term brings images of all sort of plastic objects or say, prosthetics, to our minds. But, what if there’s a firm out there actively working on 3D food printing? And what if its first product prints pizza?
Well, yes, BeeHex is a 3D food printing company that simply wants to change the way food is made. On a mission to make that happen, the startup has completed seed round worth a million led by Grote Company founder, Jim Grote.
The startup, with its flagship product Chef 3D, develops 3D food printing systems that assemble and deliver fresh foods. The print time has lessened from six minutes to just around one for a 12” pizza over the course of last year. The printers depend on pneumatic systems to move ingredients around instead of sticking to traditional additive manufacturing technologies. The systems will enable personalized food orders from an app and are also fit for commercial kitchen use.
Jim Grote, the founder of the Grote Company, a worldwide manufacturer of food-processing equipment, said,
The technology is unmatched in bringing unique opportunities to the food industry. This revolutionary technology will produce consistent, good tasting, nutritious products. The BeeHex team provides the talent to change the way food is made.
CEO Anjan Contractor in an official statement expresses her excitement post the investment and says the company is aiming towards its soft launch in 2017. She adds they moved its R&D facilities to Columbus, Ohio to accelerate technology development including other robots in the works last month.
BeeHex’s pre-production prototypes have been exhibited at various conferences and celebrations including Food Loves Tech 2016 and homecoming at Ohio State University, the products have not been distributed yet.
CMO Jordan French revealed that Beehex plans to make public appearances this year like at The International Pizza Expo, and further adds,
2017 should prove to be a banner year for BeeHex with a number of ‘locally sourced and organic’ events planned.
