BeeHex

BeeHex, Inc.
Private
Founded January, 2016
Headquarters Houston, Texas, Cupertino, California
Area served
International
Key people
Anjan Contractor (Co-founder)
Jordan French (Co-founder)
Chintan Kanuga (Co-Founder)
Ben Feltner (Co-founder)
Products Industrial food processing equipment, 3D printing robots
Number of employees
9
Website beehex.com

BeeHex is a Houston, Texas and Silicon Valley-based business-to-business company that specializes in 3D food printing cofounded by engineers Anjan Contractor, Jordan French, Chintan Kanuga and attorney Ben Feltner.[1][2] The company's robot 3D food printer draws comparisons to the Star Trek Replicator and the Back to the Future: Part II Rehydrator.[3][4][5] The company's robots 3D print a variety of foods but they are best known for making pizza using real dough, tomato sauce and cheese.[6]

Background

In 2013, BeeHex cofounder Anjan Contractor was awarded a NASA grant under the Small Business Innovation Research program to help produce the world’s first 3D food printer usable in space.[7][8] Contractor applied for a grant under SBIR phase II but due to a reduction in NASA funding the 3D food printing initiative was postponed.[9] In response, Contractor recruited engineers Jordan French and Chintan Kanuga and attorney Ben Feltner in 2015 to form BeeHex, Inc. in 2016.[10]

At South by Southwest interactive, BeeHex printers 3D printed pizza in the shape of the United States.[11] Following the exhibition producers from ABC’s Shark Tank called BeeHex to ask the company to pitch its business on the television program.[12] In April 2016, the company was accepted into Plug & Play’s start up accelerator program in Sunnyvale, California.[13]

In June 2016 BeeHex demonstrated 3D pizza printing in the shape of a heart at Food Loves Tech in New York, New York, where the company connected with top Neapolitan-style pizza chef, Pasquale Cozzolino.[14][15] In the same month in Sunnyvale, California, Zagat produced a short film on 3D food printing using BeeHex and Dylan's Candy Bar as its examples. In July 2016 BeeHex announced Pasquale Cozzolino as its culinary adviser.[16]

In August 2016 BeeHex won a nomination from Vice Magazine for its Taste Talks Award for Best New Technology.[17] The company was also nominated for the IEEE Leadership Award and TIMMY Award for Best Tech in Silicon Valley.[18]

In October 2016 BeeHex 3D printed "block O" shaped pizzas at The Ohio State University School of Engineering tailgate and fundraiser in Columbus, Ohio.[19][20] The company introduced 3D food printing to the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga, Portugal.[21]

Products

BeeHex’s robots 3D print food using a patent-pending pneumatic system that operates as a piston to control the 3D printing of food.[22][23] The company’s 3D printing robot follows instructions from a computer-aided design to extrude food into shapes on a print bed, layer by layer and using multiple food materials.[1][9] The BeeHex pizza printer communicates with a computer to accept input files that articulate a specific shape and recipe using pizza dough, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese on demand.[24][25] BeeHex engineers developed a mobile app that allows users to customize food and receive a push notification when it is ready for pick up.[26]

According to the Columbus Dispatch BeeHex's 3D Chef printer makes pizza in less than half the time an average pizza line cook takes.[19] Because the food assembly is automated fewer workers are required at a pizza shop and 3D Chef require less space.[19]

See also

External links

References

  1. 1 2 "How the BeeHex Pizza 3D Printer Works". Tech Insider. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  2. "This Robot will 3D-Print a Pizza for you in Minutes". Thrillist. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  3. "80-year-old yeast + 3D printer = instant pizza satisfaction". Pizza Marketplace. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  4. "You might be able to 3D print yourself a pizza for dinner very soon". Home BT. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  5. "3D Printers Craft Gourmet Pizza". Kiosk Marketplace. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  6. "How One Company Figured Out How to Feed Astronauts on Deep-Space Missions". Electronics 360. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  7. "The Audacious Plan to End Hunger with 3D Printed Food". QZ Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  8. "Daily Dish: 3D Printed Pizza". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  9. 1 2 "NASA's 3D Food Printer will Make Pizza at Amusement Parks". Vice Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  10. "A few Questions for BeeHex". 3D Print. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  11. "Tech Tuesday: 3D Printed Food". KVUE. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  12. "Inside a Shark Tank Pitch: BeeHex's 3D Printed Pizzas". Austin Inno. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  13. "A Company Combined 3D Printing and Pizza and the Results are Delicious". Plug & Play. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  14. "How Can a 3D Printed Pizza Change the World". Fast Casual. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  15. "Four Food Loves Tech Trends we Loved". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  16. "BeeHex 3D Printing Announces Collaboration with Neapolitan Pizzeria Ribalta". PR Newswire. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  17. "Here are the 2016 Taste Talks Food & Drink Awards Nominees". Munchies Vice. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  18. "BeeHex CMO Jordan French Dishes on the Future of 3D Food Printing". True Viral News. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  19. 1 2 3 "3D Printer Promises to Change the Way Food is Made". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  20. "3D Printed "Block O" Pizzas at Ohio State Homecoming Tailgate". CBS television. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  21. "Cimeira 'NanoDigest' revela no INL impressão de pizzas de astronautas". Correio Dominho. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  22. "3D pizza printer heading to 'Shark Tank' appearance; Vandy alum is company's CMO". Vanderbilt University Press. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  23. "Nasa cria impressora 3D de pizza - e ela vai ser usada na Terra". Super Abril. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  24. "Printing Your Palate". QSR Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  25. "Company to commercialize NASA financed 3D pizza printer". US Blasting News. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  26. "NASA Wants Austronauts to have 3D Printed Pizza and this Startup is Building a Printer to Make it Happen". Digital Trends. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
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