We are both studying business analytics at CU, and there is some interesting stuff out there on the intersection of analytics/data and food. We'll post anything we find here!
The data behind that PSL |
Have you ever wondered how much of an impact the PSL (thats Pumpkin Spice Latte to you haters) has on Starbucks sales? Now you have your answer from Sense360. They figured out that you ARE more #basic if you drink your morning PSL on the way to yoga followed by a manicure, and the Starbucks market share increases by whole percentage points during PSL season. |
Internet of Food |
FoodTech Connect has a great series of articles in their "Internet of Food" series on all sorts of topics on how we can improve food with data and analytics. One of my favorites (and less serious) was "The Future of the Internet in 10 GIFS"...the first GIF is my favorite. You should go here and find the article just for that. |
Not your grandma's recipes |
IBM researchers have created a computer program that creates recipes with input from the user on one ingredient, regional cuisine they like, what type of dish they want to make. It analyzes recipes in its database and the relationships between ingredients down to the molecules in the food (what?!?!). The video explains it better and it sounds like the recipes are decent. I'd have to try one for myself to be convinced, but very cool concept. I wonder what kind of baked goods the computer could come up with since the ratios are so important to baking--could be interesting to find out! |
Cut that cake and make everyone happy, too |
Computer Scientists studying fair division have created an algorithm to perfectly divide cake and not create fights between siblings when one gets more icing than the other. The algorithm has other applications too, like dividing up land so that each part has equal value to the owner, etc. Cutting cake being the most important use, obviously. Read the whole article here. |
Data in restaurants |
Restaurants are beginning to use analytics to do everything from optimizing menu prices to menu fonts and food descriptions, as well as analyzing marketing tactics and new promotions. The article also mentions using data to determine which parings are best sellers and which menu items can be removed. I wonder if we'll ever get to a point where we sit down and a digital menu tells us what we would like......maybe the title is right, "Data: the Most Important Ingredient" |
Guess what ingredient increases recipe ratings the most? Hint: its not bacon |
Big data is being used to draw conclusions on everything from determining ingredients that are more appealing to reviewers to creating recipes from a database based on tons of data. Sounds like the recipes would be gross. But from the video apparently they're ok. The more interesting part to me was that online food reviews have been analyzed to see what ingredients increased ratings the most- they found that cream cheese, whipped topping, strawberries, and avocado boosted ratings, while BACON (surprisingly) did not. Weird, right?? Check out the article here! |