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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