As far as my family’s small Pomeranian, Zeus, is concerned, I’m a very distant second banana when it comes to the humans in his life. Sure, he’ll let me feed him and pay the cheese tax, but the reality is he’s only got eyes (and a nose) for one person in his life, which happens to be my wife.
Like many loyal dogs, when my wife is out of the house, Zeus finds comfort in lying on blankets, sweaters, or anything that may have a whiff of his favorite person’s scent. Where things get rough for the little guy is when we have to travel, but someday soon we’ll be able to bring a bottle of “mom” fragrance to provide a little canine aromatherapy when we drop him off at the dog sitter.
That’s at least according to NotCo CEO Matias Muchnick, with whom I sat down this week at the Smart Kitchen Summit to talk about what his company and the journey of being a pioneer in leveraging AI to develop new food (and now pet) products.
“We’re partnering with one of the biggest pet companies in the world to generate human scent,” said Muchnick. “Literally, it’s like a 23andMe for your smell.” The idea according to Muchnick is to use an AI model to do scent profiling to create a mist that replicates your scent, helping ease separation anxiety for pets when their humans leave home.
There’s no doubt that this new direction is leveraging some of the work that NotCo has done in building out a “Generative Aroma Translator”, which the company unveiled at the Spoon’s Food AI Summit last fall. “The system intakes your prompt, such as ‘an ocean scent on a breezy summer day on a tropical island’ to create a novel chemical formulation of that scent in one-shot,” said the company’s former chief product officer, Aadit Patel.
Only add in an extra layer of personalization, which includes your odor and all the notes you pick up as you travel through the world.
“We will get you a report of your top notes of your own body whenever you get back home,” said Muchnick. “If you work in an office, it’s going to be an office, depending on the office that you work in. If you’re a mechanic, you’re going to have a lot of other odors.”
Muchnick kept quiet on who the partner is or what the actual product would look like, but did indicate this project is one of hundreds of new projects since the company doubled-down on being an AI-powered innovation engine for CPG brands.
“Our first investor decks in 2016 were all about AI,” Muchnick said. “But no one believed in it back then, so we had to prove the model ourselves.” NotCo’s path to validation came by launching its own consumer products, such as mayo, ice cream, burgers, and capturing market share in Latin America and North America, after which big players couldn’t help but take notice.
Today, NotCo is firmly in phase two of its journey. Through partnerships with companies like Kraft Heinz, Starbucks, and PepsiCo, the company is showing how Giuseppe can help brands rapidly create new product formulations and adapt to regulatory or consumer-driven upheaval, such as the recent push to remove synthetic dyes or respond to GLP-1-driven shifts in eating habits. He said the company has over 50 active color replacement projects.
The different between now and just a couple years ago is drastic when it comes to big food’s receptivity to working with AI. Curiosity and hesitation has melted away and turned to eagerness and a sense of urgency.
Who he’s talking to has also changed. What used to be R&D director conversations are now CEO-level discussions. “AI is no longer optional,” said Muchnick. “If they don’t adapt, they’ll face the blockbuster effect. They’ll become obsolete.”
You can watch the replay of the full interview at The Spoon next week.
