The groom is Keurig, an innovation that took the world by storm. It built a business based on a simple premise that making one great cup of coffee at a time meant something different within a household. I like a very dark roast; my spouse likes a milder blend. Selling a piece of equipment and disposable containers that customized each made a lot of sense. And the business grew for many years.
The bride is Blue Apron, a business innovation that recognized how much consumers wanted to eat really good food at home but didn’t know how to cook and didn’t want to bother with all of the complexity of food preparation. They created a business where they send you all the ingredients you need, with instructions and each element is premeasured. No waste, just a high-end dinner in a box with simple to follow instructions. Blue Apron and companies in this space are doing well competing for the money you would spend at a grocery store or a restaurant.
The marriage is a new business called Tovala. To my knowledge, neither Keurig nor Blue Apron is involved in this venture. But have created an intersection of these two ideas creating a new appliance (called TOVALA) that claims to replace all your kitchen appliances. You put into your Tovala, a fully prepared meal supplied to you by Tovala. So like Keurig, you buy a special piece of equipment and like Blue Apron, it comes with a meal. The difference is that instead of having to prepare the food, you put the meal into the device and it cooks it at the push of a button. Restaurant quality food on demand.
Tovala is a broiler, steamer, microwave, and toaster – all in one.
There is a Kickstarter campaign if you want to get in on the ground floor. The device will sell for $279 but for anyone buying through Kickstarter, you get the device for $199. Meals created by professionals chefs are sent to arrive at your front door to cook. You can make your own recipes and food on the device too. Unlike Blue Apron, no prep is required. You just push a button. It is as simple as Uber. By scanning the code on the container, cooking instructions come up on your phone or tablet.
Although some may think of airline food or crappy frozen microwave dinners, the technology is similar to what high-end restaurants use to create fabulous meals. meal may be partially steamed, partially roasted and partially broiled, just as it would be cooked in a high-quality restaurant.
What I Love about Tovala
Observing trends from adjacent businesses can be a powerful tool to help you find a meaning point of difference. Keurig’s use of a specialized piece of equipment is a classic “razors & razorblades” product model. Blue Aprons custom ingredients premeasured, is an advanced version of the original Duncan Hines cake mix, only with fresh, organic ingredients.
[Tweet “Tovala brings together two related ideas and finds a brand new business model that borrows the best from Keurig and Blue Apron. Brilliant. “]
There are many consumers who want to eat good food at home that is healthy, fresh and locally sourced. They don’t have time and a strong interest to learn to cook. They want the convenience of Uber so they can push a button. They like setting delivery on automatic like Netflix.
Whether Tovala will succeed goes beyond the idea. Now, they must execute flawlessly creating a new kitchen device and marketing the quality meals made at the push of a button.
As Julia would say, Bon Appetite!
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Photo credit: Screen grab from Tovala website and link to Kickstarter campaign
