Tovala sells a gourmet meal-kit service along with its futuristic smart oven.Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
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Tovala has created a smart oven and meal-kit service that’s intended to simplify home cooking.
- The oven is a countertop machine that essentially combines four types of appliances: a broiler, steamer, oven, and toaster.
- We got a chance to test it out — here’s what it was like.
Meal kits have become one of the biggest trends in food retail in recent years, with dozens of new companies cropping up and even traditional retailers jumping on the bandwagon, hoping to cash in on time-strapped consumers who want access to easy, healthy meals.
But the backlash has already begun. Some say the market is now oversaturated with meal-kit options, and industry innovators such as Blue Apron have found themselves losing customers.
Tovala, a smart oven and gourmet meal-kit service, is hoping to swoop in and woo these customers on the assumption that they still crave good food and convenience.
The Tovala oven is a countertop machine that combines four types of appliances: a broiler, steamer, oven, and toaster. The oven is WiFi-enabled and connected to an app with hundreds of different recipes on it. The user simply needs to select a recipe on the app or scan the barcode on one of its pre-prepared meals, and the oven will then do all of the work.
In February, Tovala received an undisclosed amount of funding from food giant Tyson Foods. The capital raised was to be used to support Tovala’s growth, including adding staff across all departments, geographic expansion, and investment in product, operations, technology and marketing, Tovala said in a press release at the time.
On Tuesday, Tovala launched its new and improved second-generation machine, which is lighter than its predecessor and has a new function that enables users to cook without using the app. The first machine was rolled out in 2017.
Find out how it works below:
The new oven works in the same way as the original version. There are two options: to cook independently using the machine, or to subscribe to its pre-prepared meal kits.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
There are two main differences between the two models: the new model is 15% smaller and lighter than its predecessor, and users are now able to cook on the oven without having to use the app if they don’t want to.
According to the company’s CEO, David Rabie, not being able to use the oven without the app was one of the biggest complaints customers had about the original version.
If you opt for the meal kits, you have the choice between three, four, six, eight, nine, or 12 meals a week.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Customers who sign up for 100 Tovala meals within the first 12 months of their purchase are eligible for $100 off the oven.
The oven itself costs $349 and comes with a 180-day return policy.
Each meal costs $12 and is meant to feed one person. If you’re ordering as a couple or feeding a family, you’d need to order more of each variety.
Tovala currently only ships to the continental US.Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Customers are required to pick which meals they want on a Wednesday for the following Monday.
There are eight different meals to choose from each week.
The dishes are made with fresh ingredients, which are locally sourced when possible.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
“The overarching philosophy in the meals is to have clean ingredients,” Rabie told Business Insider. There are no preservatives in the food, the meals are never frozen, and they are meant to last for the week only.
While the premise of these meal kits is similar to other companies such as Blue Apron, Tovala meals require almost no preparation time.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
The food arrives pre-chopped in trays that look a lot like airplane meals and are ready to be cooked right away.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Rabie said that the company has seen a lot of former meal-kit customers turning to Tovala after being frustrated by the chopping, cooking, and cleaning involved with these other meal-kit services.
“I get customers that email me saying, ‘You saved my marriage,'” he said. “It is insane what taking the stress of dinner away from people will do. We didn’t expect this when we launched the company.”
The only thing you need to do is season the dishes.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
“Spreading a glaze is one of the more involved steps,” Alexander Plotkin, the company’s chief culinary officer, told Business Insider.
In some cases, you’ll be doing no more than opening the box and peeling away the plastic.
Each meal has a unique barcode on it.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
This barcode stores the data that instructs the machine exactly how to cook the dish.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
If any changes are needed to be made to the recipe, it can be done automatically from the company’s headquarters and then updated on every Tovala machine around the country.
It takes between 18 and 20 minutes to cook each meal, and a minute or less to prepare it.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
You can track the cooking progress using the Tovala app.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
The team has resolved one of the biggest complaints customers had with the first version of the oven, and that is that they were not able to operate the machine without using the app. This is now possible.
Plotkin has created a selection of around 250 recipes for food that can be cooked together using the same sequence of steam, convection bake, and broil.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
For example, this miso-glazed salmon and charred citrus broccoli dish steams at 400°F for a minute and 30 seconds, convection bakes at 400°F for five minutes and 30 seconds, then broils at 500°F for four minutes and 15 seconds.
This means there is no messing around with different equipment or dishes.
Twenty minutes later, the meal is ready to be plated.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Tasting the food was probably the most surprising part of this test. While the machine is impressive, it’s the high quality of the food that’s the real game changer.
We tried two other meals …
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
… which were just as easy to cook and equally delicious.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Disclaimer: these were voted as some of Tovala’s most popular dishes, so we were sampling the best of the best.
Each meal contains between 400 and 800 calories.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Plotkin said that because of the low calorie count and portion control, some customers have said they’ve lost weight while cooking with the Tovala oven.
There are at least two vegetarian meals offered a week …
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
… as well as various nut-, dairy-, or gluten-free options.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Tovala also plans to look at developing meals that would fit into diet plans such as Whole30.
One of the biggest downsides of the meal kits is the cost, which could add up if you’re feeding a family. However, the bonus here is that you can opt out of the meal kits and simply use the oven to cook your own recipes.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
You can either use it in the same way you’d use a regular oven or use the app to select a recipe. The oven will then automatically cook your food.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
We tested one of the simplest recipes around, which also tends to have the most unpredictable results: boiling an egg.
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
The app allows you to select exactly how you want your egg cooked. We tried a soft- and hard-boiled egg and both were cooked to perfection.
Our verdict:
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Tovala is more convenient than a meal kit and healthier than a microwave meal. It’s an efficient solution to healthy cooking at home.
However, you need to be prepared to fork up for these dishes. While the economics of it might make sense if you live in an expensive city where groceries prices are high, outside of there, it is harder to justify.
That said, if it can give you back your evenings and even save your marriage, maybe it’s worth taking the hit.
