Tovala[1], a $399 smart oven out of Y Combinator promising to perfectly cook ready-made meals in under 30 minutes is finally available for purchase.
It can bake, boil and steam meals at up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit in 10 to 30 minutes and works with either prepackaged Tovala meals or your own food. However, the real money maker for the startup will be in the meal delivery service.
It’s a crowded space with Postmates and other restaurant delivery as well as meal kits more similar to Sun Basket and Blue Apron. However, Tovala offers what it believes is a quicker way to make meals and with less clean-up.
“This is one of the biggest complaints with the meal kit companies – after all the cooking, you’re left with a ton of pots, pans and plates to clean. There’s literally no clean up required with our meals.” co-founder David Rabie said.
Right now, Tovala has two subscription plans: 3 single-serving meals for $36 or 3 double-serving meals for $72. Compare that to Blue Apron’s offering at 3 double-serving meals for $60 a week or the family plan serving two recipes per week at four servings each for $72.
Tovala tells TechCrunch it will eventually add a family plan as well as breakfast and dessert meals. For now you can choose from entrees like miso-glazed salmon or Moroccan chicken with chickpeas, goat cheese & corn pasta, for example.
Each Tovala packaged meal can feed up to four people, are made from scratch in the Tovala kitchen, and consist of 400 to 800 calories per serving. The startup also has a recipe library for creating meals with special diet restrictions such as paleo, vegan and gluten-free, if those are your...
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