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New Delhi Move over Instant Pot, Soupmaker, Roti-maker, and other gadgets that threatened to revolutionise the kitchen. Here comes a more disruptive appliance – an all-in-one robotic cooking device pre-fed with hundreds of recipes that can turn out a full meal. Two companies – Wonderchef and Upliance.ai – have launched smart appliances that can chop, stir, steam, sautée, blend, fry, knead and more and promise to totally free you from the labours of cooking.
Wonderchef’s Chef Magic is positioning itself as a handy gadget for young people entering the workforce, while Upliance, founded by two IITians, wants to remove the clutter of multiple appliances from your kitchen. Both say that food ordering bills will come down with the appliance.
But are these propositions good enough to attract the Indian householder, who has fastidious tastes and the comfort of domestic help? “People’s imagination and aspiration on what to eat at home has risen,” says Mohit Sharma, former head of engineering at Chaayos, who has co-founded start-up Upliance.ai with Mahek Mody, who had worked earlier at Ather Energy. He is pretty gungho about acceptance of the Upliance device, which is retailing at a heavily discounted rate of ₹23,999. The device, which combines 16 cooking functions and was showcased on Season 3 of Shark Tank, has sold 800 units within a short time of launching, says the company.
Overseas plan
Wonderchef founder and CEO Ravi Saxena is equally confident that Chef Magic, which is selling at an introductory price of ₹49,999, will fly. “We believe in the first year we will garner about ₹50 crore from Chef Magic and in three years we aim to garner ₹200 crore. Early response is very good,” he says. Saxena said the company is also exploring markets beyond India. He said it took three years to develop the gadget.
Upliance comes with voice control, ChefGPT
Upliance comes with voice control, ChefGPT, and AI-powered grocery management and the recipes were created with early consumer testers. Explains Sharma, “The device comes with a smart jar and a smart screen. The connected screen is fetching recipes from everywhere. For instance, if someone sitting in Mumbai has cooked Matar Paneer in a different way, and added the notes, it will show up on your screen too.” The more people cook on the appliance, the better it will get, says Sharma.
B2B offering
Significantly, on Shark Tank, some experts fell that a device like Upliance would do better as a B2B offering for restaurants rather than homes.
Upliance comes with voice control, ChefGPT
Automated cooking segment has been gaining traction in other markets such as the US and Europe. Take for instance: Thermomix which has reportedly posted revenues of $1.8 billion in 2023. The global smart kitchen appliances market, valued at $18.75 billion in 2023, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.9 per cent from 2024 to 2030 according to research firm Spherical Insights.
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