Given the popularity of smart homes and kitchens, a new startup is trying to turn eating into a high-tech experience.
Innit, a California-based company that launched in 2013 and released an app in 2017, connects kitchen appliances to a virtual cloud that can be programmed to track everything from grocery shopping to calorie planning to meal preparation.
Since the January launch of the app, Innit has partnered with appliance providers including Bosch, Electrolux, LE and GE Appliances in an effort to sync home appliances to its virtual cooking app.
“We basically built a platform to help people through the entire eating ritual,” Ankit Brahmbhatt, Innit’s vice president of product, told Inman.
The Innit app, which is available on Android and iOS, works by letting users plan their meals by ingredients they already have and dietary restrictions and goals. Programmed with the Google Assistant virtual speaker, the app can then be programmed to give cooking instructions, track grocery items and, if the user has appliances that are synced with the virtual speaker, automatically turn on or program cooking times for meals one regularly cooks.
The idea, according to Brahmbhatt, is to streamline the cooking process and keep track of cooking elements such as recipes and ingredients in a single, virtual space. This year, Innit plans to partner with homebuilders and real estate agents to promote houses that are built directly with smart appliances installed.
“We see this huge opportunity for real estate agents to be able to speak not just to the fact that they’re cooking smart but really point to actual use cases that people can resonate with,” Brahmbhatt said.
Over the past year, smart home appliances and, more specifically, the home kitchen, came out as one of the top technologies that homebuyers look for in a new home.
Even though Innit’s app and cloud system can be used simply to track meals through the app, users will need to have ovens and fridges that sync with the Google Home Assistant in order to program features on the appliance itself. As homebuilders increasingly move to build new homes that are already equipped with smart technology, Innit hopes that its cloud will be used to connect the kitchen as well.
“It’s not just about having Wi-Fi in an oven but ultimately about what this is going to do for me,” Brahmbhatt said. “That’s where we come into play.”
