Strategy: This $399 'Keurig for food' could replace every cooking appliance you own

The Tovala is a broiler, steamer, oven, and toaster in one.

A futuristic new kitchen appliance that is being called the "Keurig for food" could forever change home cooking.

Called Tovala, the countertop machine is a broiler, steamer, oven, and toaster in one.

It's meant to replace all major cooking appliances and eliminate most of the work involved in making healthy meals.

The Tovala will be available to purchase starting Tuesday for $399 on the company's website.

The public launch this week follows a Kickstarter campaign in which 700 prototypes of the oven were sold.

"Our goal is to sit on every countertop in America and bring fresh food to everyone," Tovala founder David Rabie told Business Insider last year.

Here's how the machine works.

The Tovala cooks pods of ingredients, including fish, chicken, pasta, vegetables, popcorn, and oatmeal, and it even poaches eggs.

Users can create their own recipes, or they can subscribe to get fresh, chef-designed meals delivered to them weekly that are specifically developed for the machine.

Tovala's meal delivery is similar to services like Blue Apron and Plated, which deliver groceries and accompanying recipes to customers.

But unlike those services, Tovala's meals require no prep work.

The food arrives seasoned and ready to be cooked inside foil pods.

To use the machine, you remove the lids from the pods and place the pods inside the device.

Then you scan a bar code on the food packaging.

The Tovala will find the recipe for the food and ping your phone with information regarding the cooking process.

That's when the cooking begins.

All of the recipes use some sequence of steaming, baking, and broiling. For example, the Miso-glazed salmon with citrus-charred broccoli steams at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for one minute and 30 seconds, then bakes for five minutes and 30 seconds, then broils at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for four minutes and 15 seconds.

The end product looks like this.

Tovala's meal delivery subscriptions cost $36 per month for three meals weekly that feed one person, or $72 per month for three meals weekly that feed two people.

The machine requires little maintenance, other than refilling its water tank.

Other recipes the Tovala cooks include this Southwest chicken...

...lamb merguez meatballs...

... and tofu Bourgogne.

Last year, Business Insider tried some meals from Tovala's first prototype machine. First, we tried a dish with sea bass. The fish was "shockingly good," according to our reviewers, and "could have passed for something you would order in a restaurant." The broccoli was steamed perfectly — not too mushy (overcooked) or hard (undercooked).

We also tried a chicken posole stew that came with tortilla chips and yogurt crema as garnishes. We were instructed to add those ingredients after the stew was finished cooking.

"The fresh avocado, tortilla chips, and yogurt crema made the dish feel elevated and fresh," Business Insider's Ashley Lutz said at the time. "It was the furthest thing from the 'airplane food' we expected."

The Tovala is targeting people who want to eat healthy but don't have the time to cook — a rapidly growing demographic. The company could initially face some hurdles, however, in getting consumers to pay for the initial cost of the machine and in helping them understand the technology behind it. When we described the concept to people who had never heard of it, many thought it sounded like a glorified microwave that cooks Lean Cuisine-style meals.

But Rabie says it's nothing like that. "The machine's cooking technology has been used in really high-end commercial kitchens," he says. "We're bringing that to consumers at an affordable price."

To encourage people to try the new device, Tovala is offering a generous 180-day, no-questions-asked return policy, which gives people the opportunity to try the machine risk-free risk-free.

The food is fresh — never frozen — and will be sourced locally and organically whenever possible. The company has hired experienced chefs, including some Michelin-starred chefs, to develop Tovala's recipes. All the meals are between 400 and 800 calories per serving.

The Tovala can only serve up to two people at once, making it ideal for couples, but the company says it's exploring the possibility of expanding its capacity to serve family-sized meals.

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