SideChef’s Kevin Yu Looks to the Next Phase of Growth After Raising a $6 Million Series B
I first met SideChef CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At that time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded a few months earlier, and I was just starting to explore the kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.
In November, Yu went to Seattle to participate in the first Conference and thereafter became a regular attendee at SKS events. After a long time, I invited Yu on the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and to ask about his vision for its future.
I first met SideChef CEO Kevin Yu at a rooftop party during CES in March 2015. At that time, SideChef was in its early stages, having been founded a few months earlier, and I was just starting to explore the kitchen technology. The first Smart Kitchen Summit would take place only eight months after our meeting.
In November, Yu went to Seattle to participate in the first Conference and thereafter became a regular attendee at SKS events. After a long time, I invited Yu on the podcast to discuss his company’s recent funding and to ask about his vision for its future.
Originally, SideChef was a recipe app designed to help users with cooking. In those early years, SideChef and similar companies like Innit and Drop/Fresco focused on connecting various appliances and creating a technology-driven control system for use in the kitchen.
“We started as a recipe app to teach people how to cook,” said Yu. “But then that grew, and it was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute’, we can help you with not only how to cook, but we can also help you with meal planning, we can help you find your groceries, we can connect that to a smart kitchen device and make that happen again, too.”
As SideChef builds relationships with electronics brands, retailers and CPG brands have also expressed interest in connecting and digitizing the shopping experience. This interest grew with the beginning of the epidemic. As a result, Yu and SideChef focused on take-out cooking, as it was the most direct way to make money.
“I think affordable recipes themselves are just a topic,” Yu commented. “We shipped more than 3 million online orders to our retail partners last year with this experience.”
The company plans to use its new funding to capitalize on the infrastructure it has built over the past decade. Image recognition technology is one area that can help them do this, as it has the potential to work across the entire food ecosystem, from inventory management to self-adjusting cooking settings to smart kitchen appliances.
“We believe that image recognition is a type of technology that we hope to continue to build on the partnership we have,” said Yu.
I’ve been a little low on the smart kitchen lately, as it seems that companies—especially big brands—have not been innovative. When I asked Yu his thoughts on this, he acknowledged the problem but said it was a normal phase of market evolution.
“I think part of the plateau you’ve seen is because some companies, after taking their first swing, feel like it’s not right to try again right now,” Yu said. “Maybe they don’t want to be a leader in this area, or maybe they don’t have a reliable channel or sometimes even a confident group that can leave those cases inside.”
Despite the obstacles that other players are experiencing in the smart kitchen industry, Yu remains optimistic about the future of smart kitchen innovation.
“This is about unlocking value and entering the next chapter, where most of this additional investment money will be directed,” Yu said.
You can hear my full interview with Yu below.
