So I ended up attending the launch event in SF on Wednesday, but have been swamped with work - hence the delay in my report back.
I spent about 2 hours speaking with the Tovala crew (as well as some of the other attendees) and they responded very positively to my onslaught of questions. They were extremely friendly, forthcoming and transparent with information, and I came away with the feeling that they were a good group of people with a solid product. It was a pretty laid-back event with no official speech, structured itinerary, or needless self-promotion. It was held in a co-working space where they had several ovens set up (more on that later), were serving cooking and serving food, and had a table of beer and wine that you could help yourself to (which I gladly did - thanks Tovala crew!).
I actually forgot my 1/4 sheet pan in my rush to leave the house, but was able to pick one up at the restaurant supply store on the way. The bad news is that a 1/4 sheet pan is just about 1/8" too wide to fit in the oven. I spoke with them about this and explained that the 1/4 sheet is a standardized size, nearly indestructible, versatile, and can be had for about $3 each which is why I have a dozen of them around. In order to accommodate one, I think the oven chamber would probably have to be widened about 1/2" to prevent the pan from touching the edges and having the steam condensate run down the sides and into the pan. There was plenty of room in front of and behind the pan for heat/steam to circulate. I'm told that the reason the interior cooking area is the size that it is was due to other readily available components. The only item that I could thing of which would dictate that would be the chrome rack (which I'm sure that they could re-spec very easily at minimal cost). The good news (potentially) is that I was told that the final design wasn't set in stone and that enlarging the cooking chamber was certainly a possibility if the re-tooling costs weren't prohibitive. As a former machinist/fabricator, I know that it can be done quite easily, but I'm not very familiar with Chinese production dynamics so fingers crossed on this one. I did leave the 1/4 sheet pan with them in hopes that they would bring it over to their development lab to try and get it accommodated. As far as a tray goes though, I reminded them of how once a toaster oven's tray warps, stains, or gets lost, that's the end of the tray which is not easily replaceable and why 1/4 sheet pans are so handy. They did say that a tray would probably be available separately, so there's that in the event that the interior dimensions do stay the same.
The barcode probably won't be "hackable" as it pertains to a specific menu item (unless you create food that takes advantage of the same cook routines as one of their prepackaged offerings). The interesting part of repurposing a barcode to cook your own foods is that you'll be skewing their data since the oven sends back data to them information on what is being cooked, when, how often, etc. Once the barcode/item number is scanned, the oven goes out and fetches the instruction set from the internet via wifi. In the event of an internet outage, the oven routine can be programmed directly from a smartphone and beamed over via Bluetooth. So yes, Bluetooth was mentioned as a connectivity method. Additionally, If you have a number of things that you cook on a regular basis, you will be able to program the routines into the app and then just hit a saved cook routine and the procedure will be beamed over to the oven. You can save these routines in a private repository or publish them for others to use. If you develop a very popular recipe that gets published and Tovala produces it as a pre-packaged offering, you will receive royalties from that recipe.
They served two items at the event - mac and cheese and chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms, cheese (asiago, I think??), and spinach. The mac and cheese was excellent. Adequate portion size, good taste and texture, and well prepared. It did have a crumb topping on it, which highlighted the browning abilities of the oven. The cook times were spot on. The chicken tasted great. The chicken was seared before packaging so that it would have some color beforehand, but was raw otherwise. I was told that some prep (such as pre-searing) would take place with the packaged meal offerings. I'm guessing that the mushrooms that were part of the filling were also cooked down before assembly and packaging, but I didn't ask. The chicken was very tasty. Significantly better than something you'd get from a fast casual restaurant. I felt that the portion was a little small, but will admit that I'm a big eater. Not sure if the portion size is dictated by food cost, tray size, nutrition concerns, or something else. Combining the smallish (in my opinion) chicken entree with a full portion side of the mac and cheese and a veggie, it ends up being a sensible meal.
As far as the oven construction goes, fit and finish are very good. The build quality appears to be top notch. There is only one complete working oven at this time, with approx. 20-30 more on the way for testing very soon. The unit looks sleek and the controls are pretty well thought out. The controls are all along the top of the door together with a display. Currently, it's a blue LCD display that only shows the temperature - but they did mention that they might try to incorporate an OLED unit that displays more information by the time they go into production. Along with that display, there's an LED indicating wifi connectivity. The buttons on the left with one and two dots are programmable by the user, so if there is something you make on a regular basis you can program that and just hit one of the buttons instead of having to pulling out the smartphone. I should add that the printed buttons for the production model should be fine. The pictured example of the control panel is a prototype that has had plenty of abuse and (presumably) will use a more durable ink. Behind the right side of the door is where the laser barcode scanner is situated as well as the water reservoir. You open the door by pulling the handle and the water reservoir slides out and the slot for the barcode scanner is visible to the right. The door has a latch that clicks when you open and close it, but it doesn't lock. There was a mention of a locking latch possible in later versions, although I don't see the need for it. Along the top of the oven door on the front is a row of blue LEDs which light up left to right as the cooking routine is executed (a progress bar). The drip tray is located along the front underneath the door and spans the width of the oven. It goes back about 4 inches or so and is about 1 inch deep - I don't foresee any capacity concerns there. The steam vent is on the back left corner and up a little bit higher than the oven itself. Not sure if the height of the steam vent is taken into account for the exterior dimensions (although common sense says that it should be).
Also present at the event were 3 Cuisinart steam ovens that they hacked (since they only had one completed Tovala to prepare food in). I'm guessing much of the recipe research as well as controller and programming development is taking place on those re-wired machines solely as a steam oven platform.
Regarding the longevity of the company in regards to income and profitability, I was told that they make enough money off the margin of the oven itself that they are not dependent on the meal program to make a profit. The meal offering will be a separate income stream that has margins in line with Blue Apron, etc.
I'm still a backer, but my only reservation at this time is where I plan to locate it. I have a cubby in my kitchen intended for a microwave (which I don't own) where I was planning on putting it. It will fit perfectly in that area and would look great. The problem is not with the oven so much as it is with the cubby itself. The shelf of the cubby is 55 inches high and I wouldn't be able to see the display panel on the top of the door. I could still use the controls when the door is open, but they would become inaccessible once the oven door was closed (unless I used a step ladder). Not a deal breaker for me, but not ideal either. I've used the Cuisinart seam oven extensively (I had use of one for several months before giving it back to the rightful owner) and like the abilities of steam ovens quite a bit. If I already owned another brand combi oven and was happy with it, I wouldn't feel the need to replace it with a Tovala (since I don't plan on utilizing the meal program). Since I don't currently own a steam oven, have a spot in my kitchen for it, and the $230 price can't be beat, I'm sticking with it. Target demographic on this one is tough to nail since I only met a handful of backers at the event and I don't know the background of the other backers throughout the country. From what I could tell, it seems to be techies who like food, but are not cooks - nor they have the desire to understand their ingredients and make things from scratch. A couple attendees I spoke with were all about just buying the next toy. They told me that they backed a bunch of other food/technology devices and this was just the next thing to them - whether they understand it or not (I spoke with a couple of people who did not know what a steam oven was, what it could do, how it differed from a standard oven, or the advantages of one).
I hope that this post was insightful. I'm sure there is more that I'm sure I'm forgetting, but I think this post is long enough as is!
