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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Mellow

New Fees are Just One Issue for Mellow as the Sous-Vide Maker Tries to Stay Afloat

It began with a comment over the weekend, when a Spoon reader told us that Mellow, the connected sous-vide appliance company, had started charging a monthly subscription. Companies charging a fee with their connected gadget is nothing new, but Mellow is now charging $5.99 to its existing owners in order for them to access formerly free features like pre-set cook programs.

But it turns out when you pulled on this thread, new fees were symptomatic of much bigger ongoing issues with Mellow.

In reporting about the new subscription fee, The Verge wrote (emphasis ours):

Late Monday evening, Mellow released a statement on Instagram explaining the justifications for its “premium” plan, citing financial hardships in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and claiming that many potential investors and acquirers interested in the company walked away, and arguing that the servers responsible for the cooker’s smart features cost too much to operate.

The Mellow statement was via an Instagram story, so it disappeared after 24 hours, but The Verge grabbed a screenshot of the post, which described the cost of running the connected service, how the company lost money, how COVID impacted its ability to get investors or be acquired and basically how the subscription was the only way to keep itself going.

The Spoon spoke with a source that has an intimate business relationship with Mellow. This person told us that while people are angered over the new fee, it is the only way to keep the Mellow functioning at all. AWS bills continue to pile up and if they can’t be paid, instead of limited functionality, the Mellow device will be completely bricked.

According to our source, the problem lies in a third-party chip and the way the original Mellow was designed. This chip prevents the company from doing something like releasing the code as open source and letting the community build a workaround. Additionally our source said that there is just one person left at the company, so there aren’t any resources to even do such a technical project.

But this new fee is just part of a larger set of problems that have plagued Mellow. According to our source, the company previously raised $3 million in funding. Crunchbase doesn’t list a specific amount raised, and only lists three undisclosed Seed rounds from Springboard, Techstars, and Hard Gamma Ventures, and a convertible note from Highway1. All of that money is gone, according to our source.

As per the Instagram story, Mellow had been involved in a number of discussions with potential investors, but when COVID hit, all of those discussions evaporated.

We reported in May that Mellow launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to raise $1 million through the SeedInvest platform. The link to that campaign no longer works and Mellow is no longer listed as an offering on the SeedInvest platform. Our source told us that the campaign failed to reach its funding goal.

Mellow had been the beneficiary of crowdfunding its products before. The first generation Mellow ran a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2014, and in November of 2019, the company launched another Kickstarter campaign for the v2 Mellow Duo. The Mellow Duo cost between $149 and $299, depending on the model and when you backed. The Duo campaign was also a success and raised more than $211,000 from 892 backers with an initial ship date of October 2020.

But an update from the company on July 13 on the Duo Kickstarter campaign said that because of pandemic, that ship date has been pushed six months. Though given all the turmoil, who knows if it will make it that long.

Sadly, all of these troubles are nothing new for Mellow. It’s initial v1 product was delayed, it lost its original CEO (and just about everyone else, subsequently), and when the v1 product finally reached the market, a 1 out of 10 review from WIRED labeled the product as “too risky” and all but killed the Mellow before it had a chance to gain any traction. As we reported previously, as part of its equity crowdfunding disclosures, Mellow said that “Over 6,400 Mellow V1 units have been activated, with the average household using it to cook 1.7+ times per week.” Our source said that the number of active users is closer to 2,000.

This whole situation is another stark reminder of the downsides of crowdfunding hardware projects. Making hardware at scale is extremely difficult. It’s also another reminder of the inherent issues when buying a connected gadget. Those gadgets may offer a lot of convenience, but also run the risk of being bricked either by the whim of a company or by its downfall.

Mellow Turns to Equity Crowdfunding to Raise $1M in Seed Funding

The saga of Mellow, the company behind the eponymous sous vide cooking machine, continues, as it has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to raise $1.07 million dollars in seed funding.

The Mellow, for those who may not remember, was a combination cooler/sous vide cooker. The hook with the Mellow was that you could put food in a water chamber in the morning and the machine would keep it cold until it was time to cook, so you could have dinner ready for you when you got home.

The product started as a self-hosted crowdfunding project back in 2014. But a series of delays, the departure of Mellow’s original CEO, and a brutal review in WIRED that called out the machine as “too risky” because it didn’t actually keep food at a food safe cold temperature seemed to spell the end of the device and the company.

But Mellow found a new owner, kept going and successfully crowdfunded a second iteration of its device last year called the Mellow Duo. The company raised more than $200,000 on Kickstarter for the Duo, which will feature two water reservoirs so people can cook multiple items to different temperatures at the same time.

In a Kickstarter update on April 6, Mellow said that the Duo was significantly delayed because of the coronavirus, a common issue for crowdfunded projects. So perhaps Mellow is turning to equity crowdfunding to help keep the lights on until it can ship. Mellow launched the equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest, looking to raise a seed round of slightly more than $1 million.

The minimum investment is $1,000 and as part of its pitch, the company released some interesting information. According to Mellow, “Over 6,400 Mellow V1 units have been activated, with the average household using it to cook 1.7+ times per week.” That’s…. not a ton of devices in use or a sizeable market to build on.

Mellow is conducting this campaign at a time when more companies are turning to equity crowdfunding. GoSun, GOffee, Winc, Small Robot Company and Miso Robotics have all shunned traditional VCs in favor of potential everyday investors over the past year. Bypassing institutional investment does mean there is less pressure on companies to scale, but they also give up the institutional knowledge and connections VCs bring.

Of course, any investment carries risk, but it seems like Mellow is trying to raise money at a time when the home consumer sous vide hardware has been largely commodotized and the market itself seems fairly limited in size. ChefSteps laid off staff and dropped product lines before being acquired by Breville. Nomiku shut down completely. And Anova is looking to expand beyond sous vide into a forthcoming smart oven.

Of course, part of the problem with home sous vide cooking was the amount of time it takes to make your meal. First you have to bring a water bath up to temperature and then once you put your food in, you have to that up to the right temperature, which can take more than an hour. Then, if you’re cooking something like steak, you have to sear it.

The Mellow promises to do most of that (sans searing) automatically for you behind the scenes, so you can set it and forget it. Assuming they fixed the cold storage issue, we wonder how big that use case is as most people don’t typically know what they want to eat for dinner until a few hours before they actually eat.

Will Mellow’s saga continue? For now, that’s up to the crowd.

The Mellow Duo, a Sous Vide Appliance With Built-in Refrigeration, Surpasses Kickstarter Target

That Mellow Duo has had a good week.

The dual chamber sous vide appliance with integrated cooling started a Kickstarter campaign on Monday and by Tuesday had surpassed its $30 thousand crowdfunding its target. Three days later, the campaign stands at $67 thousand.

“We are super excited with how the campaign has started,” Zalmi Duchman, company CEO, told me via a Linkedin message. “While I knew we would hit our goal early I didn’t think we would surpass it within the first 24 hours.”

Interestingly, the second generation Mellow is on roughly the same pace as the original Mellow, which crowdfunded through a self-hosted campaign on its site in 2014. As some readers know, that first generation product was ultimately late to market and had something of a rocky start. With the Mellow Duo, the company’s new ownership is hoping to turn the page.

With the exception of a radically different form factor and modern features like built-in refrigeration and connectivity, the Duo is something of a callback to the early days of the sous vide market, where water baths like the Sous Video Supreme were the only game in town. While most consumers nowadays go with svelte circulators that spend most of the time in the kitchen drawer, the Duo almost demands real estate on the kitchen counter, which may be just fine for a subset of sous vide diehards who want to cook every day with precision heating.

For Duchman’s part, he’s just hopeful the campaign’s early momentum will continue.

“Having almost 300 backers already shows the excitement around the new product but my real goal is at least 1000 backers and I’m confident we will hit that before the campaign ends”

Mellow Unveils the Mellow Duo, Their Second Generation Sous Vide Appliance

Earlier this year, Mellow teased their second generation appliance even as it was putting the remaining inventory of their troubled gen 1 on fire sale. And now, in advance of a Kickstarter campaign to be launched next week, the company has unveiled details of the new product which will be called the Mellow Duo.

The most noticeable difference between the original and the Duo is the second generation has not one but two cooking vats to drop food into (hence the name, Duo). According to the company, this will allow a Duo to prepare up a sizeable 10 portions in a cooking session.

Not surprisingly, the new version also has a built-in refrigeration system like the original.  As many will remember, it was this feature that both set the appliance apart early on and got it into some hot (or not quite cold enough) water. WIRED’s Joe Ray gave it a 1 out of 10 in his review of the product, finding that the first Mellow didn’t bring the food’s temperature low enough or hold it there to keep food out of the “danger zone” where bacteria can grow.

Mellow worked quickly to fix the issue and deployed a new app, and now with the Duo the company say they’ve gone even further, improving the cooling technology by “shortening the time between setting the machine up and when ingredients can be added and remain safely refrigerated.” According to the new product’s specs, the refrigerator cools the food to 39 degrees.

The Mellow Duo in action

Will Mellow be able to course correct after a troubled first generation and succeed with the launch of the Duo? Possibly. Despite its issues, the original Mellow does have a fairly active user base, mostly likely because its ability to chill and cook is something that appeals to some. While others are beginning to introduce products like the Suvie, for the time being the Mellow remains the only dedicated sous vide appliance with built-in refrigeration.

Interestingly, unlike its predecessor, the Mellow Duo will debut on Kickstarter. Crowdfunding always carries certain risk for a company, and success often depends on whether the campaign can get quickly out of the gate in its first 48 hours, so we’ll be watching closely next week to see how the Duo performs.

The new product will retail for $399, but backers will have a chance to pick one up for $299 when the Kickstarter campaign begins next week.

See specs for the new Mellow Duo below:

Appliance Size:

Height: 16.1 inches (410 mm)

Width: 7.5 inches (190 mm)

Depth: 14.1 inches (360 mm)

Water Bath Size:

Vat Large:

Height: 11.6 inches (294 mm)

Width: 7.5 inches (190 mm)

Depth: 6.9 inches (360 mm)

Vat Small:

Height: 11.6 inches (294 mm)

Width: 7.5 inches (190 mm)

Depth: 14.1 inches (176 mm)

Maximum Cooking Capacity:

8.5 Liters

About 10 regular portions

Heating Power:

1000 Watt

Cooling Power:

178 Watt

System Requirements:

Wi-Fi connection

iOS 9 or later or Android 4.4 or later device

Temperature Stability:

+/- 1°F at 140°F

Temperature Range:

39°F (at 84°F room temp.) to 194°F

Smart Kitchen News Roundup: Mellow Updates, Pico(Cold)Brews, Spinn Spins

There’s been a bunch of news about smart kitchen products lately, so I thought I’d do a quick roundup:

Mellow Updates Software To Address Cooling Concerns

Mellow, a sous vide appliance that utilizes an internal refrigeration unit to cool food until a user is ready to cook, has updated its software to address concerns about the product’s ability to cool food quickly enough. In a January review for Wired, food writer Joe Ray gave the Mellow a brutal 1/10 review because he said the Mellow couldn’t bring the food’s temperature below a USDA recommended 40 degrees Fahrenheit in two hours, meaning the product was a potential food poisoning risk. It appears Mellow was paying attention because the company just released a software update that prompts the user to add ice if it detects if the water in the reservoir is not cool enough. The company will release another update later in March that adds a pre-cool mode to help cooks start cooking the chamber earlier to keep their food out the “danger zone.”

PicoBrew Z Series Adds Cold Brew Coffee To Repertoire

A few weeks ago, PicoBrew announced their latest generation pro-grade brewing appliance, the PicoBrew Z. Not content with just brewing beer, the company announced that their new modular brewing system would also be able to brew cold brew coffee too.

According to the announcement, a standard Z will be able to brew up to two gallons of cold brew coffee or coffee concentrate in two hours, faster than traditional methods (although there seem to be lots of fast-brew methods for cold brew coffee coming to market lately). While I’m not sure it’s the most cost-effective way to make cold brew coffee (commercial systems that make up to 15 gallons cost around $450), it might be a good option for a brewpub looking add another item to the menu.

Spinn Spins Another Update

Like others who’ve backed the Spinn centrifugal coffee machine, I’ve gotten a bit restless as the company has fallen further behind its original ship date. But with the company’s management doing a good job updating backers, I’ve decided to stick it out and wait for my Spinn.

And according to the latest update, it looks like my patience may pay off. For the last few updates, the company has pointed a March ship date for first products, and the latest update indicates they’re sticking to it (but barely).

From the update:

“After Chinese New Year we’ll be assembling the machines and shipping the first units by the end of March. From there on, we’ll be ramping up production throughout the following months. This is a critical step towards bringing our machine into mass production and our teams in the U.S., Europe and China will be working around the clock to guarantee a great coffee machine that we’ll start to ship at a smaller scale at first, increasing the numbers with every batch.

Like I said, barely. For a product that could be described the Tesla of coffeemakers, it’s not all that surprising the company is taking a Tesla-like approach in its slow ramp it getting the product out the door.

Could Suvie Hit a Cool Million?

Suvie, the multizone cooker from the founder of Reviewed.com is trucking along with its Kickstarter. With just over a day and a half to go, the product has raised over $700 thousand.

With most successful Kickstarters going through the same three basic phases –  1) initial burst providing validation 2) a long stretch of yeoman’s work to keep story and interest alive, and 3) a final burst of folks who want in on project – they often look like this:

If Suvie’s campaign holds true to how most successful campaigns go, I would expect a last minute surge in backers and wouldn’t be surprised to see Suvie to see a get close to a million dollars.

Anova Nano On Track For May Ship

Last fall, Anova let customers know that the company’s new smaller (and cheaper) sous vide appliance – the Nano – would not be under tree come Christmas time and would instead ship in May. In an update from mid-February, Anova CEO Steve Svajian has indicated that they are holding to the May shipping window.

No official word from the company on when their Anova precision oven will ship other than a landing page on the Anova website that says “Summer 2018”. The product was unveiled at the Smart Kitchen Summit in October 2016.

Going Beyond The Stick: New Options Emerge For Sous Vide In 2018

While the ultra-early sous vide enthusiasts among us started their precision cooking journeys with water ovens like the Sous Vide Supreme, the last few years in home sous vide have been all about “the stick.”

That’s right, as sous vide enters the zeitgeist, immersion circulators from the likes of from Anova, Nomiku, and ChefSteps are the default option for everyone from Modernist Cuisine types to those dipping their toe into the precision heated water for the very first time.

But, as 2017 draws to a close, there are some new sous vide products coming to market that gives consumers an option beyond ‘the stick.’

Here’s my look at some of these new products:

Mellow Smart Sous Vide

After a long delay, the Mellow smart sous vide machine is shipping. This unique-looking cooking machine, which features a cooling system that allows you put your bag inside throughout the day, is now available for general purchase on the company’s website for $399 ($299 through cyber Monday!).

I’ve been testing the Mellow for the last few weeks, and I must say this: If anything, the Mellow is by far the most interesting looking sous vide appliance. That’s because unlike sous vide immersion circulators, with the Mellow you drop your plastic bag into the large transparent tank which allows you to watch your food suspended in water while it cooks. While it may seem strange to say it, watching a ribeye cook in a water bath can be surprisingly mesmerizing.

Here’s a video I took of the Mellow cooking a ribeye:

Like the immersion circulators mentioned above, the Mellow has an app that serves as the primary control interface for the device. The app is pretty solid, with a decent support/FAQ section, a limited selection of cooking guides and a good looking design.

And of course, the built-in chiller for sous vide is a nice benefit for those who want to program a cook for a specific time such as when they get home from work.

All this said, the Mellow has one downside: It’s fairly big. Not only does it have a large footprint, but it’s tall. Really tall. Like most, my storage space is at a premium, and I don’t have the space to store a device with the dimensions of the Mellow.

The Mellow is also a bit more expensive than immersion circulators (again, the company is selling it for $299 through Cyber Monday), but if you’re looking for the latest in sous vide gadgets, you might find the regular price of $399 well worth it.

The Cinder Grill

Want to move beyond the bag? The Cinder Grill might be for you.

The Cinder Grill allows you to cook sous vide without the water or the bags. The device, which looks like the love child of Tesla and the George Foreman Grill, has two precision heating surfaces that allow you to precision cook meat, vegetables or other food and also lets you finish the food with searing functionality.

The two-in-one sous vide and sear capability is an obvious benefit of the Cinder. I also like the idea of cooking without plastic, not so much because I am afraid of toxins within the plastic, but I feel bad about throwing away plastic after every cook.

Like the Mellow, the biggest downside of the Cinder is its size. I’ve been testing it out for a few months, and while it’s become probably one of my favorite ways to cook meat, the device has a really big footprint. And while it does have the benefit of being a dual-tasker (cook and sear), even with multifunction capability I would find it a struggle to stash the Cinder on one of my shelves.

You can see how the Cinder looks in action here:

Like the Mellow, the Cinder also has an app, which allowed me to set time and temperature and also notified me when a cook is finished. But unlike the Mellow (or even more so with sous vide immersion circulators like the ChefSteps), the Cinder app doesn’t go very deep with the cooking content itself, something I am sure the company plans to build out over time.

If you want to get a Cinder Grill, you can order one on their website, but it might take a little while before you see your Cinder. The company has started shipping to some of its backers, but is still in the process of ironing out some production kinks, and likely won’t reach wide availability until early next year.

Still, if you like the idea of precision cooking without the water and plastic, you might want to put in an order. The Cinder costs $499.

Sous Vide Supreme Touch+

And any mention of home sous vide appliances should include the new Sous Vide Supreme Touch+, the latest generation Sous Vide Supreme water bath. And while the idea of precision water baths are hardly new, with this product the company has completely remade their flagship product complete with a touchscreen, a see-through lid, Wi-Fi, an app (of course) and Alexa voice integration.

If you want to get in on the new Sous Vide Supreme Touch+ at a significant discount, you can buy it for $200 off the retail price at $399 on Indiegogo.

Anova Precision Oven

While 2017 has been an interesting year for the oven, 2018 is likely to be even better. One of the products I’m most intrigued about is the Anova Precision Oven. The device, which includes a steam oven, convection, and connectivity, also allow you to sous vide. The device, which was originally slated to ship in 2017, now looks on track for a mid-2018 ship date.

There’s no doubt that immersion circulators are easy to use, but by giving consumers more options to cook sous vide, will open it up to a wider audience.

In short, nowadays sous vide is more than the stick.

You can hear an audio version of this post here on our Daily Spoon podcast (add the Daily Spoon Alexa Skill here to get this podcast on your Echo device):

Smart Kitchen Curious? Here Are Some Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals For You

Want some new smart kitchen gear? Now might be a good time to pick up a new gadget or two given, well, BLACK FRIDAY.

Below is a quick list of some Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals we’ve spotted for smart kitchen gear from around the web. (If you see any other screaming deals for smart kitchen gear, let me know via Twitter and I’ll keep this list updated):

Mellow 

The Mellow smart sous vide appliance just started shipping and is getting some decent early buzz. The good news is you can pick up this sous vide appliance with built-in refrigeration for $299, a hundred bucks off the list price. Better hurry, the deal expires after Monday.

PicoBrew

If you or one of your loved ones has made a new year’s resolution to become a home brewer, now might be a good time to pick up a PicoBrew brewing appliance. You can get the Pico C right now for $399, a hefty $150 off of the list price of $549.

Hestan Cue

Want to cook like a chef? Try a Hestan Cue guided cooking system. The device, which was just named one of the best tech gifts of 2017 by the Wall Street Journal, is available now through December 3rd for a hundred bucks off. Use the discount code “blackfriday” at checkout.

Instant Pot

If you haven’t become part of Instant Pot community, what are you waiting for? With the 5 quart Instant Pot available right now for only $50 right now over at Walmart, you really have no excuse.

Anova

The leader in home sous vide circulators has dropped the price on their flagship product ofr Cyber Monday week. If you want to pick up a circulator, you can do so now for $99 over at Anova.com.

ChefSteps

If you’re reading this on Thanksgiving, you might want to give thanks for a true Black Friday deal coming your way. ChefSteps will be selling both models of the Joule for $30 off, with the Joule Stainless on sale for $169 and the Joule White for $149. Just head over to the ChefSteps Joule page and use the code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

HOPii

If you’re willing to wait and want to try out the HOPii home fermentation system, the HOPii folks are offering a “secret perk” right now through Indiegogo which allows you to have a HOPii system for 50% off. Go here to get access to the deal.

Nomiku

Nomiku has a bunch of deals on its sous vide gear and meal delivery service for Black Friday and cyber Monday. The company’s 2nd generation circulator, the Wi-Fi Nomiku, is on sale for $99 and their newest appliance, the Nomiku WiFi Smart Cooker, is available with $50 worth of meals for $179.

Sous Vide Startup Mellow Gets New CEO, On Track To Ship This May

The Spoon has learned that Mellow, a startup that has gained attention for development of a hybrid sous vide appliance with unique features such as a built-in refrigeration and a scale, has a new CEO. Long-time supply chain executive Gary Itenson, who served as the company’s COO for the past year, has stepped into the top spot and former CEO and company cofounder, Zé Pinto Ferreira, has left the company.

The change caught me by surprise because it’s a bit unusual for a CEO to leave on the eve of shipping its first product, but also because when I checked in with Ferreira at the end of last year, things seemed to be on track. The company has just secured a new relationship with contract manufacturer Flextronics and the Mellow appliance was expected to ship in the spring.

In an interview, Itenson has told me that the first shipments of Mellow are still expected to ship in May.

“We announced this past Monday to our pre-order customers that Mellow deliveries will start at the beginning of May,” said Itenson. “Based our production schedule and transit time all of our early backers will have a Mellow to cook with in their kitchen by mid-June.”

I also asked Itenson about the departure of Ferreira and the outlook for the company (I reached out to Ferreira for a comment but have not received a response).  You can see Itenson’s answers to my questions below.

Wolf: Ze Ferreira is no longer with the company. It’s unusual for a founder to leave before shipping product, so can you tell us the reason for the departure?

Itenson: I joined Mellow March 2016 as COO and as you know the journey for any startup, especially Hardware, is never easy and in hardware sometimes the COO can play a more pivotal role than the CEO. Both co-founders, Ze and Catarina Violante felt late last year that, as we moved closer to shipping, transforming Mellow from a product development team to a more robust operational entity was vital. At that time, I agreed to take over as CEO, with our investors’ full support.

Catarina has continued on as our VP of Product and has always driven the software and hardware side; while Ze decided on his own to leave the company but did so at a time and in a way to ensure we could keep moving forward without any disruption.

Wolf: Was this a decision made by the board members/investors?

Itenson: It was a decision made by the founders and I, but ultimately it was done with the complete support of the board.

Wolf: What is your background and how is Nex-Solutions (Itenson’s previous company) related to Mellow if at all?

Itenson: I have three decades of manufacturing, operational and business development experience within the hardware industry and I have lead teams that have scaled fast and effectively. Prior to Mellow, Nex- Solutions was a company that I founded 10+ years ago, based on the premise of helping domestic companies source and manage Asian supply networks.

Over the years I have worked with a number of companies and founders in the Bay Area, which is how the co-founders and I got involved. I am a passionate home Chef and I was really enamored with the Mellow product. It has fantastic potential for busy people and to truly bring healthy and convenient eating options to the home.

Wolf: Can you clarify the relationship with Flextronics?

Itenson: After joining the Mellow team last year, we saw that Flex was a clear choice to help us take a product from prototype to mass production. The relationship is one of a customer and supplier partner, however the senior management at Flex in China have really embraced Mellow. They love the product concept and as such, they have been more than supportive in applying resources and assets to insure we ship a great product.

Wolf: Ferreira indicated the technology was “harder to scale than originally thought” when I interviewed him in the fall. Have you overcome the difficulties around trying to do a combo sous vide/refrigeration unit?

Itenson: Yes, very much. Again hardware is hard and taking this extra time has made all the difference. Over the past several months we have had Mellow units in the field with select individuals that range from Sous vide experts to busy families and the feedback has been tremendous.

People are so enthusiastic about the refrigeration aspect and how this brings a completely different experience and convenience to sous vide cooking, with nothing like it in the market. Everything we have thought Mellow could be is now becoming a reality and we are very excited.

Wolf: What is the intended ship date and price point for retail (or ball park)?

Itenson: As mentioned the ship date starts in May and by mid-to late June customers will be able to purchase a Mellow unit from stock via our website. Pre-order pricing will be ending soon and going forward we expect $499.00 to be our target retail price.

While our price is higher than other sous vide products in the market, we feel that the Mellow, being a stand-alone appliance -with the unique ability to refrigerate and cook at a time you choose- justifies the higher price. Of course our long-term goal will be to bring down the price but we don’t see that happening for some time.

Want to meet the leaders defining the future of food, cooking and the kitchen? Get your tickets for the Smart Kitchen Summit today.

Mellow’s Zé Pinto Ferreira On Flex Partnership, Smart Kitchen & Sous Vide

Last week, Mellow, the maker of an innovative sous vide system that includes features such as built-in refrigeration and a scale, announced a partnership with contract manufacturer Flextronics to help push the product into production.  That’s good news for Mellow’s early backers, since the $400 (presale price) product was expected to ship in early 2015.

But the announcement hinted at more than just a typical contract manufacturing relationship.  The two companies execs not only talked about bringing Mellow’s machine to market, but also said they would collaborate on future products. Adding to the intrigue is Flex, which had moved into the smart home when it acquired the business of distressed smart home company Wink from Quirky last year, sees the smart kitchen fitting nicely into the broader connected home.

From Flex’s president of Global Operations, Mechanical Technology Solutions, Gerhard Zebe: “We believe Mellow’s connected appliance could be an integral part of the smart home kitchen, and something consumers will want and enjoy.”

The Mellow smart sous vide machine

With news of this partnership for a company we’ve been tracking for the last two years, we decided to catch up via email with Mellow’s founder and CEO, Zé Pinto Ferreira, to ask him a few questions.

Below is our email interview. Answers have been edited slightly for brevity.

What is the nature of the partnership with Flextronics?

Ferreira: Flextronics has invested in Mellow in non-traditional ways (no equity or capital have been exchanged) that really come down to a much closer and more trusting working relationship than any customer I’ve ever seen have with a manufacturer. The best I can tell you is that Flex’s upper management is heavily involved in Mellow, and they’ve put a disproportionate amount of care in shipping the best possible product.

Mellow originally was intended to ship in early 2015. What was the reason for the delay in shipment?

Ferreira: The technology was harder to scale than we thought. That’s the hard part of building such a unique product, you never know what problems will show up when you scale from prototypes to mass production, especially when you have the standard for that quality we have. We’re on the cusp of shipping now, and we’re so proud of the product people will get.

The product is unique with its refrigeration and sous vide in one unit. Was trying to do both in one device a challenge?

Ferreira: It was insanely hard, but it was the only way to build the product we wanted to ship: a fully automated sous-chef that cooks while you’re away from home. Back when we started, lot of clever people thought what we were trying to do was impossible. We knew it wasn’t, and we’re about to prove it at scale.

Given how close Mellow is to production, how will things change with the partnership?  

Ferreira: The most exciting thing about a software-driven product like Mellow is that you’re not finished with it by the time it goes into a box. We’re shipping a simple proposition: An app and a device that make a great product together. But we’re extending that product to more platforms and integrations soon.

How do you see a sous vide maker benefitting from a partnership with a company that owns a smart home platform player like Wink?

Ferreira: We don’t see Mellow as a sous-vide device. Bear with me: It cooks food sous-vide, but it’s so different from everything else out there. Most sous-vide devices end up only being used for special occasions, and there’s a limited amount of work connectivity can do for you when you’re cooking a whole hog for 20 people. Mellow is made to be left at home cooking while you’re at work, so working together with the rest of the home to anticipate your needs/changes in your day makes a lot of sense to us.

Will your role change at all now with this partnership?

Ferreira: Not at all. Flex has been great at leaving us to do what we do best – designing a killer product for busy home cooks. Their interest is in taking our designs and making them at a level of quality where it can proudly be in any kitchen from day 1. Usually, when a hardware startup plays Apple, there’s a lot of compromise down the line. We haven’t had to compromise at all working with Flex, they understand our obsession with quality.

It’s been a few years since Mellow was announced. How has the market for consumer sous vide changed in this time?

Ferreira: We’ve seen a few new products come out since we announced, but nothing that really excites me. I have a Joule, Anova and Nomiku at home, and I get a lot of mileage out of them on special occasions, but I still haven’t’ seen anything that really screams mainstream. All (especially Chefsteps) are doing a great job with education and it shows in the category’s growth, but we’re still very far away from sous-vide being in every kitchen. In my opinion, that’s because circulators aren’t the tool for the job. But I’m pretty biased on that 😉