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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

PantryChic

PantryChic Partners With Chefling To Power Smart Pantry System

In the world of the connected kitchen, there’s been no shortage of tech-forward scales, fridges and ovens the past few years, but one area that’s remained remarkably devoid of innovation has been ingredient storage and dispensing.

Which is why I’ve long been intrigued by PantryChic, a startup I started following back in the smart kitchen early days back of 2015. The product is the brainchild of company CEO Nikki Lee, who’s been working alongside her husband Chris to bring the smart canister and ingredient dispenser system to market for over five years.

When we caught up with Nikki last year, she said they had plans to ship the product in 2018, but as Chris Albrecht noted in a follow up story the company had missed their ship date.

I asked them via email what happened, and Chris Lee said they delay was due in part to some partnerships they had been working with bigger companies that could have required potential product modifications, but that “diligence is taking longer than we expected we had to make some strategic decisions and we decided to move forward so we don’t miss this year.”

Which brings us to this week’s announcement at the Housewares Show, which is the company is  teaming up with Chefling to integrate the software startup’s AI-powered digital assistant for the consumer kitchen with the PantryChic system.

One of the last pieces the company needed to put into place as it looks to ship the product is software, and according to Chris Lee it made sense to partner with a company like Chefling.

“We chose to partner on the app side versus launching with our own App because the technology has advanced so rapidly with the integration of home assistants,” Chris Lee told me via email. “Chefling’s app design and customer value proposition are in line with what we were building and their integration of AI is very advanced making our partnership decision very easy.”

With PantryChic’s integration of Chefling, consumers will be able to track, manage and order ingredients from within the Chefling app. According to the release, the Chefling app will also recommend recipes based on what you have in your smart canisters and the app will track inventory and will be able to automatically re-order.

The deal is a smart move for Chefling, adding an interesting pantry solution to what has been a growing roster of larger appliance partners for its kitchen assistant. By adding PantryChic, the Chefling app will now be able to connect inventory management as a feature to select BSH Appliances powered by Bosch’s HomeConnect smart home platform as well as GE Appliances using GE’s U+ Connect platform.

According to Nikki Lee, the PantryChic will start shipping in July and will sell for $299, which includes the Chefling app, a base unit and three smart canisters.

What’s Going on with PantryChic?

As a journalist, it’s my job to ask questions. Sometimes, however, those questions go unanswered. At which point I have to choose between waiting for an answer, or writing up what I have so far. After months of trying to get updates, it seems like it’s time to stop waiting for answers and just ask the question out loud: What’s going on with PantryChic?

PantryChic is the connected storage system that doubles as a precision dry goods dispenser. The company was actually a sponsor of the first Smart Kitchen Summit as well as a Startup Showcase finalist in 2015. I, personally, was excited by PantryChic as I get pretty persnickety about measurements and following recipes exactly. So PantryChic’s ability to pour out exactly one quarter cup of flour was just what I need.

The Spoon first wrote about the product back in March of 2017, when we did a video demo of the product at the Housewares Show in Chicago. Mike Wolf wrote at the time:

Those looking to get their hands on a PantryChic won’t have much longer to wait. Christopher [Lee, Co-Founder] told me they’ve secured funding and found a manufacturer and expect the PantryChic to ship this year.

2017 came and went, and the PantryChic did not ship.

Fast forward to March of 2018, when I did a video demo with PantryChic’s inventor and other co-founder, Nicole Lee, at this year’s Housewares Show in Chicago. She told me that the product would retail for $299 and was estimated to launch in August of this year.

August has come and gone and so far as I can tell, PantryChic is still not shipping. There’s no place to order on their website, and no mention of a shipping date. I emailed PantryChich in August, September and again last week to see what was happening with the product and have yet to hear back.

It could be nothing, or it could be a slight delay in manufacturing — that’s not uncommon for independent inventors to experience as the move from prototype to scaling. Perhaps the company is in deep, confidential talks with an appliance manufacturer, trying to do something along the lines of what Bartesian did with Hamilton Beach. That would be great!

But given the delay of more than a year at this point, plus the months-long radio silence, I’m left wondering if something more serious is going on. Especially since it’s been a rough year for independent food tech inventors. Cinder crashed and burned, HOPii went flat, and iGulu is still having all kinds of issues.

So what is going on with PantryChic? I can’t say for sure, but hopefully this won’t be the last time I write about them.

Video: Inventor Nicole Lee Demos PantryChic Dry Goods Storage System

Waffles are a Sunday morning tradition in our house. As a result we go through a lot of Bisquick**. Making sure I always have enough on hand is just one reason I’m excited to try out the forthcoming PantryChic.

PantryChic is a system of connected containers and dispensing unit that keeps track of your dry good inventory, and doles out precise measurements of those ingredients. In this video, shot at the recent International Housewares show (pardon the tradeshow audio), PantryChic Inventor and President, Nicole Lee shows off the company’s first production models.

We’ve been watching this company grow and mature since our first Smart Kitchen Summit in 2015, so It’s fun to see their product move from development and into reality. PantryChic will be available this August, and will cost $299 for the dispenser and three containers.

**Don’t judge my Bisquick! Not everything has to be from scratch all the time. Plus, I use a cup of cottage cheese in the recipe as my secret ingredient. Try it!