First came frozen TV dinners and ready-to-microwave meals. Now there’s Genie, an Israeli high-tech startup offering a countertop “smart oven” claiming to cook restaurant-quality meals and snacks from freeze-dried pods within three minutes. They contain no preservatives, artificial flavorings, colorings or additives.
Founded in 2014, the Genie Enterprise food-tech company recently raised $10 million in an oversubscribed financing round.
The food-prep system is soon pre-launching in the United States, starting at a few workplaces in New York City and branching out later to coffee shops, hotels, hospitals and more.
“We want to become big and so we want to go slowly and learn the best way we can,” cofounder and CTO Doron Marco tells ISRAEL21c. “We’re getting calls every day from a lot of companies and we’re choosing a few to start with.”
Initially, Genie will offer eight meal pods in the US market (some kosher), such as pasta Bolognese, chicken with broccoli in Alfredo sauce, oatmeal with apples and cinnamon, and molten chocolate lava cake. The pods will be prepared by chefs at California-based Mattson Food using locally sourced ingredients.
“Our chefs and food engineers in Israel are working with Mattson chefs in the US to adapt the menus to the American palate,” Marco says. -- More...
ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.
The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.
First came frozen TV dinners and ready-to-microwave meals. Now there’s Genie, an Israeli high-tech startup offering a countertop “smart oven” claiming to cook restaurant-quality meals and snacks from freeze-dried pods within three minutes. They contain no preservatives, artificial flavorings, colorings or additives.
