Tovala

Tovala is a Chicago-based food technology company that sells a countertop smart oven alongside a subscription service for fresh, chef-prepared meals. Meals arrive weekly and require roughly one minute of preparation (such as adding a sauce or seasoning); the customer then scans a QR code on the packaging, and the oven retrieves a chef-designed cook cycle over WiFi that automatically rotates between cooking modes and temperatures, producing a finished meal in about 20 minutes or less. Customers choose from 45+ menu items per week, with most meals sized for one adult plus two-serving and four-serving Family Meal options.

The hardware line comprises the Tovala Smart Oven, with five modes (Bake, Broil, Toast, Reheat, Air Fry) at a list price of $299, and the Tovala Smart Oven Pro, which adds professional-grade steam for six modes at $349. Both share exterior dimensions of 18.5" x 12.32" x 11.75" and interior dimensions of 12.75" x 11" x 8". Beyond Tovala meals, the ovens can cook a user's own food, run preset recipes from the Tovala app, accept custom saved cook cycles, and scan barcodes of more than 1,000 name-brand grocery and frozen items (for example Eggo, Amy's and Pop-Tarts). The company also ships periodic software updates that add features and scannable foods.

The company's "scan-to-cook" technology has also been made available on select LG smart ovens, and select Tovala meals became purchasable through the LG ThinQ app.

Founding story

Founder David Rabie conceived the idea while an MBA student at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (MBA '15), after realizing he needed four separate appliances to prepare a week's food and wondering why no single product could cook without sacrificing health, taste or convenience. Originally named Maestro and nicknamed the "Keurig for food," the company was co-founded in 2015 by Rabie (CEO) and Bryan Wilcox (CTO). It went through the NSF-backed I-Corps customer discovery program run by UChicago's Polsky Center, then won first place and $70,000 in prize money — including the Pritzker Group Venture Capital Fellows Award — at the Edward L. Kaplan '71 New Venture Challenge in May 2015. Rabie was in the inaugural class of the Polsky Founders' Fund Fellowship, and first met the company's seed and Series A lead investor, Origin Ventures partner Jason Heltzer, through the Polsky Center.

Business model

Tovala combines a one-time hardware sale with a recurring food subscription. The Smart Oven is sold at $299 (Pro at $349) but is frequently discounted or given free in exchange for a meal-purchase commitment — for example, a free oven when a customer orders meals six times within their first six months, with a 100-day trial and free returns. Recurring revenue comes from weekly meal boxes at plan sizes of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 16 meals per week, which customers can skip, pause or cancel at any time. Management has described the company as being simultaneously "in the oven business and in the food business," performing both in-house.

Subscription meal revenue plus appliance sales. Single-serve meals start at $13.99; two-pack meals and Family Meals (about $35.96 for four servings) work out to about $8.99 per serving; a four-meal weekly box starts at $55.96. A flat $10.99 shipping fee applies to meal deliveries. Snacks are also sold. Ovens retail at $299 and $349, often heavily discounted when bundled with a meal commitment.

Traction

The company reports more than 50 million meals delivered, 45+ menu items offered weekly, and 9,583 Yotpo reviews (10,000+ five-star reviews cited elsewhere on its site). Annualized revenue increased roughly tenfold in the 18 months leading up to February 2021 as pandemic demand accelerated the business, with the company delivering tens of thousands of meals weekly and stating it was positioned for a record year. Total disclosed funding reached $68.6 million and headcount about 375 as of 2024.

Latest developments

As of 2024 Tovala had raised $68.6 million in total and employed roughly 375 people. Its current lineup consists of the Tovala Smart Oven ($299) and the steam-equipped Tovala Smart Oven Pro ($349), sold with promotional pricing tied to meal-purchase commitments, alongside a weekly menu of 45+ meals and a cumulative total of more than 50 million meals delivered.