In the ever-evolving world of technology, Marvin Tiebout stands as a pioneering force of innovation. As founder of Snap2Cook, Marvin has embarked on a journey to transform home cooking using the power of artificial intelligence. His app seeks to make mealtimes easier, educate users about fresh ingredients, reduce food waste, and bring families together.
The Genesis of Snap2Cook
The idea for Snap2Cook arose from Marvin’s own experiences around the dinner table. With a neurodiverse family, Marvin saw firsthand the difficulties of trying to cook meals that satisfied everyone’s preferences.
“At dinner time there’s always stress because people and households like mine, everyone wants something different,” Marvin explained. “So, we needed something that can take away some of the stress at dinner time.”
Beyond just choosing recipes, Marvin wanted to provide more information about the ingredients going into each meal. He drew inspiration from his wife’s use of a plant identifying app. “I was like how can we get all this information about a plant, but I can’t get this information about what I’m putting in my own body?” Marvin recalled.
These insights led Marvin to envision an app where users could take a picture of food and receive useful information about it. After 18 months of development, Snap2Cook was born.
Leveraging AI for Food Recognition
A key feature setting Snap2Cook apart is its integration of AI for food recognition. Through their own proprietary technology, the app can currently recognize and identify over 70 different food ingredients.
“We’ve actually built that ourselves,” Marvin noted. “In a world where I can have competition from OpenAI, Elon Musk, and ChatGPT…everyone’s concentrating on AI.”
By tailoring their AI specifically for food, Snap2Cook has carved out a unique niche. Whereas major tech giants are tackling object recognition across all categories, Snap2Cook’s focused approach provides an advantage.
“Everyone else has all the objects in the world to look at, we’ve just got food,” Marvin explained. “But food is still very, very complicated.” According to Marvin, constantly advancing the AI through machine learning will be key to staying ahead. An upcoming December update of the app will significantly improve recognition abilities.
Educating and Empowering Young Chefs
Beyond advanced technology, Snap2Cook aims to make cooking accessible and educational. By designing features specifically for young users, it helps introduce cooking skills from an early age.
Marvin has seen this firsthand with his own sons. His 14 year old boy now regularly whips up recipes he finds on the app. “It gives him instructions and he’s turning into quite a little chef,” Marvin proudly stated.
Meanwhile, his other son has become hooked on a poached egg recipe available in the app. Marvin is thrilled to see his kids gaining independence in the kitchen thanks to Snap2Cook. “It gives them life skills,” Marvin said. “But also, at the end of it, it’s nice to share and see what you’ve created.”
By utilizing modern technology that kids already embrace, Snap2Cook makes cooking exciting for the next generation. According to Marvin, this hands-on engagement helps counteract unhealthy processed food habits.
Promoting Food Education and Reducing Waste
Looking beyond convenience and recipes, Snap2Cook aims to expand users’ overall food knowledge.
“One of the parts of the next update is it’s gonna have a little wiki box,” Marvin explained. This will provide nutritional information and origin background about different ingredients. Marvin believes this education is sorely lacking with processed foods today. By informing people about what goes into real, fresh foods, they can make healthier choices.
Informing users also helps reduce food waste, a key part of Snap2Cook’s social mission. By helping people cook creatively with what’s on hand, less gets tossed in the bin. Marvin shared his bigger vision to collaborate with anti-food waste organizations and charities. This will allow Snap2Cook to make a positive impact on a global scale.
Expanding the Vision for the Future
As a bootstrapped startup, Snap2Cook already has an impressive 20,000 users and growing. But Marvin has much bigger plans for the future, aiming for millions of downloads.
He believes Snap2Cook can stand out from competitors through its unique positioning. As an independent company, they are free from investor or big corporation influences. This gives them agility to focus entirely on their goals of food education and reducing waste.
Marvin also plans to explore potential partnerships that could enable users to order ingredients tied to their chosen recipes. While careful not to reveal specifics, he hinted at a future where Snap2Cook becomes a seamless end-to-end meal planning and cooking solution.
No matter how technology progresses, Marvin feels cooking will continue to bring people together. His mission is for Snap2Cook to help families recapture the joy of gathering around a home cooked meal.
“Food is one of those things that actually brings people together,” Marvin stated. “There’s a reason why they say breaking bread.”
To learn more about Marvin Tiebout and Snap2Cook, check out his LinkedIn profile here.