Startup Yummy which solves all cooking worries is heading over to the Czech market.


Grocery shopping can be time-consuming, expensive, and creates a lot of waste. The Estonian startup is aware of these problems. Yummy is a service that prepares and delivers packages of fresh cooking ingredients, precisely measured for the number of servings ordered, based on the customer's selection. Additionally, it comes with a detailed recipe for the preparation of the desired dish. With the service, which has been dubbed cook & eat, Yummy wants to enter new markets. This year, Poland is already on the cards, with the Czech Republic and the whole of Central and Eastern Europe also in the crosshairs. Yummy raised a total of €3.4 million in the pre-seed phase. The angel fund DEPO Ventures also participated in the investment round and will help Yummy with fundraising and expansion.

Startup Yummy which solves all cooking worries is heading over to the Czech market.

"There are several big and successful players in the cook & eat industry around the world. The CEE market is still untapped and represents a great opportunity for Yummy. The service also achieves a high net promoter score, which measures the level of customer and employee loyalty. This proves that customer needs are sufficiently met and there is room for further expansion," says Michal Ciffra, Partner at DEPO Ventures.

Yummy offers a wide selection of meat or fish dishes, and the range also includes vegetarian options. Among the recipes, there are also lactose-free or gluten-free dishes. Yummy also supports local small producers. The recipes are prepared by the renowned Estonian chef Orm Oja, who has cooked in several prestigious Tallinn restaurants. Yummy is meant to inspire everyone to cook for themselves using quality based, while at the same time affordable ingredients.

"We were in Estonia during the first lockdown. And when we were shopping online for groceries, the experience was admittedly terrible. Poor selection and substitutions for the items originally ordered were a recurring business. You never really knew what the tomato you ordered would taste like. I love food. But if you want to cook something extraordinary, you have to find a great recipe first, go to the supermarket and sometimes a specialty store or two. It takes a lot of time, then you come home, start cooking and it still might not turn out the way you imagined," says Karl Paadam, co-founder of Yummy, describing their motivation.

Ordering is simple. Users always order the menu for the following week. They can choose from 65 delicious recipes and each week they can select three to ten different dishes for lunch and dinner for five days. They choose whether they want two or four portions and the date on which the courier will deliver the fresh ingredients. Then all they have to do is open the box of ingredients and use the included step-by-step recipes to prepare a fresh, tasty, and healthy meal.

 

Yummy saves time and prevents waste

The ordering service offers considerable flexibility. For example, you can skip ordering weeks, change the day and time of delivery, or cancel an order. In addition, the service helps people to save money. And not just the time it takes to shop and choose recipes, but also the food, as customers always get the exact quantity for the number of portions ordered. On average, Yummy users save 18.5 hours they would have otherwise spent shopping and searching for recipes, as well as 3.5 kilograms of food.

"We help families save money and time on menu planning and grocery shopping. But that's just the beginning. We're building a platform to help households solve all their food-related worries. From budgeting to shopping to making sure they eat healthy and well, and that includes dieting. We are creating a service that will make it all as easy as turning on the tap and running the water," Karl Paadam contemplates about the future.

Yummy was founded in April 2020 and currently has fifty employees. Revenues for the first half of this year equate to 1 million EUR. In the first investment round, which took place last year, the company raised an estimated 1.5 million euros. It was participated by the prestigious European accelerator Startup WiseGuys as well as angel investors such as Bart Weymeis, Marko Kruustuk, and Herty Tammo. Financial support also came from family funds from New York, Switzerland, and Finland.