Walmart, Amazon Partner Whisk Turns Recipes Into E-Commerce

Need to Know

• Recipe app Whisk has launched a multi-platform experience that includes grocery delivery.
• Users can upload existing recipes to organize and share, and also add ingredients to a cart for delivery.
• Whisk was recently acquired by Samsung and plans to leverage the relationship to grow as a leader in digital food experiences.
• It is estimated that by 2025, 70% of the US population will buy from online shopping services.

Analysis

Whisk, a smart recipe app owned by Samsung that organizes recipes and integrates with online grocery partners to order ingredients straight to the consumer, launched this week.

As the internet is already inundated with recipe websites, it’s important to note that Whisk is not the average food blog or recipe hub. Whisk is a multi-platform experience, which includes a website, mobile apps, and a voice assistant, that helps consumers organize and plan meals, share recipes, and order items. 

Whisk does not create recipe content, but rather allows users to extract relevant information from any recipe online as well as upload created ones. By simply pasting a link to an interesting recipe into Whisk, the app will sift through the unnecessary information and extract the important stuff: the title, the photos, and of course, the ingredients. While users may need to jump in and enter certain details, the app essentially automates the upload, making for a clean and organized system for viewing your recipes. 

“We’re trying to fit in with your life rather than trying to make you change the publisher you’re using or the retailer you’re using,” says Nick Holzherr, head of Whisk.

Interestingly, the app also picks up on the nutritional value for each of your meals and offers a “Health Score”, so you can make informed decisions with every meal. Calorie counting apps have become big business, with the popular MyFitnessPal reaching close to 9 million total users.

From there, users can add ingredients to a shopping list, which can be sorted by aisle or recipe if a user is shopping in-store. Consumers can also click to order the ingredients for delivery. Whisk currently supports 29 online grocers globally. 

While innovations in food delivery and meal planning have been boundless in recent years, Whisk seems to be the first to digitize recipe planning. Experiencing rapid recent growth, the recipe app is now powering over a billion recipe interactions per month.

Recently acquired by Samsung and a new addition to Samsung’s NEXT startup development program, Whisk plans to focus on delivering seamless digital food experiences by leveraging Samsung’s scale. These plans include growing their partnerships with the world’s leading recipe publishers and with grocery retailers, IoT companies, and digital health providers.   

The company also notes that 70% of the U.S. population is expected to buy from online shopping services by 2025.

Holzerr adds, “Hours are spent looking for food content online — seeking new and healthier meals. However, the data shows people generally end up cooking the same 7-9 dishes on repeat. There’s a fundamental disconnect between the online and offline that Whisk can help connect.”