Samsung Electronics to launch nutrition platform to boost food tech business

Park Chan-woo, executive vice president leading the home appliance division at Samsung Electronics, introduces Samsung Food at a press conference on Aug. 24. [Courtesy of Samsung Electronics]

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. will launch Samsung Food, a platform that creates personalized diets for individuals, in a move to speed up its food tech business powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

“Samsung Food will act as a mobile nutritionist and provide a highly personalized dining experience,” said Park Chan-woo, executive vice president leading the home appliance division at Samsung Electronics, at a press conference on Thursday.

Samsung Food will be available in eight languages in 104 countries from August 31. Samsung Electronics will also introduce Samsung Food at IFA 2023, Europe’s largest consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany, on September 1.

Samsung Food is essentially a nutritionist in a smartphone. It does everything needed to cook and enjoy food, including searching for recipes. The platform showcases over 160,000 recipes and allows users to add their favorite recipes to My Recipes menu.

Samsung Food is powered by AI technology. It presents personalized recipes when users’ tastes and nutritional requirements are entered.

For example, it suggests vegan recipes for a meat side dish or turns Italian gnocchi into a Korean dish for a fusion meal. Samsung Food can also create customized meals. It suggests personalized meal plans based on likes and dislikes, family members’ tastes, and individual cooking skills.

The electronics giant is focusing on food tech as the market has huge potential for growth.

According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the global food tech market is expected to reach $360 billion by 2025.

Samsung Food also works with Samsung Electronics’ BESPOKE line of home appliances. The recipes suggested by Samsung Food are sent directly to the BESPOKE ovens, so users need not set the cooking temperature or time individually. Starting with the ovens, the company will integrate Samsung Food with various kitchen appliances such as BESPOKE inductions and microwaves later this year. The platform will also be applied to the BESPOKE Family Hub Refrigerator.

“Any home appliance that can be connected to the SmartThings app can be integrated (with Samsung Food),” Park said. “It can be connected to various devices in the world, not just Samsung’s devices.”

Samsung Electronics will also connect the Samsung Health app to Samsung Food within this year. Users will be able to check their diet based on individual body mass index (BMI), body composition, and calories consumed and burned. Next year, Vision AI will also be applied to provide nutritional information and recipes when users take pictures of food anytime, anywhere.

Additionally, a community will be created to allow users to share personalized or self-developed recipes.

“Globally, we plan to attract 1 million active users within this year,” Park said, “With users above that level, we can incorporate a revenue model.”

The company also plans to expand its subscription services with Samsung Food. One example is the My Qooker Plan, which was launched in 2021 along with the BESPOKE Qooker. It is a service that allows users to buy Qooker products for 50,000 won ($37.74) when they spend a certain amount of money every month at the online mall of a collaborating food company.