A Malvern startup building what it describes as the “Peloton of the kitchen” raised a $500,000 seed round from a slate of investors including local private equity magnate Ira Lubert.
BLOK is a cutting board with a digital display that can show live or on-demand cooking classes while connecting users with friends and family in private groups. Lubert, the head of Philadelphia-based LLR Partners, has worked with BLOK co-founder Anthony Frick through another venture.
The $500,000 in funding will help the startup finalize its software and start production, Frick told the Philadelphia Business Journal. Also joining the seed round are John Fries, a lead investor and board member at GlobalFit, a health tech company led by Frick. Joseph Frick, the former CEO of Independence Blue Cross and Tony's father, is also an investor and will advise the company on its health care-related commercialization efforts.
In an interview, Lubert said he believes consumers will use BLOK in a similar way to Peloton to improve their cooking.
“I think this is a very exciting way to transfer, in a fun capacity and a very thorough capability, the ability for people that have the desire to want to enhance their cooking skills to be able to do that online,” Lubert said.
BLOK is seeking to raise another $100,000 through a Kickstarter campaign set to launch Sept. 21.
The venture is the brainchild of Anthony Frick and his wife Alissa, who is vice president of creative services and new media at FOX 29 Philadelphia. As the pandemic took hold, the couple wanted to cook alongside friends and family who were located across the country. BLOK was inspired by the digital communities that fitness companies like Peloton and Tonal built throughout the pandemic, and the couple saw an opportunity to build a product for home cooks.
“There was nothing that mimicked that community, high energy, music and fun in the kitchen,” Anthony said.
BLOK comes with a docking station that has speakers to stream the audio from live or on-demand cooking classes, as well as a microphone so users can communicate with participants they invite to join the class. The digital display can be used while cooking and removed for cleaning. BLOK will also have an application interface that lets users order groceries for their classes from delivery companies, Anthony said.
The hardware will likely cost about $399, with a subscription for unlimited classes priced at $39.99 per month, he said.
The product has been in development since late 2020, and a prototype is complete. A patent on BLOK is pending.
Anthony said he has a “head start” with its Kickstarter campaign, having already built a prototype of the product. The Kickstarter is designed to introduce BLOK to potential customers, rather than to fund a manufacturing line, he said.
BLOK is set to go into production and delivered to Kickstarter backers as soon as the first quarter of 2022. The campaign will offer BLOK at a discounted pre-order price of $299, with an annual subscription included.
Anthony has started connecting with chefs in the Philadelphia area to get them on board with teaching classes for BLOK alongside their other ventures. The startup will be shooting live classes and on-demand classes from a studio, and the company is seeking to get famous chefs on board in the next two years.
“We'd love to get the big, big names involved,” Anthony said. “And we think there's opportunity for that, because I think it's a mutually beneficial opportunity in the sense that you only have limited opportunities throughout the country to engage with a José Garces restaurant. But through a class like this, he could share a recipe and engage with fans throughout the country.”
