Chefman Founder on Building a $400 Million Business and AI as the Future of Automated Cooking Appliances

Small business takeaway:

• In a CO— interview, Chefman Founder Ralph Newhouse explains how he built a profitable appliance company, then launched Chefman’s CHEF iQ line focused on AI-driven cooking automation. Takeaways: stand out in crowded markets by making a better end-to-end customer experience at an accessible price; use cash flow to fund product development and tighten control over the few inputs that determine quality; earn growth through persistent, test-based distribution and a digital layer that improves the product today and upgrades it over time.

Ralph Newhouse is betting that smart appliances represent the future of home cooking.

The Founder and CEO of Chefman, an appliance maker known for producing kitchen items such as blenders, toaster ovens, and coffee makers with sleek, functional designs, has formed a separate company geared toward incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into cooking appliances. The fledgling company, CHEF iQ, includes three products: iQ Cooker, iQ Sense (a thermometer system), and iQ MiniOven, all of which are WiFi-enabled and can be connected via Bluetooth to an app on a user’s phone.

The products join a growing market for connected kitchen devices, fueled in part by the rapid increase in the incorporation of AI. The U.S. market for smart kitchen appliances is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 12.45% from 2025 to 2033, when it will total $17.64 billion, vs. $6.9 billion in 2025, according to a report from Research and Markets.

“Smart kitchen appliances, including smart refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers and coffee makers, are increasingly adopted to enhance convenience, energy efficiency, and control,” the report concluded. “The market’s expansion is supported by growing internet penetration, rising disposable incomes, and technological advancements that integrate appliances with mobile apps and voice assistants.”

Founder got his start reselling excess inventory

Newhouse got his start in the appliance business buying excess appliance inventory and reselling it to retailers at a profit. He eventually began making his own line of appliances, which were designed to be both practical and aesthetically appealing, he said in an interview with CO—.

He recognized that much of the kitchen appliance market had become commoditized, he said, and he saw an opportunity for a stylish line that offered functionality that consumers appreciated and could also compete on price.

“What we wanted to do was build art that you can proudly display on your countertop,” Newhouse said. “Our North Star from day one has been creating something that was affordable, beautiful, and that surpassed the expectations of the consumer.”

With no outside funding, Newhouse built Chefman over the past 14-plus years to reach $400 million in annual sales. 

“We’ve grown organically and used our positive cash flow to fund our [research and development] efforts,” he said.

The Chefman side of the company has worked closely with its manufacturing partners overseas to build its supply chain, although it has taken the manufacturing of some components in-house to better maintain control over a portion of the inputs that impact the end-user experience. These elements are then shipped to the manufacturer for the final assembly process.

Its product line includes a wide variety of kitchen appliances, from air fryers to waffle irons, pizza ovens, and panini presses. Chefman is currently in the process of updating its product portfolio with a new look that Newhouse calls the “product of the future” design.

‘Old-school persistence’ gets products onto retail shelves

Newhouse credits the success of the Chefman line to the company’s persistence in getting retailers to carry the products, which are now available in major retail chains like Walmart and Target across the country as well as through online sellers including Amazon.

“One of our biggest challenges was creating enough value to override the gatekeepers’ hesitation to bring in a brand that was not as familiar to the consumer base,” he said.

Newhouse said the company jumped at opportunities to get on retail shelves, even for limited tests at a small subset of a large chain’s total retail fleet.

“It was just a lot of old-school persistence,” he said.

CHEF iQ line leverages sensor technology and an app to automate home cooking steps

As he was building out his successful Chefman line, Newhouse began to see the potential that advanced technologies could play in operating of cooking appliances. This led to the 2020 debut of the CHEF iQ brand, which is focused on automating some aspects of the cooking process.

Newhouse said he sees the iQ Sense thermometer system as the launch pad for the iQ product series, in part because users download an app to optimize its use. In the few years since the thermometer was debuted, more than 1 million customers have downloaded the app, he said, which allows users to monitor the internal temperature of foods as they cook. (The device’s probes remain in the food throughout the cooking process.)

“It's not technology for technology's sake, but it's technology that actually elevates the experience and makes it easier for the user,” said Newhouse.

[Read more: Actionable AI Insights for SMBs From Top Execs at Wayfair, YouTube, Google, and LinkedIn]

An early factory setback paves a path to scaling product manufacturing

The company ran into problems early on when the factory it began working with to produce the thermometer rejected the job, saying it was too difficult to make a profit and that factory managers didn’t believe in the gadget’s potential, he said. CHEF iQ ended up hiring some of the people who had worked at that factory and began manufacturing the thermometers in-house at a facility in China. The move has helped the company maintain quality control and to scale production, he said.

In addition to the iQ Sense thermometer, the other two products in the line are a multifunctional cooker (pressure cooker, slow cooker, and more) that has a built-in scale that weighs ingredients as they are added, and a toaster-oven that can also serve as an air fryer, among other functions, and has hundreds of pre-programmed cooking settings for everything from pizza to tomahawk steaks.

Additional smart appliances are in development. The goal of the line is to incorporate automation into much of the cooking process.

“Although the thermometer and oven are going to pave the way for us to create [more] autonomous cooking experiences, they’re actually standalone products that make sense today for the user today,” said Newhouse.

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