CHEF.i: AI-POWERED NUTRITION ASSISTANT FOR HEALTHY DINING OUT

While working as a senior executive at various tech companies, Hanoch Paz frequently traveled abroad. Trying to manage his weight and even shed a few pounds, he found that travel made maintaining a healthy diet extremely difficult. In large cities with countless dining options, the abundance of choice made it difficult to decide, as the overwhelming amount of information led to confusion.
Paz assumed he was not alone with this challenge. Market research showed him that many people struggled as he did — wanting to eat healthily but finding it difficult to do so in a fast-paced urban life where dining out is as common as eating at home. This inspired him, in 2023, to create Chef.i, a platform that recommends dishes based on nutrition and the user's environment, or as he puts it: Connecting People, Diets and Restaurants.

"We connect users to their nutritional journey, culinary preferences, lifestyle and the way they want to eat when dining out," he says. "At any time, users can click a button in the app — we call it, One Click to Eat — and instantly receive a recommendation for what to eat nearby. Each user is paired with a personal agent, a smart culinary guide, that learns their preferences and habits, building a detailed, dynamic nutritional profile. Thanks to generative AI technology, this transforms what would usually be a lengthy online search into just a matter of seconds."

According to Chef.i cofounder and CTO Nir Tuttnauer, people living in large cities eat out a lot, especially for lunch during work hours. "They're struggling to eat healthily and stick to their diets. We interviewed dozens of nutritionists in New York, and they all said the same: 'Our patients do well when eating at home, but when they eat out everything falls apart!'"

Understanding the User's Perspective
Chef.i's system is designed as a multi-layered platform. The first layer is a dedicated portal for nutritionists, allowing them to set personalized dietary guidelines for clients using the consumer-facing app. The second layer interprets these guidelines, even when written in free text, using AI to translate them into practical culinary rules tailored to the user. An additional layer integrates with restaurants, custom-meal providers, home chefs and anyone offering food aligned with the user's preferences.
"The agent created by our system stays with the user wherever they go, whether they're on the move, traveling or abroad, recommending dishes from nearby restaurants based on the user's preferences," explains Paz. But this a smart, adaptive system, not just a basic search tool. Thanks to its modular and flexible infrastructure, each agent is tailored with personalized features and integrated tools to respond to specific needs from geographic location to the user's current mood."

"We've also incorporated advanced semantic search," amplifies Tuttnauer. "If a user enjoys a particular dish, the system not only remembers it but also understands why they liked it. From there, it'll know how to suggest dishes they're likely to enjoy, even if they don't look similar. This allows users not only to maintain their personalized menu, but to actively build it."
This also means, however, that the system handles personal data which may have sensitive medical implications. "Our working assumption is that the system we've developed could be a cyberattack target, so we've designed it to safeguard itself by avoiding storage of unnecessary medical information," says Paz. "A key advantage of our technology is its ability to filter, retain and record only the information relevant to the app's functionality, without medical context. If, for example, a user is diabetic, the system records that they avoid sugar, but not the medical reason for that preference."

Does Chef.i Offer Added Value Compared with Other Diet Apps? "As far as we know, and according to nutritionists interviewed and users who've tested the app, there's nothing comparable," says Paz. "It's not just another recipe or food delivery app. It's a platform that uses AI to deliver personalized food recommendations specifically for dining out. No other tool allows you to walk into a restaurant or browse a delivery app and receive tailored suggestions."

"We also bring gamification into the user experience," says Tuttnauer. "I came to hi-tech from creative fields like design, editing and photography. This has helped me develop a strong visual mindset and a user-centric perspective. Our goal is to make healthy living feel like a game, even a friendly competition."
"Our ultimate mission is to improve health and happiness, and eliminate the constant stress of 'what should I eat and where?'" adds Paz. "With 65 percent of adults claiming they want to live healthier lives and actively looking for support to do so, we're here to help, and we're doing it in a fun way."

"Users needn't stick to a strict diet," says Tuttnauer. "If they suddenly crave a cheat meal, the app doesn't stand in their way. In fact, it'll suggest the best place to enjoy it. Technology shouldn't only be smart but also intuitive and human. Our goal is to help people live better lives without having to sacrifice what truly matters to them."

Huge Market Potential
Chef.i is now entering the international market, with its initial launch focused on the US, specifically New York City. Company executives explain this choice by pointing out the unique and dynamic nature of American dining culture, and New York's especially high rate of eating out.

"The US market also has the distinct advantage of separating between restaurants and delivery," explains Paz. "Consumers can dine in or order through separate food delivery platforms, which gives us greater flexibility in integrating with various services. We're not tied to a single provider or forced into a one-stop-shop model. Also, our product processes free text in English, the common language across the US, whereas Europe presents the challenge of multiple languages. We plan to get there eventually, but it's not on our roadmap for the coming years."

What is Chef.i's Business Model?
"Our revenue model includes licensing our software to nutritionists, and monthly subscriptions for end-users connected with them," details Paz. "Other users will get a Freemium version of the app. In addition, the platform generates unique data that we believe will become a highly valuable asset over time and can be monetized accordingly. We're looking at a massive market. In the US alone, there are around 110,000 registered dietitians, and major metropolitan areas represent a user base of tens of millions. We're currently in a $1.5 million pre-seed funding round, and welcome investors to join us in unlocking this tremendous opportunity."

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