Nomiku

Nomiku was a San Francisco-based food-technology company focused on making sous-vide cooking accessible to home cooks. The company began in 2012 as a Kickstarter project founded by Lisa Q. Fetterman, Abe Fetterman, and Wipop Bam Suppipat. Its core product was an immersion circulator that heated and maintained a water bath at a precise temperature, allowing users to cook vacuum-sealed or otherwise sealed food slowly and consistently. The approach translated a technique associated with professional restaurant kitchens into a relatively compact consumer appliance. Before Nomiku, Lisa and Abe Fetterman had created Lower East Kitchen while living in New York City. After moving to San Francisco, they continued developing their interest in sous vide and joined Haxlr8r, a hardware startup accelerator. The company’s name was derived from a shortened form of the Japanese phrase “nomikui,” associated with eating and drinking. Nomiku’s founding team combined culinary, editorial, scientific, and industrial-design experience: Lisa Fetterman served as chief executive, Abe Fetterman led technology development, and Wipop Bam Suppipat contributed design expertise and culinary training. Nomiku’s early business centered on hardware. Its original immersion circulator was followed by a Wi-Fi-connected Nomiku intended to give users greater control over cooking through connected-device features. The brand positioned the products as approachable tools for preparing restaurant-style food at home rather than as specialist equipment solely for professional chefs. Its broader educational and culinary ecosystem also included Sous Vide at Home, a cookbook authored by Lisa Fetterman with Meesha Halm and Scott Peabody and published in 2016, followed by Sous Vide Made Simple in 2018. In 2017, Nomiku expanded beyond kitchen hardware into prepared-food delivery. The company offered pre-packaged, pre-cooked, and portioned meals designed to be finished by customers using sous vide in approximately 30 minutes. This shift sought to connect Nomiku’s cooking technology with a recurring meal-service model. An investment from Samsung supported development of an RFID-enabled version of the Nomiku cooker and helped the company pursue the combination of connected hardware and subscription meals. The expansion did not become a permanent operating business. On December 13, 2019, Nomiku informed customers that it was discontinuing the Nomiku Smart Cooker and Nomiku Meals with immediate effect and suspending operations. The company is therefore best understood as a defunct consumer kitchen-technology and prepared-meal brand. Its significance lies in its attempt to popularize sous vide among home cooks through crowdfunding, connected appliances, culinary publishing, and meal delivery rather than in a continuing product portfolio.

Nomiku emerged from the founders’ earlier culinary project, Lower East Kitchen, which Lisa and Abe Fetterman developed in New York City. After relocating to San Francisco, the pair pursued a more focused effort to make sous vide available outside professional kitchens. They were joined by designer Wipop Bam Suppipat, and the team entered Haxlr8r, a hardware startup accelerator. Nomiku’s initial financing and public launch came through Kickstarter in 2012. The company’s central product was an immersion circulator. Rather than requiring a dedicated commercial water oven, the appliance could be attached to a container of water and used to maintain a controlled cooking temperature. This enabled home users to prepare food slowly and consistently, a method often associated with fine-dining kitchens. Nomiku’s consumer proposition combined hardware simplification with education: the company aimed to make the technique understandable and practical for ordinary cooks. Nomiku subsequently developed a Wi-Fi-connected version of its cooker, extending the product from a standalone appliance toward a connected kitchen device. The founders’ backgrounds supported this direction. Lisa Fetterman, Nomiku’s chief executive, had experience in journalism and fine-dining restaurants; Abe Fetterman, the chief technology officer, had a scientific background in plasma physics and astrophysics; and Suppipat brought industrial-design training and culinary experience. The brand also expanded through publishing. Lisa Fetterman co-authored Sous Vide at Home with Meesha Halm and Scott Peabody, published by Penguin Random House in November 2016. A subsequent cookbook, Sous Vide Made Simple, was published by Ten Speed Press in October 2018. These books extended Nomiku’s educational role beyond the appliance itself and helped frame sous vide as an approachable home-cooking method. In 2017, Nomiku entered prepared-food delivery. Its meal service shipped pre-packaged, pre-cooked, pre-portioned food that customers could finish using sous vide in roughly 30 minutes. The move represented a strategic expansion from selling connected kitchen equipment to offering a recurring food service. Samsung investment supported work on an RFID-enabled Nomiku cooker and the company’s attempt to combine connected hardware with subscription meals. Nomiku ultimately ceased operations. On December 13, 2019, the company emailed customers that it was discontinuing the Nomiku Smart Cooker and Nomiku Meals effective immediately and suspending operations. No continuing parent company, successor brand, or active website is identified in the supplied reference material. Nomiku’s historical importance is consequently tied to its role as an early consumer-facing sous-vide hardware brand and to its effort to integrate crowdfunding, connected appliances, cookbooks, and prepared meals into one home-cooking proposition.

• 2019

  Nomiku suspends operations

  [1]Nomikuen.wikipedia.org

  The company announces the immediate discontinuation of Nomiku Smart Cooker and Nomiku Meals and stops operating in December.

• 2018

  Sous Vide Made Simple is published

  [1]Nomikuen.wikipedia.org

  A follow-up cookbook associated with Lisa Fetterman is published by Ten Speed Press.

• 2017

  Nomiku enters prepared-meal delivery

  [1]Nomikuen.wikipedia.org

  Nomiku begins shipping portioned meals designed to be completed by customers with sous-vide cooking.

• 2016

  Sous Vide at Home is published

  [1]Nomikuen.wikipedia.org

  Lisa Fetterman co-authors a home sous-vide cookbook with Meesha Halm and Scott Peabody.

• 2012

  Nomiku begins as a Kickstarter project

  [1]Nomikuen.wikipedia.org

  Lisa Q. Fetterman, Abe Fetterman, and Wipop Bam Suppipat launch Nomiku as a crowdfunding-backed effort to bring sous-vide immersion cooking to home users.

Accessible home sous-vide cooking supported by connected kitchen hardware, culinary education, and prepared meals.

• Sous-vide appliance · 2012

  Original Nomiku Immersion Circulator

  Nomiku’s original consumer immersion circulator was designed to maintain a precise water-bath temperature for sous-vide cooking. Its purpose was to reduce the complexity and equipment burden of a technique traditionally associated with professional kitchens, allowing home cooks to prepare sealed foods slowly and consistently.

• Connected sous-vide appliance

  WiFi Nomiku

  The WiFi Nomiku extended the immersion-circulator concept with connected functionality. It represented Nomiku’s effort to make sous-vide cooking more convenient and controllable through a network-enabled kitchen device rather than a purely standalone appliance.

• Connected sous-vide appliance · 2017

  Nomiku Smart Cooker

  The Nomiku Smart Cooker was the company’s connected cooking hardware offering associated with its later meal-service strategy. Development included an RFID-enabled version supported by Samsung investment. The product was discontinued when Nomiku suspended operations in December 2019.

• Prepared meal delivery · 2017

  Nomiku Meals

  Nomiku Meals consisted of pre-packaged, pre-cooked, and pre-portioned meals shipped to customers for final preparation at home. The service was designed around sous vide and was marketed as a way to complete meals in approximately 30 minutes using Nomiku equipment.

• Cookbook · 2016

  Sous Vide at Home

  Sous Vide at Home was a cookbook authored by Lisa Q. Fetterman with Meesha Halm and Scott Peabody. Published in 2016, it supported Nomiku’s effort to teach home cooks how to use sous vide and broaden the method’s appeal beyond restaurant professionals.

• Cookbook · 2018

  Sous Vide Made Simple

  Sous Vide Made Simple was a follow-up cookbook associated with Lisa Q. Fetterman and published in 2018. It continued the educational side of the brand by presenting sous-vide cooking as an accessible home technique.

• 2019

  Suspension of operationsStrategy

  Background

  Nomiku’s hardware and meal-delivery activities were both active parts of its later business model.

  Action taken

  On December 13, the company told customers that Nomiku Smart Cooker and Nomiku Meals were being discontinued immediately and that operations were suspended.

  Aftermath

  Nomiku became defunct, with no active operating business identified in the supplied material.

  Source

• 2017

  Expansion from hardware into meal deliveryStrategy

  Background

  Nomiku had developed its identity around consumer sous-vide appliances and connected cooking hardware.

  Action taken

  The company began offering prepared meals shipped to customers for completion with sous vide at home, moving toward a subscription food-service model.

  Aftermath

  The meal service operated until Nomiku discontinued Nomiku Meals and suspended operations in December 2019.

  Source

• 2017

  Development of an RFID-enabled Nomiku cookerProduct launch

  Background

  Nomiku sought to connect its appliance business with prepared meals and a more automated cooking experience.

  Action taken

  With support from Samsung investment, the company developed an RFID-enabled version of its sous-vide cooker.

  Aftermath

  The connected hardware initiative was ultimately discontinued when Nomiku suspended operations.

  Source

1. 1Nomikuen.wikipedia.org