In this edition of Recipes & Roadmaps, we interview Sumati Sharan, the founder of Ladle, an AI-powered recipe personalization platform. With decades of experience in smart home technology and a deep personal connection to food and health, Sumati is building more than just an app—she’s building a system that empowers people to cook with confidence, joy, and ease. We explore her founder journey, her vision for the future of cooking, and how Ladle is reshaping the meal planning space for creators, consumers, and beyond.
From Big Tech to the Kitchen Table: The Origins of Ladle
What inspired you to build Ladle? Was there a personal moment that made the pain point feel worth solving?
I have been working in technology for over 20 years. During the pandemic, I found myself having to make a number of big life choices. I left a long term marriage. I was no longer satisfied working for big technology companies where I spent 70% of my time making my seniors happy. I wanted to create something that I was passionate about and would make a difference in the world.
As I started looking into it, I found inspiration from my personal life. I have a son Ryan who has very significant food allergies. As a working Mom I have struggled with being able to provide him food that is healthy, safe and…what he would eat. I have also seen how many challenges that pose for him as he navigates life as a young adult. I have been building and launching technology solutions most of my career. As I started to do research I realized there was a significant need especially in younger demographics – Millennials & Gen Z to eat differently and cook what they want. And so, I decided to build Ladle.
Tell us a bit about your background. What skills or experiences shaped how you approached creating a smarter meal planning platform?
I have been in technology for over 20 years working for Fortune 100 companies (Amazon, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard), leading go-to-market and strategy for AI, Smart Home, and IoT platforms. At Amazon I worked in Alexa Smart Home and was responsible for launch and growth of Smart Home solutions like “Alexa - Turn on the lights” and Alexa Guard. These solutions are now adopted by hundreds of millions of users and are leading the Smart Home market. I am building Ladle – the AI powered Sous Chef targeting the Smart Kitchen market which is a subset of the Smart Home market. I am combining my passion for cooking, my vision to empower anyone who wants to cook with my expertise in technology to build Ladle.
There are a lot of cooking apps out there, but many fall short of helping people actually cook. What was missing in the space that you felt Ladle could do differently?
You are right. There are a lot of cooking apps out there and that is not surprising as we are a planet with 8 billion, soon to be 10 billion people by 2030. Ladle is not just a cooking app, it is a recipe personalization platform. Our goal is to assist and inspire people, starting from Millennials and Gen Z who want to cook at home do so with clarity, confidence and joy. As an AI first platform, we are doing this by helping people at any level, cook what they want by personalizing recipes to their preferences – serving sizes, health goals, dietary preferences, appliances, in their language and for their region.
“Ladle is not just a cooking app, it is a recipe personalization platform.”
Cooking Up the Future: Ladle’s Vision and Roadmap
What’s the biggest milestone Ladle has reached so far and what did it take to make that happen?
In addition to building a recipe personalization platform we are building an ecosystem between consumers, creators and brands. We have successfully started onboarding thousands of consumers, building partnerships with creators like CaribbeanPot.com, and OEM and CPG brands.
I would say it took three things: 1) Vision - A couple years ago, I started Ladle with a vision of what I wanted it to be and a plan of how I would achieve it. While the plan changes constantly, the vision has been consistent and is my North Star. 1) Experience - I have built similar ecosystems and partnerships before…for others but this time I am building for myself. It helps to have a roadmap and a process to draw upon. 3) Community - People, people, people. I cannot stress that enough. From people on our board to people on my team to others who are supporting Ladle with mentorship, connections, money…this would not be possible without their support and consistent encouragement.
What’s coming next on Ladle’s roadmap that you’re especially excited about? Any new user features or deeper integrations?
We have just launched an integration with Instacart and are really excited that people can order ingredients for their personalized recipes easily and under a minute.
The next piece of exciting news is that Ladle is adding multilingual capabilities and expanding into Europe.
What’s something about Ladle that people often misunderstand, or a strength that’s gone under the radar?
I think at times people underestimate us. They think that we are just a cooking app and there are tons out there. We are not just a cooking app. Ladle is helping people personalize what they cook so they can eat what they want with confidence and no compromise. I especially see us making a significant difference in people’s health. As a horizontal AI cooking platform – like Stripe for food we can bridge healthcare and nutrition. Can you imagine what a difference it would make if we were able to help even a fraction of ~4 billion people affected by chronic disease eat better?
“As a horizontal AI cooking platform – like Stripe for food – we can bridge healthcare and nutrition.”
How do you balance automation with personalization, especially when helping people build lasting cooking habits?
There is a lot of online cooking content out there these days but only 1% helps people cook. Cooking at home should be easy and fun but becomes tedious. Over 60% of young people (Millennials and Gen Z want to cook at home) but they will not grind at a stove. How do we take the tedium out and bring the joy back?
That is where technology can help us create experiences personalized at an individual level. So think about it, you Sandie come to Ladle at 6 pm after a busy day and you have 30 minutes to cook dinner. Yes it can be faster than getting DoorDash! You upload a couple images from your fridge and Ladle shows you a number of recipes that you can make and our chatbot confirms your preferences – vegan and for two and you are on your way.
In my opinion personalization is key. You Sandie should be able to cook exactly what you want to eat with ease and confidence. Automation is important for a lot of the logistical tasks but the level should be determined by what the user wants.
“You should be able to cook exactly what you want to eat with ease and confidence.”
Not Just Recipes: How Creators and Brands Plug Into Ladle
How do you see recipe creators, publishers, or partners fitting into Ladle’s vision?
As I mentioned earlier, Ladle is not a recipe platform but a recipe personalization platform. So we are using other people’s recipes. We are building partnerships with creators like CaribbeanPot.com and others. And we are and will continue to bring on publishers as partners who see value in providing personalization to consumers.
Are there specific formats or types of content that integrate best with what Ladle is building?
We are looking to build win-win partnerships with content creators. The best partnerships work with creators who first and foremost understand the value of personalization and are open to using AI to increase their business value. In addition the two things we look for are: social media presence and modern recipe formats. The first drives comarketing efforts and the second helps with integrating their content into Ladle.
For creators or food brands, what’s one opportunity in the meal planning space they might be overlooking?
Ladle is being built as a global platform. A creator in the US has the ability to have her/his recipes available to an international audience of 100s of millions of consumers. Young people all over the world want to cook and eat different types of cuisines but they want it their way. E.g. if you are a Caribbean creator and you have this incredible Curry Shrimp recipe. If you are willing to let the user choose what type of protein, what spice level etc, you can significantly multiple your reach.
The challenge for food brands - OEMs and CPGs is different. They do not have a direct relationship with their consumers and so have little engagement and loyalty. The best way to build engagement is to move beyond brand awareness and become an active helper in their cooking experience. Food brands have been trying to build their own software and recipes for years but that is not their core expertise. No user prepares lunch or dinner with the thought that I am going to use Brand X’s appliances or ingredients to cook with, so why keep them in your silos? I believe that partnerships are key. Working with AI forward companies like Ladle helps them not only provide more innovative solutions to their consumers but also understand what a broader cross section of users across brands are doing. This data in return helps them better forecast what new products or enhancements they should be building to sell more of their products.
Lessons From the Journey: Building, Pivoting, and Doing It Right
What’s something you learned the hard way while building Ladle that ended up making the product or team stronger?
Originally I started building Ladle with a couple well known brands as design partners. I was fortunate. I had worked at companies like Amazon and Intel, so I had existing relationships. My team and I spent a lot of time learning their pain points and designing our platform based on their requirements. After months of engagement and a lot of hard work on our end, there would be long pauses…sometimes radio silence for months. At the end of last year I was extremely frustrated. Earlier this year, in January we got a booth at CES and demoed our product in front of consumers. After 500+ demos we learned that they liked our product and what we could do to make it better. This led to us building the B2C Ladle app, which has allowed us to build a better core platform. And now brands are checking out our app and reaching out to us to partner. So the ability to pivot was the best thing we could do.
What does “doing this right” mean to you, as a founder in food tech building for both practicality and joy?
For me cooking has always been about joy. Joy in the process and joy in the result of what I create. I have passed that to both my sons. On a recent visit from one of my sons from college, the three of us got together. I cooked my chicken curry with both of them helping, taking notes, and laughing over wine. It was an amazing evening but it was “done right” because we enjoyed the process and we knew that we would have a good dinner. They took notes and videos so they could cook their mother’s chicken curry by themselves. In addition they had specific preferences, one cannot eat dairy, the other likes it spicier and we improvised so we were all happy. “Doing this right” to me means to help people cook exactly what they want with confidence, clarity and ease.
Beyond the Startup: Rituals, Guilty Pleasures, and What Grounds Me
What’s one go-to meal or ritual that grounds you when startup life feels overwhelming?
My one go-to meal is making chicken bone broth. On a cool, foggy San Francisco day when I am feeling overwhelmed and need a break, I go to the corner grocery store. I get some pieces of chicken with bones and throw a bunch of vegetables and herbs and simmer it for a couple hours, as I dance and listen to music. My house smells amazing and everything seems to flow from my center again.
What do you hope users feel when they open Ladle — even if they can’t articulate it?
My hope is that when users open Ladle they feel that they have found their personal sous chef, who will make cooking so fun and easy that they will want to do it again and again.
Rapid fire
- I believe any problem can be solved with… a Conversation
- When I need liquid courage, I reach for… whiskey
- My guilty pleasure is… Running
- I wish I had the superpower to… Read people’s minds
- The app I can’t live without is… Slack
- My favorite recipe to cook when I’m stressed is… Bolognese
- If I weren’t building this company, I’d probably be… traveling the World
- One ingredient I always have at home is… all of them
- My dream collaborator (dead, alive, or fictional) is… Julia Child
- A quote or mantra I come back to often is… Personal – I can do it
