To this point, Patrice Samuels, a senior analyst at Parks Associates, a marketing research and consulting company, says that Tovala has to prove the food tastes good enough to offset the cost of purchasing the oven and the meal plan.

Tovala is working on that: It is relying on word-of-mouth from its initial Kickstarter backers, who received their ovens in April after a shipping delay due to Tovala's desire to make sure both the hardware and the meals were ready, and a food truck in Chicago that will allow people to sample the meals and the oven. It's hoping foodies will give it a try.

From the article "Kickstarter Darling Challenges Blue Apron--With a Hardware Twist" by Kaitlyn Wang.