Retail Observer

SEPTEMBER 2019 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 31 uniformly defrost foods. Steak will be perfectly defrosted, resulting in beautiful, evenly red meat. The same steak defrosted in the microwave will be unappealingly cold and hot, brown and red, and perhaps less nutritious. As is often the case with new technologies, RF cooking first emerged in the luxury market. Miele, a high-end appliance manufacturer, introduced its Dialog RF-powered oven in 2017, integrating multiple cooking technologies for the ultimate, high-end "multicooker." WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE MICROWAVE ADOPTION CURVE? Microwave cooking technology was discovered shortly before the end of WWII, when a Raytheon engineer noticed that a radar unit had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. More experiments followed, cooking popcorn and an egg, and the first device, called a "RadarRange" was offered for commercial applications in 1947. But it would take another 20 years for microwave ovens to start cracking the consumer market. Multiple factors contributed to the delay. Cost was a big issue, since the first popular model for residential use, the Amana Radarange, cost almost $ 500, the equivalent of over $ 3,000 today. There was also the form factor – early models were large and challenged consumers to think of what equipment they would need to replace, instead of simply adding them to their kitchens. The earliest consumer model, called the Tappan RL-1, was as big as a conventional oven. Finally, there were lingering questions about safety and use. Unlike conventional ovens that relied on principles of heat that wouldn't have surprised cooks in the 1490s, microwave ovens operated on invisible waves of energy. It didn't help that Consumers Union declared that none of the units it had tested could be considered "completely safe." So it took a while for regulators and the industry to educate and reassure the public about the new technology. It was also unclear what those "uses" should be. While some advocates argued that microwave ovens could replace conventional units, others marketed them as kitchen add-ons, which was reasonable once the form factor got smaller. There was, and still is in some areas, robust debate about which foods should and shouldn't be microwaved. Today's popular multicookers followed a similar long, but less contentious evolution. The microwave tech was first popularized in Japan for cooking rice in the 1950s. RF is following a similar pattern of evolution. So where is it on the curve? THE ECOSYSTEM WILL DECIDE THE TIMING No matter how compelling the technology, mainstream adoption relies on an ecosystem of participants, not only a hardware or product provider. The ecosystem is beginning to emerge for RF. It's an outcome of the major appliance brand marketers and technologists asking questions about RF's uses (does it replace an existing device, or is it a net-addition to kitchens?), form (is it installed or on the countertop, a standalone or an embedded function?), and utility (is it useful for all cooking applications, or are there certain uses for which it is most beneficial?). What will shortly follow will be more product introductions for commercial and residential use, as manufacturers test their assumptions. Miele's pioneering device will be followed by a range of units priced for different users. Additionally, both expert and regular users will begin to develop and share recipes and tips for what to cook and how to cook it. RF offers significant variability for factoring, not just placement of the items on a plate but also considering weight, humidity, and even ambient temperature in the preparation methodology. There are no RF cookbooks on Amazon as of this writing, but that will change. There's every reason to believe that RF cooking is imminent, though the exact timing, breadth, and depth of that evolution remain to be determined. RF cooking technologies are far more cheaply produced and affordable today, which has gotten the mass market appliance manufacturers thinking about how to design and market RF cooking's "use, form and utility." So stay tuned – tomorrow's multicookers might be improved with RF, while refrigerators could very well feature RF defrosting. Paul Hart, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Radio Power Solutions at NXP Semiconductors RO

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