This New Appliance Wants To Be The Keurig Of Frozen Yogurt

Succumbing to the demands of impatient foodies and convenience-spoiled diners everywhere, a new appliance is set to offer up single-serve frozen yogurt in just 10 minutes.

The Wim, invented by Google alum Bart Stein, is set to clutter kitchen counters from coast to coast by positioning itself as the Keurig of fro-yo.

According to Bloomberg, Wim uses flash freezing tech to turn pods of freeze-dried flavoring and users' milk of choice into on-demand yogurt. The idea came when Stein, along with cofounder Anthony Cafaro, wanted a dessert while staying at an Airbnb in the Catskills. Not having everything they needed to craft a suitable after-dinner treat, they went without and the idea for Wim was born.

"There was an appliance for everything from coffee, to waffles, to soda; we realized there was no appliance for frozen dessert," Stein told Bloomberg.

While there are ice-cream makers on the market, they usually require a bit of pre-planning, since the devices' cores need to be frozen before they can be used. With Wim, all you have to do is add any milk (soy, almond, dairy — it's all fair game) to one of the pods, which don't need to be refrigerated, and press a button. All the magic happens in the actual pod, which also doubles as a serving dish, and there's no clean-up after, either.

There are currently nine flavors on offer (with more seasonal options on the way) and the company says that there's less sugar in its recipe than the options available at national yogurt chains.

Of course, the machine doesn't come cheap. Priced at $299 (including five yogurt pods), it's a hefty initial investment. For frozen yogurt die-hards who spend $4.50 per medium-sized yogurt at Pinkberry, things break even after the 67th at-home yogurt. Each pod costs $3-4, depending on how many you order at a time. But there's no price on the convenience of having yogurt literally at your fingertips, so the Wim definitely fills certain dessert-related niches out there.

Stein's optimistic about the new appliance, hoping to have 10,000 units on counters by the end of 2018.

"When you see SodaStream go public with a valuation of $1 billion, and then you look at the possibilities in the frozen dessert category, you get optimistic," he said.