Next Bite - Recipes

Instagram lets you save recipes — not find them. Chat threads don’t solve the problem either. Next Bite fixes that. We turn cooking inspiration into something you can actually use.

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Inspiration

I enjoy cooking not just for the food, but as an excuse to bring people together.

While I was traveling and petsitting in France a year ago, the idea for Next Bite emerged. Despite my experience building mobile products, it wasn’t until I quit my job and came across this challenge that I finally had the time and focus to make it real.

My problem was simple: saving recipes was easy; finding them wasn’t. Instagram saves aren’t searchable, and recipes get buried in endless lists. Recipes were scattered across saves, links, and message threads.

I tried existing recipe apps, but most of them limited the very thing I needed most: saving recipes. The core experience was locked behind paywalls, turning inspiration into friction.

I wanted something structured, searchable, and practical — without barriers.

So I built Next Bite.

What it does

Next Bite is an AI-powered recipe manager that transforms any link from social media or web into a structured recipe library.

It ingests recipes from a blog, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, extracts transcripts, captions, and descriptions, and uses an LLM to generate clean ingredients lists and step-by-step instructions.

Core features

  • Consolidate recipes from multiple social platforms into one place
  • Search recipes by name or ingredients
  • Organize your recipes in folders

Premium Features

  • Get a printed edition of your cookbook
  • Sync recipes across Apple devices via cloud storage
  • Import recipes faster and enjoy an ad-free experience

How we built it

Next Bite is a consumer mobile product built with a cross-platform architecture.

  • Kotlin Multiplatform for iOS and Android development.
  • CloudKit for cloud sync, with most data stored locally on the device.
  • AWS infrastructure for the import pipeline.
  • OpenAI for extracting and structuring recipe data from social content.
  • RevenueCat for subscriptions and multiple paywalls logic.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges was processing video content. Extracting transcripts from social media videos can take up to 60 seconds, depending on the video length. We wanted users to receive high-quality results, so skipping video processing was not an option.

Instead of treating this as a limitation, we turned it into a product opportunity. Premium users benefit from faster processing powered by more advanced LLMs, while free users receive the same quality output with a short, monetized wait. This allowed us to balance performance, cost, and accessibility without compromising the core experience.

Another challenge was rethinking cookbook printing. We didn’t see printed cookbooks as an add-on, but as a core part of the experience. For many home cooks, a printed cookbook isn’t just functional — it captures personal taste, memories, and stories in a physical format.

Designing a full cookbook creation system was beyond the scope of the project given the time constraints. To move fast without compromising quality, we simplified the process: users share a JSON file containing their recipes, and our team takes care of the design and formatting. This approach allowed us to validate the idea while keeping the product lean.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A fully working consumer product built end-to-end in under three weeks.
  • Defining premium value propositions without restricting the core feature.
  • A lean product design that avoids unnecessary complexity and focuses on real user value
  • Laying a solid foundation to scale the product further.

What we learned

  • This kind of development could easily take months, but having a clear deadline forced us to stay focused and deliver.
  • In less than three weeks, we went from research and concept to design and production.
  • AI accelerated every step — from understanding social media content to shaping the product itself.
  • With the right tools and a strong vision, it’s possible to build something meaningful, not just fast.

Most importantly, we realized that Next Bite is more than a hackathon project. It’s the beginning of a product, and a long-term vision. Taking it further has become a personal challenge.

What's next for Next Bite

Next Bite is evolving from a personal recipe manager into a place where people connects through food.

Instead of endless scrolling and hashtags, users discover recipes from trusted creators, aligned with their personal tastes — and explore other cultures through food, shared at home with friends.

Our long-term vision is simple: to become a place where cooking inspiration, creators, and real moments come together.

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