How Otto Wilde Grillers Built
a Phone-Controlled Grill, Acquired by Miele
8K
Barbecue grills sold
€4,5M
Raised in crowdfunding
Iconic
Award received in 2019
THE CHALLENGE
A grill you can control with your phone?
Otto Wilde Grillers was founded in Düsseldorf in 2015 by Ulrich Otto Wilde, his family, and longtime friend Alexander Luik — all united by a passion for the perfect steak.
Their mission was to reinvent outdoor grilling by blending pro-level performance with German engineering. The result was the Otto Wilde Original: a sleek, top-heat grill that blazes up to 1500°F, letting you cook restaurant-quality steaks in your own backyard.
But having the perfect grill wasn’t enough. Otto Wilde wanted to elevate the entire cooking experience. They decided to build a smart companion app that would connect directly to the grill, walk users through recipes step by step, and make high-quality results easy, even for beginners.
They partnered with a third-party developer to bring the app to life. But as the launch date approached, the app was still nowhere near ready. That’s when Otto Wilde brought in Temy to scale the team and help speed up the app release.
Obstacles
Messy code process
The previous team left behind a chaotic codebase that was tough to work with.
Spring deadline
Barbecue season starts in March, so the app had to be launched before the first sunny weekend.
Urgent scaling
Otto Wilde needed top-tier developers right away. No time for hiring or handovers.
THE SOLUTION
Temy brought in
2 juniors, 1 middle, and 1 senior developer
To help Otto Wilde release the app on time, we brought in 3 developers to clean up the existing code and prepare for release. Next, our senior tech lead stepped in to redesign the app architecture and migrate all features, setting the stage for long-term scalability. After the migration, we kept working on the app, adding new features and providing ongoing support.
We set up a team in 2 weeks
Otto Wilde quickly saw we were the right fit — after our first call, the contract was signed just 2 days later. In 2 weeks, our team was already set up and ready to roll.
Temy helped Otto release on time
3 of our developers immediately got to work. They cleaned up the codebase and prepped the app for its release in late March, just as barbecue season began.
We create a new app architecture
After the release, we brought in a senior back-end developer who rebuilt the app’s architecture for better scalability. Then, we migrated all features into the new system.
Temy keeps refining the app
We kept adding new features like AI recipe generation, step-by-step cooking guidance, and in-app analytics. Now, we continue to support the app.
Key project outcomes
Explosive crowdfunding
Otto Wilde raised €1.5M in a single day and a total of €4.5M from supporters.
Surge
in demand
In 2020 alone, Otto Wilde received €2M worth of orders.
Strategic acquisition
At its peak, the startup was acquired by Miele, Europe’s leading appliance giant.
“Temy provided a lot of very good suggestions on how we should implement something technically, so we have learned a lot from them. We rebuilt our app together, we have refactored a lot, and it has made our product way better. ”
Nils WildeCEO at Otto Wilde Grillers
THE PROCESS
How Temy’s developers helped Otto Wilde
bring a smart grill app to life
When Otto Wilde teamed up with Temy, the pressure was on: an app that barely worked, a messy codebase, and a tight deadline just before BBQ season. Our team jumped in with sleeves rolled up and hasn’t stopped since.
Here’s how it all unfolded.
Temy brings the app from chaos to release in 3 months
In January 2021, the app was stuck in limbo — it was rushed, unstable, and the codebase was a mess. To turn things around, we joined forces with a developer from a previous team and added a middle and two junior devs from Temy.
There was no time to rebuild from scratch, so we stabilized what we could and got the app ready for launch. By late March, just in time for barbecue season, grillers across Europe were firing up their Otto Wilde devices through the app.
Our tech lead builds new architecture and migrates the app
Once the app was live, we brought in our senior backend developer to do what we couldn’t before: build a solid, scalable architecture from the ground up.
He started with the most critical part — Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules that connect the app to the grill. Then, we gradually migrated features like recipes and user flows. The transition was so seamless that users never noticed the app’s backbone changed.
The team makes fully guided, step-by-step cooking possible
Next, we focused on the core of the app experience: cooking with real-time sensor guidance. Our developers built a module that tracks grill data — temperature and gas usage — and syncs it seamlessly with each step of the recipe.
The module automatically adjusts target temperatures and timers, allowing users to switch between phone, tablet, and smartwatch without losing track. To make the experience even smoother, we developed a dedicated Apple Watch app.
We implement AI-generated recipes,
deep analytics & new device syncing
To make the grilling experience smarter, we trained a custom AI model that turns a simple photo into a full, step-by-step recipe. This wasn’t plug-and-play, as we had to first extract and clean over 500 existing recipes, converting them into a structured JSON format to train the model.
At the same time, we introduced real-time analytics. Users can now monitor temperature curves, gas flow, and session progress through interactive graphs. After each cook, users can review detailed stats, favorite recipes, and even add notes or photos to analyze what worked best.
All of this had to run smoothly with the grill. So when Otto Wilde switched from a Chinese to a German firmware provider, we rebuilt the server sync logic behind the scenes, handling serial number changes and ensuring an uninterrupted user experience. Everything stayed perfectly in sync.
We continue with the app support,
compliance & knowledge base development
Our collaboration is still going strong. We’re currently working on making the app fully accessible in line with the EU’s 2025 accessibility regulations. We’ve also launched a smart knowledge base – a bot that finds and returns answers from technical documentation like a human assistant.
Otto Wilde trusted us with some of their most complex features. And we’re proud to keep working with them.
“Temy brings a lot of experience to the table, they are the most experienced guys in our team. We have never seen with external partners that we got such good-quality work; it feels like an in-house team.”
Nils WildeCEO at Otto Wilde Grillers
The result
With Temy’s help, Otto Wilde saw incredible growth in both their product and brand. From a chaotic starting point, the app evolved into a feature-packed, scalable solution that’s now integral to Otto Wilde’s global success.
Before
Unstable app, far from being ready
No AI or analytics
No real-time syncing between
devices and the grill
Lack of scalability
No compliance with upcoming regulations
After
Fully functional app released in 3 months
AI-generated recipes, real-time cooking analytics & in-depth post-cooking reports
Smooth syncing between phone, tablet, and Apple Watch
Robust app architecture capable of handling future growth
Ongoing support to ensure accessibility
Client feedback
Explore the Success Story of Nils Wilde, Co-founder of Otto Wilde Grillers, as he unveils his transformative partnership with Temy.
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