Deena C. Bouknight – Contributing Writer
A Macon County couple recently launched a new software program called Morsel. It works as an online family recipe sharing platform. Caroline Lloyd and Ian Hoyt, the company’s co-founders who moved to Franklin last year from Harlem, N.Y., conveyed that their idea was inspired by ongoing queries to parents regarding favorite recipes.
“I never had a simple way to capture my family’s recipes in a way that would later be accessible to me,” said Lloyd, whose career has involved work in the arts industry as well as nonprofit consulting.
“The idea was sparked by our ongoing frustration of never having the recipes we wanted from our parents when we needed them,” said Hoyt, a growth marketing and entrepreneur by trade. “These recipes have lived on faded notecards, in text messages, screenshots, or emails, but those can easily be lost. Being able to collaborate with my mom or grandma to ensure that our family recipes are preserved, shared, and carried into the future is such a gift.”
The Morsel platform enables users to share and access recipes passed down through generations or even those recently discovered.
Adds Hoyt, “Morsel lets families and friend groups come together and share all the cherished recipes with those they care about most.”
Morsel is subscription based, with an offer to try it for free for 30 days, and then an annual fee is charged to anyone interested in continuing the subscription. The platform offers such features as:
• an unlimited group creation option to allow friends and family to collectively share recipes
• the ability to share one recipe across multiple groups or families
• unlimited recipe uploads to document recipes from multiple generations
• a community activity feed on recipes-to-share tips, tricks, photos, and more
While there is not currently a Morsel app for smartphones, Hoyt explained, “During our design and development phase, we made it a top priority to make the mobile web experience of Morsel simple and functional.”
The pandemic in some ways inspired the new recipe-saving software, pointed out Hoyt.
“The pandemic has certainly changed the way that Millennials and Gen Zers approach cooking. The sheer nature of being home more often has ignited the need to try new recipes, recreate old ones, and most importantly, share recipes with others. We’ve seen this play out through food social media accounts, the bread-making craze at the beginning of Covid-19 quarantine, and a re-centering around family traditions. Suddenly gathering with family around holidays has increased in importance after spending multiple holidays without loved ones by your side. The pandemic …certainly has elevated the importance of family tradition and food.”
Blogs on the www.getmorsel.com site, where there is also more information about the software and its services, provide helpful recipe-related information, such as “Can You Freeze Pancake Batter?” and “How to Make a Family Cookbook.”
Lloyd and Hoyt, who first visited Franklin as RVers, decided to become permanent residents last year. “We fell in love with this community and its people, and we are so thankful for the warm welcome we’ve received over the past year.”
