As an engineer, Matt Kawiecki is always searching for effective solutions to issues he faces daily.
When he became a dad and had to start chopping food into bite-size pieces for his daughters, he found himself frustrated with the process. It’s a frustration most parents and caregivers understand, as meal prep becomes a tricky one-handed, stop-and-start affair. Online tips that promise to make it easier, like using a pizza cutter to quickly chop bite-size pieces, don’t exactly solve the problem either.
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Matt Kawiecki and his childrenKawiecki’s in-laws gifted him with an ulu after a trip to Alaska. The all-purpose knife created and used by indigenous peoples, like the Inuits, is known for its unique shape– a wide, rounded blade with a handle attached at a right angle. Kawiecki and his wife b
“This tool, because it was so fast, it became our daily driver and we used it so much the handle fell off,” Kawiecki explains. “So I went to look online for replacements, and I was like, well, I want one that's dishwasher safe, and there was nothing. It shocked me– why is this not like a baby shower item?”
He figured the knife hadn’t been adopted for modern conveniences, joked to his wife that he should develop a dishwasher-safe version, and left the idea there.
Not long after, his 14-month-old had what appeared to be a choking incident at the dinner table. The event left him scared, he says it was his worst nightmare. But being a problem solver, Kawiecki decided it was time to start searching for a solution. He left his job and started developing a dishwasher-safe knife with a few accessories that he thought might help parents and caregivers avoid experiencing what he had.
Through product development and testing, Kawiecki came up with the
Totchop, a three-piece product that includes a stainless steel ulu-inspired knife; a nonslip concave cutting board that features two measuring guides; and a silicone insert that covers the curved portion of the board.
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Totchop includes three pieces, a knife, cutting board, and an insert that covers the concave portion of the board.The measurements on the cutting board serve as a quick reference for users, offering a guide to measuring in inches and deciphering the appropriate size of minced, diced, or chopped foods. Kawiecki says the engineering term for this sort of guide is “go no go,” and allows users to visually check if their chopped food fits into the guide, which is based on the recommendations of the
USDA and
American Academy of Pediatrics.
“They talk about making sure that no bite is larger than a half an inch, that's kind of the very common recommended bite size, so that's the biggest circle that we have,” he explains. “That was an integral part of the design because that's what got us started. We weren't just making a rip-off ulu or a plastic version of a mincing knife.”
Made to sit on top of the cutting board, the “Chop n’ Pop Insert” that covers the concave portion of the cutting board was added to the set after initial feedback from customers. The food-grade silicone material allows for micro-plastic-free cutting, but it’s not the only benefit.
“It's the first cutting surface in the world that pops, and it pops in order to open up the cut marks,” he explains, adding that it makes the cutting service easier to clean, whereas traditional cutting services like wood and plastics can be difficult to clean.
Since launching in May of 2024, Kawiecki says it’s been a roller coaster.
“Two months after we launched, we went viral on TikTok from a friend of a friend who made a post, and then we sold out in a day,” he says. “It's kind of an entrepreneurial dream…that virality, that definitely opened eyes to what we were up to.”
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Totchop was developed to make mealtime quicker and easier for caregivers.As it often happens, when something is thoughtfully designed, its benefits reach far beyond the intended audience. While Totchop was designed to make food preparation easier and quicker for parents, and Kawiecki says he heard great feedback from parents using the product, parents were not the only audience noticing Totchop.
“We inadvertently created a really assistive tool for people with a lot of different disabilities,” Kawiecki explains. “Because our product can be used with one hand, I was referred over to Turnstone at the very beginning, and I went and met with folks at the occupational therapy group there.”
He had meetings with organizations such as
Turnstone and
Gigi’s Playhouse to get feedback on the Totchop as an adaptive tool. He took those notes and started working on a second version of Totchop.
“This is the most motivating thing to work on,” Kawiecki says of the “kid’s version” of Totchop. Currently in development, the second version of the product features a dull blade, making it more accessible for children and some individuals with disabilities.
“Between the two products, we have the sharper one, of course, which we designed for parents, and then we have this new kids' one,” he says. “When you think about these in the context of disabilities, it's a crazy big range that we've discovered.”
On their website, Kawiecki shares stories of customers like Hayden, a 4-year-old with cerebral palsy that affects her left hand, who now uses the kids’ Totchop to be included in kitchen activities. Her mom reports that the tool enables her to be confident and excited about helping prepare her own snacks.
Some stories from Totchop users have overwhelmed Kawiecki with emotion, like when he visited The League for the Blind-Disabled and met Mark, a 50-year-old, blind, wheelchair user, who can only use one hand.
“Mark told me that he's never been able to help prepare food in the kitchen because he can't go near a sharp knife, so he was all excited about cutting fruits up for fruit salads, and I think that he was talking about potato salad and Thanksgiving,” he explains.
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"M", who was born without a left hand, using a dull version of the Totchop. At the time, the dull-bladed version was only a prototype, but after a lot of feedback from his visit to
The League for the Blind-Disabled, Kawiecki says he knew he had to continue developing that version.
Recently, Kawiecki went to
the American Occupational Therapy Association Inspire Conference in Philadelphia, where he debuted their children’s Totchop to hundreds of occupational therapists from across the United States. He says they were able to provide him with valuable insights on how the Totchop could be used in classrooms, clinics, and home programs.
Emily White, director of therapy at Turnstone, says occupational therapists typically have to be innovative to meet the needs of their patients, or “MacGyvering” and building tools out of what is available for each client.
“A lot of times, those don't make it past the point of just that client or just that therapist's caseload,” White explains. “There are O.T.s that are extremely innovative, but I just don't feel like I see a lot of those hitting the mainstream retail world.”
In her experience as an occupational therapist, there are not a lot of options for adaptive meal prep tools available in the retail space, so it was exciting to see a new option for patients that allows them to cut food with one hand, using just a rocking motion.
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The newest version of Totchop features a dull blade.“As far as a new product to the adaptive cooking world, I don't feel like I see a lot of changes in that, so I think that's why it was so exciting to have someone local come to me,” White says. “This can really help a population that he didn't even maybe intend to touch.”
To learn more about Totchop, visit their
website or follow them on
Facebook and
Instagram.