Back-to-school season means busy mornings and hectic weeknights for parents, and a new AI app is aiming to take at least one chore off the list. On Fox 5, Christy Shannon, co-founder of Ollie AI, walked through how the tool helps families plan meals, manage groceries, and even automate shopping.
Shannon, herself a parent, noted that she and the other two founders have eight kids between them. “We totally get it,” she said. “Back-to-school is even more challenging because the mental to-do list gets so much bigger. If you can take something off your list with AI to help you, all the better. That’s what Ollie does.”
The app learns each family’s food preferences, then creates meal plans and shopping lists tailored to both parents and kids. Shannon shared an example of Ollie suggesting ham and cheese kebabs for her children’s lunches, and explained how the app adapts for different diets: “It knows that my husband and I like high protein, low carb, but it also knows my kids don’t. So it recommended cauliflower rice for us and regular rice for them.”
What sets Ollie apart from simply asking ChatGPT for recipes, Shannon explained, is that it’s designed specifically for families and groceries. The app includes a “cook mode,” automatically generates shopping lists, and integrates with Instacart and Amazon Fresh for easy ordering. Lists are even organized by grocery-store section.
Parents testing Ollie have told the team it’s a “game changer,” helping them break out of the rut of cooking the same few dishes every week and making it easier to bring more variety to the table.
The app is available now with a seven-day free trial on iOS and Android, followed by a $9.99/month subscription.
