A Small Team Building Recipe Tools
Recipe Kit is an independent, bootstrapped Shopify app used by 1,300+ food brands. Three people, no investors, focused on making one thing well.
How This Started
Before Recipe Kit, I was a freelance Shopify developer building custom apps and stores for brands in Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2018, I launched my first Shopify app—Wait.li—and got hooked on building software products.
One of my long-term clients was a subscription produce box company in Singapore. We'd been working together for years when they asked me to help improve their blog. They wanted to include recipes with each box—show customers what to make with that week's produce.
I searched the Shopify App Store for a recipe app. Nothing. WordPress has had recipe plugins for decades, but Shopify had zero options. So I built something custom.
We refined it together over a few months. Then I decided to turn it into a public app.
I was living in Bali at the time. When COVID hit in early 2020, I flew back to Canada and went into lockdown. That's when I pushed Recipe Kit to the App Store.
The Team
Recipe Kit is three people. Yusuf handles customer support. Matt is our support engineer and developer. And I still do a lot of the coding, product development, marketing, and research.
We're not trying to scale into some massive company. We like being small—it means we can actually pay attention to the merchants who use Recipe Kit.
My Favorite Part
Running Recipe Kit means I get exposed to hundreds of food brands I didn't know existed. Honey producers, spice companies, hot sauce makers, olive oil importers—there's a whole world of people making incredible products.
My favorite thing is walking into a grocery store here in Vancouver and spotting a customer's product on the shelf. I'll buy it, take it home, and sometimes see their recipe link printed right on the packaging.
That's a full circle moment. That's why I do this.
How We Run This
Proudly Bootstrapped
No investors, no funding rounds, no pressure to hit growth targets. Recipe Kit grows because merchants find it useful, not because we're burning cash on ads.
Intentionally Small
We're not trying to grow massively. We want sustainable growth and a product we're proud of. Big isn't the goal—good is.
Happy Customers First
Our number one priority is happy customers. That's it. Not ARR, not user counts, not vanity metrics. Just: are the people using this thing getting value from it?
What People Say
From the Shopify App Store
We're so impressed with Recipe Kit and its support. The app ties recipes directly to our products, streamlining our workflow and driving sales.
We're getting great rich snippets in my Google console. Recipe Kit makes it easy to get our BBQ recipes ranking.
One of the best app experiences we have had on Shopify.
Common Questions
Who runs Recipe Kit?
Patrick Bollenbach (me), based in Vancouver, Canada. I've been building Shopify apps and stores since 2016. Yusuf handles support, Matt is our support engineer and developer.
How long has Recipe Kit been around?
I started building it in 2018 for a client in Singapore. It launched publicly on the Shopify App Store in 2020, right when COVID lockdowns started.
Is this a big company?
Nope. Three people. We're intentionally small—it lets us stay focused and actually care about the merchants using Recipe Kit.
Do you have investors?
No. Recipe Kit is bootstrapped. No outside funding, no board, no pressure to chase growth at all costs. We grow because the product is useful, not because we're spending investor money.
Are you going to sell Recipe Kit or shut it down?
No plans to. I enjoy running it, it's profitable, and I like the people who use it. This is what I do.
Something else?
Get in TouchWant to try it?
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