NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® & Soul Machines introduce the COOKIE COACH™

NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® introduces Ruth the COOKIE COACH™ assistant to deliver interactive baking experiences for new and experienced bakers to make the ultimate chocolate chip cookie

We are excited to introduce Ruth, the COOKIE COACH assistant from NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®. One of the first of her kind for the food and beverage industry, Ruth is a digital human baking assistant and provides people with 24-7, cookie baking assistance, in a way that is both information-rich and emotionally intelligent.  She can help you bake the ultimate chocolate chip cookie, customize your own version of the classic favorite, and answer baking questions with a feature called “Cookie First Aid”.

Ruth the COOKIE COACH assistant is Nestlé Toll House’s response to a new generation of at-home bakers looking for baking guidance. Unlike other virtual assistants, Ruth is a Digital Person that offers an engaging and interactive baking experience, powered by AI technology to provide an information-rich, emotionally intelligent virtual assistant experience.

Named after the creator of the NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® original chocolate chip cookie, Ruth Wakefield, the COOKIE COACH assistant is emotionally-intelligent and multimodal — meaning you have the option to see, speak, and chat with her while following along with dynamic on-screen content. On-screen, the experience is fun and engaging with step-by-step videos, images, the option to use chat or voice to respond to Ruth, and the ability to print your recipes. 

Key features of the Cookie Coach include:

• • Step-by-step guidance (with videos!) to allow new and experienced bakers to bake the ultimate chocolate chip cookie
  • Customize your chocolate chip cookie recipe based on your preferences. Ruth can help you make gluten-free, egg-free, low-sugar, or dairy-free cookies. Prefer soft and chewy cookies over thin and crispy? No problem! Prefer pretzels in your cookies? You got it!
  • Cookie First Aid helps bakers troubleshoot their own chocolate chip cookie recipe and ask baking questions.  Ruth can provide tips and expert guidance for how you can bake the perfect cookie every time.

‘One thing I’ve learned with baking, you’re always learning’

The Cookie Coach is the culmination of more than two years of collaboration, extensive customer research, and hundreds of thousands of data points. We collaborated with NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® to leverage data from customer questions through their call center, social channels, multiple recipes across the web, and with the expertise of NESTLÉ® Corporate Pastry Chef Meredith Tomason.

As big believers in both Conversational AI and building more authentic customer experiences, Ruth the COOKIE COACH assistant is able to offer a powerful new way to engage with customers, especially at a time they need it most. For many, baking has been a way to practice self-care, have quality time with loved ones, and share with their community.

With Ruth the COOKIE COACH assistant, Nestlé Toll House can offer a high-touch brand experience online. Ruth was built with the Nestlé Toll House brand in mind, allowing the baking experience to be engaging, innovative, and fun. She is empathetic, thoughtful, and patient, and is able to offer unbiased and non-judgmental guidance for anyone who wants to learn. In turn, Ruth also learns over time. The more questions you ask Ruth, the smarter and more helpful she gets.

“Digital acceleration is all about harnessing technology to solve consumer problems. So the ability to tap into conversational AI to understand, interact and engage with NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® consumers at scale attracted us to Soul Machines’ technology. The investment is in the personality of the brand, of which Ruth will be able to grow and learn and become infinitely scalable” – Nestlé Head of Digital Innovation, Orchid Bertelsen 

Interactive and authentic experiences with Digital People