Building Cooking Habits: Gamification Ideas for Recipe Apps

Getting users to download a recipe app is one challenge. Getting them to actually cook regularly is another entirely. CKBK founder Matthew Cockerill is tackling this engagement problem by building gamification features that encourage users to develop consistent cooking habits, drawing inspiration from successful habit-forming apps like Duolingo and Strava.

On the Levels Podcast, Matthew shared his vision for cooking achievement systems, progress tracking, and community recognition features that transform occasional browsing into active cooking practice. His approach offers insights for any platform looking to move users from passive consumption to active engagement.

The Cooking Consistency Challenge

Many recipe app users fall into the same pattern: they browse enthusiastically, save interesting recipes, but never actually cook them. Matthew recognized this gap between intention and action as a key retention challenge.

"We talk about be your best cook, people often say, I'd really like to cook more, but I never quite find the time."

This insight led to thinking about how habit-forming apps successfully encourage consistent user behavior and how those principles might apply to cooking.

Learning from Duolingo's Success

Matthew draws direct inspiration from Duolingo's streak mechanics, which create powerful motivation for daily engagement.

"And in the same way I'm often up just before midnight trying to make sure I don't lose my Duolingo streak, I think it's really important to encourage people to say, have I cooked something this week? I haven't cooked anything this week from cook, but I really need to do that."

The key insight is that gentle pressure and visible progress can motivate behavior change in ways that passive content access cannot.

Cooking Achievement Systems

CKBK is developing a comprehensive achievement system that recognizes different types of cooking progress and exploration.

"Everything around your history as a cook, in terms of what you've cooked and how you rated it and what different types of cooking you've done and therefore how that translates into, are you one of our most active cooks? Are you someone who cooks from a very wide range of different countries?"

These achievements acknowledge various paths to cooking improvement, from consistency to adventurousness to skill development.

The "Be Your Best Cook" Philosophy

Rather than competing with other users, CKBK's gamification focuses on personal improvement and exploration. The goal is helping users become better versions of themselves as cooks.

"Are you a very good baker. And so that in terms of, I think it's potentially really important in terms of engagement."

This personal development approach avoids the competitive pressure that can make gamification feel stressful rather than motivating.

Skill-Based Recognition

The platform tracks different cooking competencies, allowing users to build expertise in specific areas like baking, international cuisines, or advanced techniques.

These skill-based achievements help users identify their strengths and interests while encouraging exploration of new cooking areas.

Community Recognition Features

Beyond personal achievements, CKBK is building public recognition systems that let accomplished users share their cooking journey with the community.

"And so I run a lot and used to cycle lot as well. So I use Strava and Strava has a bunch of things like that too. And I think that there's two aspects to it. There's the personal progress and there's the seeking that achievement. And then there is also the public visibility and driving that more of that kind of connected community."

This social element adds motivation for users who enjoy recognition while building community around shared cooking interests.

Profile and Badge Systems

Users will be able to build public profiles showcasing their cooking achievements, similar to how gaming platforms display accomplishments.

"We will have a profile so that when you see, this recipe was reviewed by this person, then here's their public profile and here's everything they publicly reviewed. And if they choose to share their badges, then absolutely, they are maybe one of our top 5 % reviewers, like Amazon used to show that."

These profiles help other users identify knowledgeable community members while providing achievement motivation.

Progress Tracking Infrastructure

Effective gamification requires comprehensive data tracking about user cooking behavior, recipe attempts, and skill development over time.

"We do because we already have people sharing public reviews there's already this way in which people are out there and we let them choose a display name so they can go under their real name or they can have a display name."

The platform captures this data through recipe interactions, reviews, photos, and explicit progress reporting from users.

Balanced Privacy Controls

Not all users want public recognition, so CKBK is building privacy controls that let users choose which achievements to share publicly while maintaining personal progress tracking.

"Obviously some privacy controls as to what you want to share or not. But if you are sharing material publicly, then I think it's gonna be, yeah, really."

This flexibility accommodates different user preferences while maintaining the motivational benefits of achievement systems.

Cooking Streak Mechanics

Drawing from fitness and language learning apps, CKBK plans to implement cooking streak features that encourage regular engagement.

These streaks could track consecutive days cooking, consecutive weeks trying new recipes, or consistent engagement with the platform's content.

Diverse Achievement Categories

The achievement system recognizes different types of cooking excellence to accommodate various user interests and capabilities.

"Or maybe they are a star baker, or maybe they are, you know, again, a global cook, they've cooked from more than 20 different countries."

This diversity ensures that users with different cooking styles and interests can find meaningful progress markers.

Review and Contribution Recognition

Active community contributors receive recognition for helpful reviews, recipe photos, and cooking tips that benefit other users.

"Maybe they are one of our top 5 % reviewers, like Amazon used to show that."

This encourages high-quality community participation while helping other users identify trustworthy advice sources.

Real-World Reward Integration

Matthew is exploring partnerships that could provide tangible rewards for cooking achievements, connecting digital progress to real-world benefits.

"We could potentially give people extra months of access to Cookbook in return for them contributing to the community content. But also I think there's scope for working with partners who have relevant culinary things which they could could offer as kind of rewards."

These partnerships could include cooking equipment discounts, class opportunities, or exclusive content access.

Avoiding Gamification Pitfalls

The challenge with cooking gamification is maintaining focus on genuine skill development rather than empty engagement metrics.

CKBK's approach emphasizes actual cooking completion and skill building rather than just app usage or content consumption.

Integration with Content Strategy

Achievement systems work best when integrated with content curation, guiding users toward recipes that support their skill development goals.

The platform can recommend recipes that help users progress toward specific achievements while ensuring those recommendations remain genuinely useful for cooking improvement.

Long-Term Habit Formation

The ultimate goal extends beyond app engagement to genuine behavior change that improves users' cooking skills and kitchen confidence.

"So that's one of the frontiers we're exploring right now is how to encourage people to keep track of what they're cooking and do more."

Success means users develop lasting cooking habits that persist even without the gamification elements.

Community Feedback Loops

Achievement systems create positive feedback loops where accomplished users help newer community members, strengthening overall platform engagement.

Experienced cooks become mentors and inspiration sources for beginners, creating virtuous cycles of engagement and knowledge sharing.

Key Takeaways

• Personal progress beats competition: Achievement systems focused on individual improvement motivate more users than competitive leaderboards
• Diverse recognition paths accommodate different interests: Multiple achievement categories ensure all user types find meaningful progress markers
• Privacy controls maintain broad appeal: Optional public sharing lets users choose their level of community participation
• Real-world rewards enhance digital achievements: Partnerships can provide tangible benefits that increase achievement motivation
• Community recognition drives quality contribution: Acknowledging helpful users encourages high-quality reviews and advice sharing

Matthew's gamification approach demonstrates how recipe platforms can encourage genuine behavior change rather than just passive content consumption. The key is building systems that support real cooking skill development while providing motivation and community recognition.

Listen to the full conversation with Matthew Cockerill on the Levels Podcast to learn more about building habit-forming features that drive long-term user engagement and behavior change.