The promise of frictionless technology has been around for years, but it rarely holds up in the everyday habits people actually want to maintain. Nutrition tracking is a clear example, with many people interested in understanding what they eat but far fewer willing to stick with the tedious process of logging every detail. As AI becomes more practical and integrated into daily life, tools are starting to remove that barrier entirely, turning something once time-consuming into a simple, almost automatic action. Andrew Shore, founder and CEO of Amino, is building directly in that space.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Our business is called Amino, and it’s an AI-powered nutrition app that helps people better understand what they’re eating. Instead of manually logging food or trying to interpret complicated nutrition labels at the grocery store, users can simply take a photo of their meal or scan a barcode with their phone and instantly receive nutritional insights.
Since launching in September 2025, the platform has grown quickly, surpassing 100,000 users and more than 2 million meals scanned, with 40,000+ meals now being analyzed each day.
The goal is to make nutrition tracking easier and more accessible so people can make better food decisions in their everyday lives.
What made you want to do this work?
I’ve always been interested in building technology that people actually use in their daily routines. Nutrition is something everyone thinks about, but most tools for tracking food have historically been frustrating or time-consuming to use.
When AI image recognition started getting good enough to identify foods from photos, it became clear there was an opportunity to remove a lot of the friction from nutrition tracking.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
Traditional nutrition apps require people to manually log every ingredient they eat, which is tedious and usually leads people to stop using them.
We wanted to solve that problem by making the process almost effortless. If someone can simply take a photo of their meal or scan a barcode, and immediately understand what they’re eating, they’re much more likely to stay engaged and make informed decisions.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
Our users range widely, but generally, they’re people who want to be more mindful about their health and nutrition.
That includes people trying to improve their fitness, individuals managing specific dietary goals, and everyday consumers who simply want to understand their food better. We’ve seen strong adoption across both Canada and the United States. Amino is great because it appeals to such a wide audience. People of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds love using Amino!
How does your business make money? How does it work?
Amino is free to use, with no subscriptions, paywalls, or hidden fees for our core features. Anyone can scan their meals and instantly receive nutritional insights.
Over time, we plan to introduce optional premium tools for users who want deeper analytics, advanced tracking, and more personalized insights to support specific health and wellness goals.
Where in the city can we find your profession?
We’re based in Toronto, but the nature of building a technology platform means our work happens both locally and globally. Much of the development and strategy work happens here in the city, while the app itself is used by people all over the world.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
A great question to ask is: “Will I actually keep using this product after the first week?”
The biggest challenge with nutrition apps historically has been user retention because manual logging is time-consuming. Tools that make the experience faster and simpler tend to be the ones people stick with. We currently have 40,000+ meals being scanned every day, with a high number of active users who continue using Amino as part of their daily routine.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best part is seeing people use something you’ve built to improve their daily habits. When users tell us the app helped them better understand their food choices, that’s incredibly rewarding.
The hardest part is that building consumer technology requires constant iteration. You’re always learning from users and improving the product, which means the work never really stops.
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
A classic one in tech is:
“It works on my phone.”
It’s a reminder that building software often involves solving problems you didn’t know existed five minutes earlier.
Where can we follow you?
You can learn more about Amino at aminoapp.com, and the app is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store: aminoapp.com/download
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
I really like Lightbulb Daily, which was created by another Toronto entrepreneur. Right now, you can sign up for their free newsletter, and every morning at 8 am, you’ll receive one clear thought to start your day, paired with a wallpaper designed to stay with you. Lightbulb is going to be a really cool app that’s set to launch later this year to help other entrepreneurs act on their business ideas.
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