Photo: Danny and RowenaDanny and Rowena, the family behind My Tomte
Hi, I’m Danny
By day, I’m a group product manager. I’ve spent my career building software for builders, architects, engineers and lawyers, which is to say, software for people who really don’t have time for software that doesn’t work.
My wife, Rowena, is a head of operations. Which, as it turns out, is how this whole thing started.
It started with a spreadsheet
Between our wild toddler Leo, two full-time jobs, packed social calendars and far too many hobbies, planning meals for the week was getting harder and harder in our house.
Rowena is the cook of the family and the model hostess; there are cakes, treats and desserts for every occasion, and a few occasions that don’t strictly need one. I can cook a bit, but, admittedly, I mostly prefer to eat whatever Rowena makes.
And it isn’t just one dinner to plan. I love my breads and pastas. Rowena loves her soups and fish. Leo loves his fruit and veggies (we’re still not sure where he gets that from).
So Rowena fixed the problem first. Being a genuine Excel whiz, she built herself a meal planner in a spreadsheet. It was big, it was complex, and it mostly… kind of… worked. But underneath all the tabs and formulas, it was trying to solve a very real problem, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
So I built her a tomte
I took everything her spreadsheet was trying to do and built it properly: a planner that knows what’s already in the fridge, writes the shopping list, works around Leo’s bedtime and everyone’s calendar, and gets a little smarter every week.
Rowena has shaped it from day one. She’s its first tester and, without question, its biggest critic; if a feature doesn’t survive a Tuesday night in our kitchen, it doesn’t ship.
I built it for my wife. Fine-tuning it to fit each household, the way it fits ours, is still the whole point.
What’s a tomte?
I’ve always loved stories: fables, folklore and mystical creatures of every kind. So when it came to naming this thing, the tomte simply fit.
In the old farmhouses of Sweden and Norway, people believed a small figure in a grey coat and a red hat lived alongside the family. The tomte was rarely seen and never thanked out loud, but he kept the household running: the animals fed, the chores done, everything where it should be. All he asked for in return was a little respect, and a bowl of buttered porridge on Christmas Eve.
That’s the job My Tomte was built to do. (Porridge optional.)
From one household to many
It was only ever meant for our family. Then a colleague saw it and said, “I’ve been trying to build something to help me with this same thing.”
That’s when I realised it wasn’t just our kitchen with a 5 pm problem.
So My Tomte grew up. It learned to plan for families of twelve, for coeliac teenagers and fussy toddlers, for shift workers and footy nights; and it still gets judged the same way it always was: does it make a real evening, in a real home, a little easier?
Why “Happy Dance”?
My Tomte is made by Happy Dance Project, which is Rowena and me. The name comes from Leo. When he likes his dinner, he does a happy dance: a little wiggle in his booster seat at the table that tells you everything you need to know.
That’s the whole goal, really. More happy dances at more dinner tables.
What we believe
Your household’s data is yours.
It’s stored in Australia (with a backup copy in Singapore), and it’s never sold. Ever.
Allergies are rules, not preferences.
Features are judged against a real evening
not a competitor’s feature list.
Good food and good company matter most.
Everything else is just logistics.
Made in Australia
My Tomte is made in Australia, for Australian households first, by a family still using it every night. If it can keep up with Leo, it can probably keep up with your kids, too.