Most social gatherings seem to revolve around good food. A couple of friends, a few glasses of wine at a bustling restaurant seems to be an ideal dinner. However, the food industry is revolutionising. Technology has allowed us to book seats for a meal in a 'restaurant' location right in someone else's home. Instead of paying exorbitant prices and being sandwiched between other paying customers at a fancy restaurant, apps such as EatWith and VizEat are inviting people to dine in their homes.
EatWith, an American based food sharing company, allows chefs to promote private dinners for a group of about six or more guests. The price charged is determined by the chef, and customers who are intrigued by the food menu can reserve a seat for a selected date. Once the minimum reservations are being made, guests would proceed to chef's home for a hearty meal alongside each other. The social interaction between can hopefully lead to forging new friendships and maybe even some cooking tips from the chef themselves.
However, EatWith is not as widely utilised. There aren't many chefs willing to open up their homes and offer to sell their services. This means that even in large cities, there are not always a variety of meals to choose from. Even if users find a suitable meal they would like to have, the app requires users to specify which date they would want to go ahead with. Usually people have to make reservations a few days before (the more in advance, the better) so that chefs have enough time to source for ingredients. It becomes a hassle if people have to plan their dinner meals too far in advance, and people may not be willing to travel long distances just for a meal. As a result, if chefs do not obtain a minimum number of guests registering for a particular day, the dinner would not proceed as planned because the profits made may not be sufficient to cover for the cost of ingredients.
People primarily use EatWith as it features near-professional chefs to cook their meals, thus providing them with a restaurant-quality dish at a cheaper price. However, other food sharing companies such as VizEat focuses more on tourism. The European startup allows travelers to eat dinner in the homes of locals, giving them an authentic local experience. With more than 20,000 hosts in 110 countries, VizEat is growing in popularity.
However, the issue of hygiene comes into question when selling food to people from your home kitchen. In California, in order to sell food from your home, your kitchen needs to have a sink at least 18 by 18 inches in length and width, and 12 inches deep. Countertops are also required to be nonabsorbent (made of stainless steel), can openers must have a metal piercing that can be removed and cleaned. Light bulbs above the area where food is prepared has to be coated and shatter resistant. All these changes can require about $50,000 and might turn one's kitchen into more of an industrial kitchen than a house kitchen.
Thus, there are many rules and regulations that startups have to be careful not to cross. In many countries across the world, foods that are sold to the public are required to be cooked in a commercial kitchen. In California specifically, the retail food code specifically states that commercial food sales cannot be operated from one's personal home kitchen. Food sharing startups have to be very cautious of the rules and laws since the health of the public is at risk. People are also usually hesitant to consuming food that is not being certified as safe for consumption in fear of contracting illnesses and even food poisoning. This could be a potential reason as to why such food sharing applications and companies are not doing financially well. Hence, food sharing startups are in a difficult position when the law and public health is concerned. In order to thrive within the shared economy, it becomes imperative that these companies have more stringent rules on how foods are being made.
References:
http://mashable.com/2016/09/06/vizeat-social-dining-funding/#u5q6pERU9mqX
http://www.eater.com/2016/3/31/11293260/airbnb-for-food-apps-eatwith-feastly
https://www.fastcompany.com/3061498/gigged/the-food-sharing-economy-is-delicious-and-illegal-will-it-survive
https://www.josephine.com/
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