KITCHENHOOD – GENEVA
by Chené Koscielny
LAUNCHING THIS WEEK – 26 JANUARY
The Problem:
You arrive home after a hard day’s work and the fridge is bare. You haven’t got the energy to open a packet of crisps, let alone cook…
OR even worse, you’ve invited friends around for dinner but you’ve just ruined the roast!
The Solution:
What do you do? Order in overpriced soggy pizza or greasy kebabs?
You now have a better option with the launch of the Kitchenhood app in Geneva on 26th January 2018.
Grab your phone and browse Kitchenhood to see what delicious homemade meals are for sale in your neighbourhood. Fancy a bowl of steamy, fresh ramen with crispy chicken, carrots and courgettes cooked by Alby? How about Lisia’s homemade vegetarian falafel salad?
Just specify how many portions you’d like, buy your meal via the app and the cook confirms and send you the pick-up details.
And if you love cooking, why not cook a bit extra and sell leftover portions to hungry neighbours to earn a bit of extra cash?
WHAT IS KITCHENHOOD?
The app uses geo-location to connect people who eat and those who cook in a certain area. Other world cities already have similar apps such as Menu Nextdoor in Belgium and Josephine in the US – which offer the same service – a bit like the Airbnb of homemade meals.
WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE APP?
Kitchenhood is the brainchild of Liat Langenkamp, who swapped the corporate world to focus on building her business idea with the help of Kim Dekker, who takes care of PR and social media needs. Liat used to come home after a day at the office and walk past a neighbour’s house smelling the most amazing aromas of dinner being prepared, longing for a dinner invitation and a chance to meet this amazing cook.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
As an eater you register for the service for free. Browse available meals in your area, choose your meal and portions and purchase your meal. The cook will confirm your order and send you pick-up details.
Then simply fetch and enjoy your homemade meal and write a review on the app afterwards to inform other users of the quality of the meal.
The seller sets his or her own price and payment takes place through the app. Fees, including banking, texting fees and a percentage fee for Kitchenhood are added to the price of the meal – a total of 18% per transaction.
AVERAGE PRICE
This depends on the sellers, but the following prices are a guide:
They plan to do ’10CHF Tuesdays’ – where all meals will be only 10CHF!
WHO IS THE APP AIMED AT?
The app is aimed at people in Geneva (although plans are to expand to France and beyond in the future) between the ages of 24 and 60 who work long hours and come home to an empty fridge or who lack the time and skills to cook (that’s me!).
The other audience are passionate cooks who’d like to share their creations, cultural specialities and extra portions with their neighbours or people who are cooking anyway and want to earn a bit of money on the side.
The app has 400 subscribers so far.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THE FOOD WILL BE GOOD AND SAFE TO EAT?
Liat and Kim are meeting the cooks signed up so far to talk through how the app works, as well as terms and conditions. However, the quality and pricing of the food will be ‘self-regulated’ through a system of reviews and ratings similar to apps such as Airbnb, says Kim. The users will not only rate the quality of the food, but the overall experience, including the interaction with the cook.
The cooks commit to selling food of a quality they would also serve to their families (although in my case that wouldn’t guarantee much!).
WHAT TYPE OF FOOD WILL BE OFFERED?
So far the response has been phenomenal, says Kim, with specialised cooks offering vegetarian, vegan and gluten free meals; curries, lasagne, tandoori chicken and other meals, as well as desserts such as a vegan lemon meringue pie and homemade double chocolate chip cookies.
THE SOCIAL ASPECT
Kitchenhood hopes that the app will also help to reconnect neighbours helping them to get to know each other and increasing integration and feeling of community.
LAUNCH PARTY FRIDAY 26 JANUARY – DETAILS ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE.
FIND OUT MORE: Visit www.kitchenhood.ch or click here for their Facebook page.
