Many things connect humans with one another. One of the largest of them is food. Food has the power to bring people together around a table to break bread and share common similarities and differences each day.
When I want to get to know someone really well, I'll ask them:
What is your favorite home-cooked meal?
Many times, this gives me a clear window into their childhood, their family dynamic, what they value, the conversations they have, and the food and culture they brought to their dinner table.
For me, it is my mother's lemon roasted chicken, carrot soufflé so sweet it could be a dessert, and baked asparagus with melted cheese on top. I can smell and taste it just thinking about it. I also happen to be very passionate about cooking; yes because I am a foodie and love seeing the smile of others as they try my food, but also because of the conversations it allows me and my friends to have, separate from our jobs and the world outside of the dinner table.
There truly is nothing like a home-cooked meal. And for those that truly appreciate a home-cooked meal and the elation it brings, or for those that want a platform to organize and monetize their home-cooking, DishDivvy can replicate that special feeling.
DishDivvy
DishDivvy is a marketplace model centered around connecting chefs that want to turn their home-cooking into a business with those that want a home-cooked meal. DishDivvy, an L.A.-based company, raised 1.3MM in pre-seed funding on February 23 to expand its reach in California and into pockets of Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Baltimore, and the Washington, D.C. area. With these funds, DishDivvy will also invest in product development, operations, and team growth. DishDivvy gives home chefs a way to monetize their creations, create a flexible income source and give chefs a sense of purpose.
Interested chefs can sign-up to cook on DishDivvy and immediately get access to the platform's full suite of tools. Chefs get complete flexibility over what they cook, what they charge for it, which days and hours their menu is active, and the app coordinates seamless pickup from customers. Additionally, DishDivvy helps chefs build their menu and market it with a customizable webpage, manage and accept orders, monitor inventory, and chat directly with customers. Most importantly, DishDivvy assists with many of the back-office operations associated with running a restaurant such as SaaS tools for uploading menus, orders, revenue, and transactions. Finally, DishDivvy partners with DoorDash to deliver food. DishDivvy monetizes the chef side of the marketplace by taking a 15% cut of every transaction. The chef side of the platform aspires to empower chefs to explore their passion and give them an entry point into the competitive world of food.
The consumer side of DishDivvy is pretty straightforward, resembling the same user interface and experience of food delivery apps. Users who want a truly home-cooked meal can use DishDivvy to support local chefs in their communities and get the love and feel of home-cooked cuisines. All cooks are verified for proof of food safety training as well as individually vetted by DishDivvy. On the app, users can explore cuisines, chefs, and dishes near them and can sort by price, distance, dietary restrictions, rating, and more. Then a user can view and add dishes to their cart, choose a day/time for delivery or pickup, and make the purchase!
DishDivvy is a high-risk concept. To start, cooking at home, eating out, or getting take-out / delivery are extremely well established. I don’t think DishDivvy is marketing itself to compete with these massive categories, but it is important to acknowledge that DishDivvy’s market size and target audience pales in comparison. In addition, the robust structure and resulting convenience of either cooking yourself or ordering from a fully functioning business is likely far more convenient than relying on just one individual who decided to cook food at home for others. For the individual home chef, cooking for many over an extended period of time is difficult due to life obligations, burnout, and more. Chefs canceling orders repeatedly or extended periods of not cooking can turn away many interested consumers that need a consistent option for those in search of a meal.
From an investment standpoint, there are a number of competitors in the space including Foodnome and Shef, but more importantly, there is substantial legislative/regulatory risk as few states allow home cooks to prepare and sell meals out of their homes. One company, Josephine, ran out of cash fighting a change in legislation. CEO Charley Wong put it this way:
We knew that Josephine was an ambitious idea from day one and, as you all know, there have been many highs and lows over the years. At this point, our team has simply run out of the resources to continue to drive the legislative change, business innovation, and broader cultural shift needed to build this business.
- Charley Wong: Josephine, 2018
Legislators are careful to let the home-cooking marketplaces run rampant as they want to avoid the Uberization of the home cooking industry and hurting the home chefs and consumers within it. In most places, cooks can only sell certain goods like jams and candies that were legalized under the California Homemade Food Act, which came into effect in 2013. Meaning what you and I consider a “meal”, consisting of hot food is required to be cooked in commercial kitchens until states and counties pass legislation allowing for real home-cooked meals to be sold. But DishDivvy and other competitors rarely verify that chefs are using commercial grade kitchens for the preparation of full meals. Moreover, the branding from DishDivvy suggests that the food comes from a chef's home and not from a commercial kitchen. States do not want their citizens to suffer the consequences of unclean and unregulated kitchens of individuals deciding to give DishDivvy a go.
DishDivvy is an intriguing company that facilitates one of the human experience’s most relatable characteristics: connection; connection and nostalgia to the people, culture, and food, of your childhood. I hope that DishDivvy and other companies find their way in putting culturally profound dishes in reach!
This weekend…
I worked all day Saturday leading up to the Duke vs. UNC faceoff which also happened to be Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last ever home game in his coaching career. We lost to UNC but I got to share the historic moment with college and work friends at Houston Hall over a beer or two. Following the game, I cooked a huge portion of butter chicken, bang-bang cauliflower, and white rice for my buddies (not pictured). A nice meal of mine consisting of filets, Hasselback squash, and pumpkin rigatoni is pictured below though (had to show off in light of the theme of this post).
Sunday I did a bit more work, ran 6 miles, and saw the 1045PM premiere of Robert Pattinson’s Batman with my most devout superhero-fanboy-friends. After a disappointing Justice League and rough competition from Marvel, I think Robert and the supporting cast hit it out of the park. The dark superhero film had a huge $134 million in its domestic box office debut to secure the second-best opening of the pandemic era behind 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
GW
