All they wanted was a home-cooked meal and now they’re helping out-of-work chefs survive the coronavirus pandemic.
Israeli entrepreneurs Oren Saar and Merav Kalish Rozengarten founded WoodSpoon out of a desire find food like grandma wont to make. “We missed the food from home, like real homemade hummus, and kunefe,” Saar says, pertaining to the center Eastern pastry made with a noodle-like dough.
They launched the app in beta-testing mode last November so New Yorkers uninterested in eating at restaurants could see what vetted chefs in their neighborhoods were cooking reception . They started with just twenty-four cooks across three ny City neighborhoods — only half whom had professional work experience, Saar says.
Then COVID-19 hit and therefore the number of chefs clamoring to urge on the app exploded. Since March, WoodSpoon’s network of approved chefs soared from roughly 30 across three ZIP codes — Williamsburg, Park Slope and therefore the Upper side — to 100 across 50 ZIP codes, including Queens, Hoboken, NJ, and Jersey City .
Now 90 percent of the chefs have professional experience, including from such big names as Nobu, Cipriani and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Nougatine, Saar says.
WoodSpoon would have even more, but they can’t process the applications fast enough. “After the town pack up , we were flooded with quite 500 inquiries from out-of-work chefs,” Saar said. “They’ve submitted paperwork, but it takes time. We are alittle team.”
Kevin Martinez joined WoodSpoon three weeks ago after he was laid faraway from his job as a line cook at Nougatine.
Martinez, who lives together with his girlfriend in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, rides his bike to Union Square Greenmarket to buy for his meals. Dishes have included a pappardelle pasta with meat pecorino and basil for $10; and a seared branzino fillet with sweet potato topped with roasted corn and avocado for $15.
Consumers pay a 15 percent service fee that goes to WoodSpoon, also as taxes. The branzino, for instance , are often had for $18.78 including a $2.25 service charge and $1.53 in tax. Delivery is free.
“WoodSpoon may be a lifesaver,” Martinez tells entremots , saying he would have gone “out of my mind” without the structure after losing his restaurant job. “It definitely gives me hope. If I could get enough orders each day , this is often what i might do. Cooks like myself, with entrepreneurial spirit, will like it .”
The uptick in supply hasn’t yet translated to an equal surge in demand from consumers, Saar said, but the app is ending its beta-testing mode on Tuesday and is raising money for marketing.
“It’s timely to inform ,” Saar said, adding they’re still “trying to urge the word out.”
As to the all-important COVID-19 safety issue, Saar says all chefs are vetted, including home visits, now being done by Zoom, to make sure they’re meeting food-handling and safety requirements.
All cooks are required to wear masks and gloves and package their food with company-provided supplies.
As to the general public health issue, ny state allows people that sell food , jellies or snack mixes to organize food from home, although they need to get approval to try to to so. In other food categories, chefs got to be subject to regular public health inspections.
“The onus is on them,” Saar said, adding WoodSpoon itself isn’t responsible to public health authorities for the vetting of home chefs “They join us now and that we do our part to form it as safe as possible.”
The app provides its chefs with a proprietary tool to assist them price their dishes supported the value of their ingredients, which Martinez says has helped him study factoring in food costs when preparing a menu. hamburger , for instance , has almost doubled in price — from $5 a pound to almost $9 a pound.
“I dream of opening my very own restaurant and this is often the thanks to start,” Martinez says.
