Within the last few months, online services that help people share meals at local people's houses have emerged on both sides of the Atlantic. What’s the recipe for success? "A mix of common expectations and unknown," says Aurélie Daniel, Co-Founder of Beyond Croissant. Allow strangers to go to another stranger’s house and share a meal with them - the idea may seem preposterous. Well, it certainly is. Who would be willing to open his doors to strangers, and all the more cook a meal and share it with them? Why would you share a meal with a stranger, especially in a day and age in which what is on our plate as well as the risks of food intolerance and allergies are a recurring debate?
From 'consuming better' to 'consuming together'
Most of the early collaborative consumption business models were based on the idea of optimizing the use of underutilized resources, from your car to your parking space, your home, washing machine, garden or workplace. However, another benefit of sharing resources is that it enriches and facilitates cooperation between individuals and helps them implement and finance projects with these new platforms.
As for instance the blog Le Co-Lab mentions, another benefit of such lifestyles is "living together" (or co-habitation), enabled through sites such as Colunching, a platform launched in 2011 that allows people to share a meal or a drink in a restaurant or bar, or GrubWithUs from the United States.
Now, many new concepts of “meals with locals 3.0" or “peer to peer in-home dining experiences" are taking this concept one step further by enabling strangers to meet at one person's house to share meals. Beyond Croissant, Cookening, YummyGuest, SupperKing, Bookalokal, EatWith are some of these platforms, to name a few.
Why let strangers into your home? Probably because there is only a small difference between "eating better" and "eating together."
These collaborative consumption initiatives for participative catering are enabling people to combine their wish to eat better with their need to meet others, rethink their quality of live and, in short, take their time.
The fact that Covoiturage.fr renamed itself "Blablacar" is meaningful: once the general idea of sharing goods and knowledge has been established, the idea of sharing time and focusing on the value of sharing beyond its utility become more important. Of course first of all we share rides because it makes more sense environmentally and economically than other means of transportation. But the next stage is to have fun and realize we are also sharing moments with each other by making pleasant chit-chat during our ride (or “blabla”, as the French refer to with Blablacar).
Two characteristics almost all collaborative consumption startups share are the fact that they are driven by the economic crisis and have the ability to create strong social ties that are crucial for their success. As said by Cédric Giorgi puts it, the idea of sites likes Colunching or Kooldiner is to bring together strangers who simply don’t want to have lunch or dinner alone anymore. The success of these sites is partly owed to social networks, since the online interactions with friends that take place there have made users more open to the idea of sharing with strangers, even (especially?) in real life.
Food itself is not new to the collaborative consumption space. Several food-centric business models focusing on different aspects of the food chain have already been implemented such as the concept of group purchases offered by La Ruche qui dit oui (France), WholeShare (United States) or the purchasing of meals prepared by neighbors on SuperMarmite. These initiatives are not only pushing us to rethink the value of home-cooked meals, they are also drawing attention towards the issue of food waste, as for instance the French project Disco Soupe or Foodsharing, a German platform that helps supermarkets, restaurants and individuals repurpose their waste.
With the comeback of the benefits of home cooking, many "hosts 3.0" are eager to get feedback from strangers on their “house specialties”, either because they are a service provider or cooking is simply their hobby.
The new “meal with locals 3.0" concepts sell their service as an experience, and beyond that, as a way to build social connections with people that may not always be on time, but will always be “real” (not virtual).
The entire restaurant industry is of course aware of the trade-offs for consumers of home cooking or going out to eat. This is why the industry tries to moderate the price (by offering more wine by the glass, gourmet coffees or formulas) or the quality (by emphasizing nutritional claims or offering organic ingredients.) to make going out more attractive. Nevertheless, there is no better way to bring the human factor into dinning than eating a meal in a private home.
"A mix of common expectations and the unknown"
Less intrusive than couchsurfing, but more intimate than sharing a meal at a restaurant, preparing a meal together is a unique experience for the host and the participants that is much more than just sharing a meal. The purpose of such a meal may be to expand ones circle of friends or professional network, to get recommendations about your city or to have an excuse to share your knowledge, about cooking for instance.
Interestingly, the founders of many of these startups are also convinced that, in regards to food, we need to start using our common sense again and find smart ways to combine the possibilities of the web and the value of home cooking with our need to meet people and have fun.
After years of ready-to-eat, ready-to-travel, virtual meetings and online dating, the success of these ideas is still unclear (when you look at factors like profitability, critical mass and success rate). Since cooking is above all an act of love, maybe that's a good place to start.
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