Can the business of "door-to-door cooking" be sustainable?


　　Usually, we often hear "representative driving", but have you ever heard of "representative chef"?

Recently, the news that "a woman from Hunan came to cook for young people and charged 68 yuan for four dishes" has attracted attention.

And on social media, the "door-to-door cooking" in the form of online appointments has also quietly become popular. The four dishes range from 68 yuan to 88 yuan. The menu is optional, and the order is received by private message, and the transaction is free.

　　Born out of increased demand

　　Like "representative driving", "representative kitchen" services have also emerged due to increased demand.

White-collar workers who don’t want to cook because of too much work, young people who can’t cook, mothers with children, etc., are tired of takeaway and prepared dishes and worry about food safety. It is convenient, fast and delicious to ask the chef to come to your door.

The "door-to-door substitute chef" came into being and gradually became popular.

　　Searching for "door-to-door chef" on Xiaohongshu, there are more than 20,000 notes. A large number of young people flock to the comment area of ​​food notes, "waiting for food" to find a door-to-door chef.

Generally speaking, the ordering process starts with the on-site chefs who provide the service posting information on social media, and then users who need it to comment and chat privately.

　　When there is demand, there is market.

According to the data from Tianyancha, since the beginning of this year, the companies related to "door-to-door cooking" have shown a rapid development trend, and the average monthly growth rate of newly registered companies from January to October was as high as 73.7%.

It is noteworthy that, compared with the cooking services provided by traditional housekeeping companies or catering companies, the "door-to-door cooking" practitioners in the form of online appointments are mainly young people born in the 90s, and the cooking content is mostly home-cooked meals.

They don't necessarily have the skills of professional chefs, but they are willing to try to cash in their hobbies.

　　There are many hidden problems

　　Affordable, healthy, taste of home... You can eat meals made by a "chef" at home, which sounds really "fragrant".

　　However, there are still hidden problems in the booming new business, and many questions have been raised about personal safety, order disputes, food safety, and profit models.

　　Some industry experts believe that the current "door-to-door kitchen replacement" model is based on the connection established by private messages on social media, which is a willing transaction between the employer and the kitchen staff, and lacks the verification of personal identity and the protection of privacy and security; The consensus on the transaction of the order is also fragile, and the employer's disapproval of the taste of the meal may lead to disputes over the cost.

If there are problems or conflicts or disputes in the "door-to-door kitchen" service, both parties need to bear their own risks.

　　In addition, how the "door-to-door chef" faces the challenge of commercialization also determines how far this business can go.

　　In fact, the form of "door-to-door cooking" has long existed.

Some traditional housekeeping companies and catering companies will provide services such as "cook on-site service", "private kitchen on-site" and "on-site chef".

As early as 2014, many "door-to-door chef" projects appeared in the market. Apps such as Love Chef, Haochef, and Chulinmen quickly shut down after being favored by investors for a short time.

　　These traditional kitchen services mostly appear in the form of teams in new house relocation, birthday parties, family banquet receptions and other occasions, focusing on high-end customized food.

The reason why there is no big climate is that it is facing the bottleneck of the business model.

Professional chefs have to pay high time and labor costs when they come to the door. The amount of hundreds or thousands of yuan at a time can only be an occasional consumption, which cannot be developed into multiple sustainable purchases.

　　Can it go a long way?

　　The emerging "door-to-door kitchen" business focuses on ordinary family meals. The entrepreneurs are full-fledged "grassroots" chefs. They do not necessarily have professional and standardized cooking experience. Their cooking skills are just enough to meet the needs of daily life. Just need a service like this.

The gap between parity and high-end is precisely the most essential difference between the two "door-to-door chefs".

　　Some people have already found business opportunities from it, and gradually formed a team from working alone to develop the kitchen business into a company, and even attracted professional platform cooking aunties and professional chefs to participate, determined to become a "professional platform-based "Private kitchen team", iteratively transforms the point-to-point order-taking mode of private space into a professional O2O mode.

　　Industry insiders believe that whether this "point-to-point" emerging "door-to-door cooking" format can go in the long run still needs to be tempered by time and the market.

Relevant government departments also need to make industry guidance and regulations from a professional and institutional perspective, better protect the rights and interests of employers and service providers, and ensure and promote the healthy development of the industry.

　　Yang Ranran