Munchery Wants To Bring Personal Chefs To The Masses

A new startup has launched hoping to disrupt the food services industry and democratize the experience of having a personal chef. Munchery aims to bring personal chefs to the masses, giving consumers a way to access high-quality meals delivered to their home by professionals.

For most of us, employing a personal chef is not financially possible. But many consumers don’t have the time, patience or interest to cook healthy, delicious, well-balanced meals. Carry-out is an option, but this doesn’t ensure the quality of the food. Munchery allows personal and professional chefs to sell their meals online, upload menu choices, set minimum orders (you order by meal), specify areas where they deliver, schedule of delivery, and more.

Consumers can search for chefs by the zip code they deliver to (the site currently features chefs in the San Francisco Area), and will eventually be able to browse chefs by city when the site expands. Once you select a meal and quantity, Munchery takes care of the payment process, but chefs and consumers coordinate the delivery process.

Currently, Munchery features personal chefs, caterers, and even chefs who work in restaurants. Here’s Dennis Lin from San Francisco’s Burmese Kitchen). Co-founder Tri Tran says that each chef has to cook in a commercial kitchen, and be accredited. Meals range from $12 to $22, but Munchery is offering $10 off for every first meal purchases through Munchery. Consumers can also choose to order multiple meals per week to lower the price.

This isn’t the first startup that aims to bring professionally cooked food to homes. Gobble also offers an online marketplace for home-cooked food. I love this idea. Similar to AirBnB democratizing housing and apartment rentals or Uber brings private car services to the masses , Munchery and Gobble are able to bring the experience of a personal chef to those who would otherwise not be able to afford this luxury. Scaling the service will undoubtedly be a challenge for Munchery, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they can expand beyond San Francisco.