French startup La Belle Assiette just raised another $1.5 million (€1.3 million) to expand its services. The company has become a leading on-demand chef service in Europe, and is now looking at other opportunities in the events catering industry.
La Belle Assiette started as a marketplace for in-home chef service. You can browse and find the perfect chef for your lunch or dinner party on the company’s website. They will then come with all the ingredients and tools to cook at your home or office. You just have to let the chef in your place, and that’s it.
There are now 700 chefs working for La Belle Assiette in six European countries. Working with La Belle Assiette provides many advantages for them. First, La Belle Assiette lets you very easily create an online profile with your menus. It gives you more visibility and inbound traffic.
Second, La Belle Assiette automatically manages your bookings so that you don’t have to deal with a calendar and write down everyone’s contact information. Finally, La Belle Assiette handles everything when it comes to payments and receipts.
Investors in today’s round include existing investors BlaBlaCar’s Nicolas Brusson, eFounders’ Thibaud Elzière, Svedka Vodka’s Guillaume Cuvelier, l’Atelier des Chefs co-founders, Kima Ventures, BridgePoint’s Benoît Bassi and new investors Cabiedes & Partners and former Alain Ducasse Entreprise CEO Laurent Plantier.
The company raised the same amount in October 2014 to expand to other countries — the service is now available in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, the U.K. and Germany. Now, La Belle Assiette wants to try new services.
Sometimes, you’re hosting a big party and a chef can’t do it all. That’s why La Belle Assiette is going to provide buffets and canapé receptions. The startup is also going to offer office lunches and cooking classes.