Sometimes you’re craving a home-cooked meal, in the comfort of your own home, but you’re without the time, inclination and/or ingredients to prepare it yourself. Now, all you have to do is get Cookin… or rather, download it...
A recently-launched food app, Cookin allows hungry Torontonians to order food from a network of hundreds of talented home cooks and professional chefs throughout the city. Co-founded by Morley Ivers and Michael Baruch, the Toronto-based company is the latest new thing in the sharing economy, the food equivalent of Uber and Airbnb. Except this time, instead of offering rides and rooms, people are turning their home kitchens into small businesses that offer sustenance.
The micro-enterprise-home-kitchen model has been evolving for some time in the U.S., but Cookin marks the concept’s first trial in Canada. Ivers and Baruch chose Toronto as their launch city for obvious reasons – in addition to its strong food culture and off-the-charts diversity, it’s also a major tech hub.
Tech is what makes it possible for Cookin’s creative talent – many of them line cooks, sous chefs and caterers – to create their own indie businesses, on their own terms. Once they’ve obtained Ontario food safe handler’s certification and a kitchen inspection (performed quarterly), cooks are free to create their own menus, schedules and pricing while Cookin takes care of everything else from marketing and packaging to delivering to customer’s doors.
Unlike some of the more notoriously parasitic players in the gig economy, Cookin currently allows cooks who join the platform to keep 85 percent of their revenues. Chefs whose home kitchens are too small, or busy with home life, can take advantage of a commercial kitchen, known as the Cookin Cloud, in return for which they retain 70 percent of their earnings.
Aside from the benefits for cooks who can give free reign to their creativity while growing their own businesses, there are upsides to consumers as well. Even at this early stage, the incredible diversity of the food on offer – from Mexican and Brazilian to Korean and Filipino – means that you can pretty much satisfy any type of culinary longing or craving that rears its head.
From a less indulgent, but equally appetizing perspective, you’re not only supporting local chefs, but also helping to reduce food insecurity. This because, for every Cookin order placed in Toronto, a donation will be made to The Stop Community Food Centre, which provides quality food to low-income residents.
Those interested in some homestyle Cookin can download the app:
