Gauging interest for a new Startup

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8575928

by Apane101 • 12 years ago

3 10 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've spent the last 6 months building out a web app. It's premise is Catering for home cooked meals. You can sign-up as a Caterer, or you can order as a consumer. There are different categories i.e. Italian, Chinese, Japenese, Indian and you can order a REAL home cooked meal from any of these ethnic groups. We're creating jobs, and a greater selection of quality food for delivery! We're launching in Toronto but will eventually expand into other Cities throughout North America.

I'd like to gauge interest!

IgorPartola• 12 years ago

Not living in a large city in the US, sorry not interested.

Additionally, if I was living in, say, NYC, why would I have a random person cook my meal instead of ordering excellent takeout? Not saying that what you are building is a bad idea, just wondering how you plan to compete with the hordes of restaurants that deliver and food delivery services for restaurants that don't. If it's price, then you probably won't have much left over. If it's novelty, I think it'll wear off. Now, if you allowed me to instantly hire wait staff, that would be a much more interesting idea. For example, I recently had a family party where I went running around like a mad person trying to make sure everything was in order. Having wait staff take care of my guests would have been great, but I don't want to hire anyone anywhere near even part time, and I'd need someone roughly vetted and an authority I can complain to if something goes wrong. I bet restaurants would go nuts for this too.

narrowrail3• 12 years ago

I recently had a family party where I went running around like a mad person trying to make sure everything was in order. Having wait staff take care of my guests would have been great

That's what caterers typically do. So, while you seem to think you would not be interested, you go on to explain a scenario where you would be interested.

I live in a small town (e.g ~20k), and we have 3 catering companies I can think of off the top of my head. We also have lots of restaurants (more per capita than San Fran).

smt882• 12 years ago

I've worked in restaurants. They're disgusting. If health inspectors could be flies on the wall, they'd give every restaurant an "F".

What would happen when buying food from people who have zero regulation and are competing with each other to save on costs?

When you increase competition, you create a race to the bottom. Price has to decrease or people go out of business, and they will end up cutting corners.

By contrast, Uber is self-regulated. They have a lot of ways to keep drivers accountable (GPS, for example).

With Airbnb, you might be put in a shitty place, but it's not going to make you sick if someone skimps on the quality.

Food is totally different. Not only are you begging regulators to crack down on you and force your vendors to get food licenses, you're definitely putting customers at risk.

Are you going to monitor the conditions of the home kitchens? Are you going to make sure there aren't any rats, or that food doesn't sit out in the "danger zone" of temperatures, or that they throw away expired food? Or that they don't store food in boxes on the floor?

You can have ratings, but you can't always taste danger in your food. Many incidents of food poisoning happen after a perfectly enjoyable meal.

I don't know about Canada, but in the US, you'd also be the delight of any lawsuit-happy lawyer. If you're advertising these services, making the connection, and taking a cut of the proceeds, you're going to be responsible for vetting the vendors.

All of that in mind, you should already have an airtight liability-insurance policy.

narrowrail3• 12 years ago

I know that in Colorado, a law was passed in 2012 (or earlier) allowing people to prepare food in home kitchens as long as it's sold directly to the customers (i.e. not wholesale). This has allowed many small-scale food providers to sell their goods at farmer's markets.

Also, this could be useful for established catering companies which have commercial kitchens.

smt882• 12 years ago

I googled the Colorado law you mentioned [1]. It wouldn't apply for the use case mentioned by the OP. It seems to be restricted to food "products", like baked goods or pickles. It has a lot of other restrictions that would make it incompatible with the OP's service.

I agree about the catering thing, but it doesn't seem like that's the core of their idea.

[1] http://forrager.com/law/colorado/

Apane1012• 12 years ago

Thanks smt88, you've brought up several good points. At a large scale we wouldn't be able to monitor the conditions of the home kitchens. A solution for this is user ratings, if any given home chef/caterer receives even 1 poor rating we will limit their account activity until an inspection is performed. We'd have to perform an inspection to find out if the poor rating was well-founded. If so, the caterer's account would remain limited until the proper precautionary measures have been taken to avoid this from happening again. Many incidents of food poisoning happen after a perfectly enjoyable meal. We are aware of this possibility. A solution for this would be an liability-insurance policy. If any users should happen to get sick from the food, not only will the caterer be no longer able to serve food but the ill consumer's medical costs will be covered. I've just reached out to Torontos Municipal Licensing & Standards commite to inquire about the feasibility of such a business. As per Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing, a business licence is required for any business where food is stored, prepared, or sold for human consumption, such as:

    coffee shops
    burger shops
    delicatessens
    donut shops
    fish and chips stores
    pizza parlours
    restaurants

The vendors may have to be licensed as you mentioned which has some initial costs for them, but the real question has to do with food safety etc... Waiting to hear back from them.

ASquare• 12 years ago

Serious question - why are you gauging interest AFTER you've spent time/money/energy building something vs 6 months ago before you even wrote a line of code?

Apane1012• 12 years ago

Fair question. Gauged interest 6 months ago, and seeing where we are in the market now!!

emcarey• 12 years ago

really awesome startup in oakland is doing something similar and they are AMAZING. check out http://josephine.com/

Gauging interest for a new Startup

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