Platform allows home cooks to present their dishes at restaurants
Think of the last restaurant you’ve visited — unless it was a newly-opened one, the chances are that you spotted more Swiggy, Zomato or Uber Eats delivery persons waiting to pick up their orders, than the diners seated to have a meal. While food delivery platforms have made it possible to eat food of our choice, including gourmet meals, right at the comfort of our homes, most restaurants as a result bear a rather deserted face on most days. In an attempt to solve the problem for eateries, while providing home cooks a chance to present their food to the city, and allowing epicureans get a taste of regional and a variety of different cuisines, Chefathon was created about a year ago. Founded by city-based friends Lekha Mithra Rajender and Sundararaman Kannan came together to create the platform that curates pop-ups that highlight home cooks from across the city — thereby bringing people back into the restaurants.
“Many restaurants off late have been witnessing rather low footfalls as people prefer to order in through food delivery platforms. So we wanted to create an ecosystem which allows home cooks, foodies, restaurants and their chefs to benefit through our platform. We give home chefs with great cooking skills in different cuisines a chance to present their food at restaurants. The restaurants can help the home cook in upgrading his or her skills, with the knowledge of how to create a menu and market their food. All of this results in a diner getting the best of homemade food,” Sundararaman, 30, tells us.
The platform’s pop-ups in the past at city restaurants like The Summerhouse Eatery and Patina, have hosted home cooks presenting not-so-accessible cuisines like Mudaliar and Nagarathar (communities of Tamil Nadu), as well as food from other states like Gujarat. “The events we host allow us to offer diners cuisines that they may not usually have access to.
The home cooks also get an opportunity to learn from professional chefs on how to plate and present their food in order to grow as cooks. Our idea is to create a community of like-minded people who want to get together over a lovely home cooked meal, presented in restaurant standards,” adds Lekha, 35, who also runs a healthcare service business along with her husband.
After the pop-up, the platform also helps the home cook receive opportunities to present their food at other city events. “We can also create an experience right at one’s home through our ‘home chef at home’ series. The home cook can help create a special dining experience within the intimate setting of a residence,” she elaborates. Their ‘expert chef’ series allows professional chefs to create their dream menus they’ve always wanted to, but couldn’t wondering if it would be received well. “Since we take care of getting diners to the events, chefs can focus on what they do best, cooking,” the duo asserts, adding that those who’ve attended their previous events are keen to know what new cuisine they can get a taste of next. In future, Chefathon hopes to become a one-stop platform for home cooks, restaurants and diners embrace the art of fine dining.
In what is touted to be a win-win for home chefs, eateries and diners, a new initiative named Chefathon aims to provide home cooks a chance to serve their food at restaurants