This is how you can eat in strangers’ apartments – new Hungarian application

I’m hungry, so I look at an application in my phone to see who and what is cooking in the near, I log in and I sit at the table of a stranger in 10 minutes and eat his/her cooking. If I’m done, I say goodbye, I rate the food and the host rates me as a guest. Roughly this is Yummber, a food application starting at the end of July, index.hu said.

The idea came from Peter Kalmar and Regina Boros, the latter is the founder and organizer of Macaron Day. They emphasized: this app is for brave people and they say in advance it’s not a fine dining. It’s about good home food. To eat real food at real people, and yes, it can come up that Vegeta will also be in the lunch. According to them, the point is the adventure and the company and the oft-quoted principle of shared economy. They know it’s a dividing application – there are people who’ll love it and there are people who won’t try it.

“Many people disliked Uber too, but then it worked. Uber and Airbnd are held together by confidence system, people get in your car, sleep in your bed” – Regina said. “It’s not a house restaurant” – she emphasizes. “That’s an entirely different method, there someone really cooks for a week, lay beautifully, you need to log in in advance.” For this, there’s already applications, but the Hungarian-developed Yummber is not about it. There’s no pre-registration, you decide at the moment you want to eat and the host doesn’t know either who and when will arrive to him/her.

When they announced their idea on Facebook, they thought it was good if 30-40 people would apply as a host, compared to this, more than 700 people signed they want to cook for strangers. There are among them who already have a large family and always cook a lot, there are young mothers at home who are happy when someone visit them, and there are people who’re alone and don’t feel like cooking just for themselves, but if someone visit them, they’re happy to cook, so they double benefit. And there are professionals, such as those who regularly cook elsewhere, but a chef helping at this year’s Bocuse D’or has also joined. Fine dining isn’t totally excluded, but the fact is it’s a pig in a poke  what we’re going to eat right now. Of course, after a while, only those will remain in the system who have high rating and cook really well.

The applicants underwent a strong casting, they had to fill a questionnaire and the organizers met many of them personally. When they felt someone is afraid to let a stranger into his apartment, they advised not to join Yummber in the first round. They eventually start with 150 kitchens, most of them are in the downtown, of course, which is, according to them, is a good option for tourists as well. Since someone wants to eat a good Hungarian Goulash and sees Tibi or Niki have 600 likes for Goulash, then one will go there. And he/she also could tell he/she was in the kitchen of a Hungarian.

According to index.hu, the thing is perfectly legal, because anyone can sell own food up to 14 portions in their own kitchen, you don’t need a permit at NEBIH (National Food Chain Safety Office), there’s only notification obligation. The team of Yummber held a preparation for everyone and they emphasized not to do anything differently than has been used to. If they cook two doses of food, will cook as much, at most they don’t have and eat a sandwich. But until the business starts they don’t have to have a filled freezer at home.

How does it work?

The application is simple. If I’m getting hungry, the map shows me the active hosts close to me. A photograph is displayed of what they offer and how much, for example chicken paprikash with dumplings for HUF 1200 or potato casserole for HUF 1000. I select potato casserole, which appears at the host, he/she confirms to accept or not.

Thus, it’s important that everyone can decide: who he/she let in, they can check the rating of the guest, for example. If he/she accepts, the address also appears at the hungry user and that how long he/she gets there. From this, the meeting is created. Every transactions are going through bank card, there is no cash flow, so everything can be followed. If someone once logged in somewhere, he/she accepted to deduct money. Yummber, after deducting its own commission, send the money to the hosts every week, so if someone cooks a lot and well, one can have a good income.

based on the article of index.hu
translated by BA

Source: http://index.hu