FEASTLY

Walking up to the Feastly office, I felt very different than any of the other previous company visits.  Our class had the opportunity to visit AirBNB and Uber the day prior and their office spaces were, let’s say, impressive.  The Feastly office was rather different, but the conversation that took place within the building was impressive in it’s own right. 

Noah Karesh met with our class and walked in looking like any of us.  Very laid back, very easy to talk to, but very inspiring.  He began by talking about his background and what brought him to come up with the idea of Feastly.  Originally, Noah began a small pop-up cafe in Washington, DC.  To me, it seemed like this pop-up sparked an interest in the food industry for him.  He then spoke about an experience he and his girlfriend had while traveling in Guatemala; after searching for hours, they were unable to find any authentic, Guatemalan food.  He and his girlfriend felt dumbfounded and this made Noah want to begin a company that would bring quality food to anyone in search of it.  Now, Feastly has served over 50,000 meals from over 8,000 chefs around the world.  His goal is to make Feastly the largest restaurant in the world made up of all independent chefs. 

Noah really focused on the chef side of the business.  It seems as if he wants to create an environment where inspiring chefs can come and test out their ideas before having to go through the monstrosity of opening up an actual restaurant.  The chefs range from at-home cooks to Michelin rated chefs and they all have the opportunity to grow their business on the Feastly platform.  He mentioned three specific reasons why chefs come to Feastly:  1) They have a passion and want to showcase that passion; 2) They are looking to make money; and 3) They are looking for a way to build their brand, affordably and organically.

An interesting piece of the conservation was around Safety and Regulations and his take on it was probably how I would see the situation, as well.  It was more of an ask-for-forgiveness, not-for-permission type take.

Overall, the meeting with Noah Karesh at Feastly was extremely informative.  Even though they may not have the same space as the other start-ups we met with have now, I can definitely see that they’re headed in that direction.