Visiting Feastly - A Quick View Into a Young and Ambitious Start-Up

Feastly was our third and last visit of the trip and provided a different perspective on a peer-to-peer industry. This young and ambitious start-up is located in a quiet, industrial-feel neighborhood. After arriving in Uber to the location, walking up to the specified address, and glancing at the entrance made me double-check if we were truly in the correct location. No sign or a tag with the company’s name at the doorbell could be seen – a completely different first impression from those during visits to Uber and Airbnb offices. We then proceeded up the stairs to the small Feastly conference room/kitchen, where our host Noah Karesh, the CEO and Founder of Feastly, greeted us.

 

Our conversation began with Noah’s story on how he had come up with the Feastly concept, which happened on his trip to Guatemala with his girlfriend. While searching for local food in local restaurants, he was unable to find that unique experience anywhere, until a friendly stranger invited Noah and his girlfriend to his mother’s house for a truly authentic Guatemalan meal. I was born and raised in Ukraine, and Noah’s culinary experience outside the United States did not surprise me. Similar to Guatemalan, in my culture, the only way to experience authentic local food is to be invited to someone’s home, which then becomes more a unique experience than a simply well prepared meal in a restaurant. 

The original Feastly concept arose from an experience, and now has grown, as is described by the company “into a central marketplace where passionate chefs connect with adventurous eaters seeking more authentic dining options by offering unique meals served in a chef’s home”.

Some of the top challenges that Feastly faces now, based on the statements by Noah himself are ensuring quality supply and creating more knowns than unknowns for the customer. To combat these challenges, efforts to communicate quality are reflected within the platform through the consumer review and commenting sections. In Noah’s opinion, peer-to-peer experience sharing is a more effective way to communicate quality than the rating system of quality implemented by the regulatory requirements for the usual brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Moving forward, Feastly has many challenges ahead, including building trusted reputation of chefs and protecting diners. To do both, a sense of security needs to be provided for customers who are signing up for their first meals with new and unknown chefs. While Feastly’s current strategy is to lay low and see what happens require the least effort and resources for the young company, a broader and forward looking strategy needs to be developed to ensure more sign-ups for newly added dining offerings.