Specialty Food Magazine

Spring 2017

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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Here, she shares how she launched and grew MiumMium and her hope to empower chefs. What prompted you to start MiumMium? My dad always told me to stay informed, to look around, and to try to understand the trends ahead of us. In 2014, I became interested in the "sharing economy." I studied companies like Uber and Airbnb and realized what they're really doing is monetizing an unused asset. I looked at my world and recognized that the only unused asset I had was time. I thought, 'There are millions of chefs around the world, why not create a platform where they can market their skills and earn some extra cash?' How do chefs benefit from this type of service? Many of our chefs have increased their income by 50 percent just by having fun preparing a feast and making new friends during three or four hours. It's a lucrative activity that they can practice when they have free time. How has the platform been received by chefs? The reception from chefs has exceeded our greatest expectations. We registered more than 11,000 chefs in less than six months. We launched in Canada and now operate in nine coun- tries, including the United States, France, England, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and have chefs located all around the world. Some of our chefs have even stopped their restaurant work to concentrate solely on MiumMium. You've spoken out about gender equality in foodservice. How does that play into your mission? I have one goal—to present every chef with the opportunity to earn a good living. I have experienced firsthand the discrimination faced by women in the kitchen. However, I must also admit that I have enjoyed the benefits provided by the color of my skin. Both situations are unacceptable—whatever their gender, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality, chefs should only be judged on the quality of the experience they provide to their customers. My dream is to set a marketplace where anyone with cooking skills can promote their services, and by doing so, increase their standard of living. A marketplace like MiumMium empowers all chefs equally. The chefs decide how much they want to get paid, when they would like to work, and what they wish to cook for the clients. The market does the rest. Our structure is fully open. Are all chefs paid equally? The chefs are all paid as they wish, not necessarily equally. Equally would mean they all receive the same amount for their work, which is not the case. Our chefs are free to advertise the menu of their choice at the price they want. [Prices generally fall between $20 and $100.] If they create a three-course meal for $50 per plate, we will promote their work on the site for 10 percent more, or $55 per plate; $5 per plate is kept by MiumMium at booking and the remaining $50 per plate is paid directly to the chef by the client. Therefore, the chef gets the amount he asked for. It is a free market, and every chef decides the value of his work. MiumMium charges no fees to the chefs. The price of the meal, its description, and the quality of the pictures will dictate the chef's success at first, then the client reviews will start rolling in and become the main driver of business. What is the average cost of a MiumMium meal per person? During our first year of operation, the aver- age cost of a MiumMium meal was exactly $47.58 per person. This price includes the food, the in-house cooking by the chef, the transportation, taxes, and everything else. Only the tip, which is always discretionary, is not included in the price. q&a; "Whatever their gender, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality, chefs should only be judged on the quality of the experience they provide to their customers." "Our chefs advertise the menu of their choice at the price they want. If they create a three-course meal for $50 per plate, we will promote their work on the site for 10 percent more, or $55 per plate; $5 per plate is kept by MiumMium at booking and the remaining $50 per plate is paid directly to the chef by the client. Therefore, the chef gets the amount he asked for." 52 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com

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