Brad Ideas - Zapmeals for real? - Comments

India

brad — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:52:47 -0700

Well, the cheap labour and high urban densities do seem to make India ripe for this.

Key to zapmeals in our world of expensive labour is that it fills the gap for the starting chef, not yet at the level where they can open a full time restaurant or catering business with dedicated kitchen and established customer base to give them economies of scale. The starting chef has the advantage of free workspace (their own kitchen) but does not, unless information tech can deliver it, have the economies of scale in buying ingredients, preparing dishes and marketing to customers.

yeah, i think there's a pony in ZapMeals somewhere too ;)

Dave McClure — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:35:40 -0700

nice piece brad... i agree, as we were putting ZapMeals together we really *did* consider the business somewhat seriously as an opportunity. the restaurant licensing might be a hassle, but there are some pretty cool ideas to pull together there.

thanks for the writeup & thoughts,

- dave mcclure

Aren't

Mike Linksvayer — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:34:43 -0700

Aren't http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala (s) much like this in Mumbai? At least the "order delivered food from quality at-home chefs" part.

In the U.S. I imagine few home kitchens would meet commercial kitchen regulations, and as far as I know caterers must meet these regulations.

Zapmeals for real?

brad — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:16:28 -0700

At the recent Supernova 2007 conference, they did a session where startups presented, and to mix things up, at the end they told us that one of the companies was fake. Most people clued in, because the presentation had been funny, and had a few obvious business mistakes, but at the same time many commented that it was chosen well, because they would like it to exist. The fake company, ZapMeals claimed it would let you order delivered food from quality at-home chefs and caterers, with a reputation system that helped you choose them by quality. GPS-enabled delivery companies would show you where your meal was as it drove to your home.