Grubhub for Homecooking

A TikToker went viral for selling frozen pizzas on DoorDash. It reminded me of a similar stunt pulled by famous YouTuber, airrack, back in 2019. Another YouTuber did the same thing, selling repackaged McDonald’s burgers on UberEats.

Obviously, these aren’t serious businesses. Still, from a health-standards practice, it’s frightening how easily people can register “restaurants” on these delivery apps.

Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

In cities across the country, especially in places like LA, you’ll find hundreds of rogue street vendors selling food without a license, without a health grade, and without paying taxes. In NYC, guys like Oyay’s sell bottled cocktails called nutcrackers out of coolers, bypassing any liquor license or ATF regulation. I’ve even heard stories of people selling food on Craigslist before.

We don’t sue our family if we get sick from Uncle Irv’s wings at the cookout. But that changes when we don’t know the person serving us.

Operating a “restaurant” from a place of shared trust is risky. It only takes one unsatisfied and litigious customer to end it all. But, that’s a risk worth taking if cooking is your livelihood.

Grubhub for Homecooking

Ghost Kitchens have normalized selling food without owning a storefront. Mr. Beast’s ghost kitchen cleared $100 million in revenue by selling his burgers out of other people’s restaurants.

I don’t think we’re far away from anyone being able to sell their food on delivery apps. Like a ghost kitchen for homecooking.

Especially if you’re someone who has mastered one particular dish, like chili or lasagna or stir fry, then it could make fiscal sense to sell that on Grubhub or UberEats. It’s different than offering an entire menu of options. But you only need one hit item to make a living.

The delivery apps will need to figure out verification and health standards processes. But if Airbnb and Uber could figure out how to let the world rent out their assets, then I think Grubhub could figure out how to let the world serve food.