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HOTREC ‘MEAL-SHARING’ PLATFORM POLICY PAPER – MAY 2018
3.3. Home Restaurants: A Global Market
with Different Scales of Operation
The overall framework of ‘meal-sharing’ activities and a dedicated
overview of 23 platforms which are offering home restaurant
experiences in Europe have shown how varied a global market
can be as part of the ‘collaborative’ economy.
Such an overview is based on the comparative analysis of
factors including the spread of operation among countries and
destinations, the volume of platform users, financial valuation,
social media fan base and different services among these
platform. Based on this, broadly speaking the international market
for ‘meal-sharing’ and home restaurant experiences is comprised
of four groups of online platforms:
Consolidations/Mergers:
A broad range of platforms
which terminated or modified the scope of their operation from
2015 to 2018 (BookaLocal, Cookisto, Grub with Us, Josephine,
Kitchit, Kitchen Surfing, People Cooks, Spoon Rocket, Sprig,
etc.). Some of these platforms are actually still part of the home-
restaurant market, since they merged with or were acquired by
other platforms. As mentioned previously, the most well known
examples are those of Cookening, EatWith and Grub Club
which were acquired by VizEat within the last 3 years, before it
rebranded to a revised Eatwith early in 2018. In a different case,
the founders of Cookisto in Greece decided in 2016 to move
from home restaurant experiences to meal delivery services by
launching Forky .
Local Trailblazers:
Country-based platforms which usually
operate in a small number of cities and introduce new elements in
order to differentiate themselves from international competitors.
In Lausanne, Switzerland, Surfing Dinner organizes rally dining
experiences where the platform’s users become both hosts
and guests for one day and eat at three different places while
socializing with more than ten people. All similar platforms
(Ceneromane, Cookeat, Foodoo, Gustoo) have a small fan base
in social media (lower than 1,500 followers), yet they clarify that
their gastronomic experiences are properly accessible to local
residents and tourists.
Regional Trendsetters:
An extended group of platforms
which operate across a whole country (Feastly, Gnammo, Le
Cesarine, ShareDnD) and among a small number of countries
(Chefly, Chef One) or selected international cities (Dine Away,
Dinneer, Eat Away, Voulez Vous Diner). Regularly these platforms
have a similarly extended fan base in social media (5,000-15,000
followers) excluding the notable cases of Gnammo Le Cesarine
and Feastly with 116, 47 and 37.6 thousand Facebook followers
respectively. What further distinguishes these platforms from
regional trendsetters is the variety of website features such as a
chef ranking system in Gnammo and dietary restrictions on meal
selection in Feastly.
Global Leaders:
All platforms in this group (Bon Appetour,
Cook App. Eatwith, Plate Culture, Travelling Spoon, Withlocals)
operate across a minimum of 25 cities or countries worldwide,
while 3 in 7 have more than 100 thousand Facebook followers
(Cook App, Eatwith, Withlocals) and at least 4 in 7 have a valuation
or total funding amount of no less than €2 million (Bon Appetour,
Eatwith, Plate Culture, Withlocals). Despite a rather smaller social
media fan base, MealSharing.com is also part of this group as one
of the oldest ‘meal-sharing’ platforms with hosts in more than 150
countries worldwide.
All platforms in the
group of Global Leaders
operate across a
minimum of 25 cities or
countries worldwide.
3 platforms have more
than 100 thousand
Facebook followers.