Learn How to Cook International Dishes From Home

So, we asked Jenn Nicken a couple of questions about how they built the company up and what it takes to be successful.

Who is your startup for?  

The Chef & The Dish is for anyone who loves learning about food and food cultures of the world.  We provide food enthusiasts, avid travellers, and experience seekers the opportunity to transport their kitchen for a day. We connect home cooks to world-class chefs and cooking instructors to learn how to cook dishes that originate from the chef’s region – all with live, online cooking classes.

What inspired you to create this startup?

After spending years working in the entertainment and technology industries, I decided to take the leap and pursue one of my deep passions – food.  I traveled to Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and more incredible places and immersed myself in the regional food culture.  I learned to cook traditional and iconic dishes with chefs and cooking instructors in the places where amazing recipes originated. The history of these dishes and the cultural impact of recipes being passed down generation to generation is fascinating. When I returned, while talking about my travels, I noticed conversations always came back to the food. People were fascinated by my experiences and the idea of cooking with others around the world. It was then when I realized, people want to connect kitchen to kitchen to learn traditional and authentic flavours. 

How did you build your startup?  

One night after having a couple glasses of wine with a friend, I went home, and stayed up until 4 in the morning building a :30s concept commercial.  When I woke up, I watched my commercial again and realized – I might actually have something here.  I started scribbling on notepads, picking up the phone, and never looked back.

How is your startup changing the future of the industry or helping to make travel better?  

We believe in making experiences, people, and places accessible. Culinary tourism is booming. People are discovering the world through food. The reality is, not everyone will have a chance to travel to all of the places they’d like. The Chef & The Dish is a digital aggregator for physical cooking classes around the globe. We make these places more attainable. Our clients get to experience more places, share these traditions with friends, and we hope they eventually make it a life mission to travel to these incredible destinations.

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

Be involved in everything. Nothing is too big or too little to capture your attention.  Get your hands dirty and think of every problem you might run into. When you think of the problems, you can then start finding the opportunity.
    

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. Connect with Jenn and The Chef & The Dish on Travel Massive and Facebook.