EatWith is an online platform that connects passionate home cooks with foodie travelers looking for an authentic experience. Step inside the home of a local, let them cook dinner for you and share the evening with them and other locals/travelers and you will leave with a lasting memory. As EatWith scales into a global community, one of the key challenges is to maintain the integrity of this hyper-local experience and this presentation looks at how we are doing this in 2014.
- Analysing markets at kpmg…… - Working in one when I started my cooking school in Barcelona…… - to creating one at EatWith - food connects. Take dinner and make is global.
- The strongest connections are made around the table. - EW makes it possible to share a meal with your neighbours, and with people all over the world.
- We see a huge opporutnity to disrupt a market left untouched by the sharing economy revolution. - EW wants to create a new category called social dining
- So we built a website! - We launched just over 12 months agon in Barcelona and Tlv and exploded around the world. - now in over 40 countries
- The future of eatwith and sharing economy platforms like ours depend on our host community - we are working hard to empower and inspire our hosts to create content, market this content, and then spread the word all on their own - we simply have to make sure the cake suits the tastes of thousands of eatwith users around the world
So why do people eatwith.Why do they knock on a strangers door?Why, because they’re hungry.
Food that you won’t find in any restaurant cooked by people with real passion to share
People with open minds and an appetite – whether your speak the same language or not
Places that make you go wow
So we’re here to talk about cultural challenges in creating a market in the sharing economy. 1 thing more intimate than sharing a meal together. Taking hyperlocal experience and maintain integrity of the experienceTechnology. Legal. Verifying hosts.
So how does eatwith become relevant at a hyper-local level?To create this market-specific trust, we realized early on that we would need to localize our content so we created the ambassador program.Ambassadors are passionate members of the eatwith community that help make us local and relevant in their specific city. They help with translation, press, contacts, verifying, and of course, plenty of eating!This desire to join eatwith is organic and by offering the tools to ambassadors and community members around the world, we have created a self-sustaining community that is the dream of every marketplace.
So how does eatwith become relevant at a hyper-local level?To create this market-specific trust, we realized early on that we would need to localize our content so we created the ambassador program.Ambassadors are passionate members of the eatwith community that help make us local and relevant in their specific city. They help with translation, press, contacts, verifying, and of course, plenty of eating!This desire to join eatwith is organic and by offering the tools to ambassadors and community members around the world, we have created a self-sustaining community that is the dream of every marketplace.
And now what we see as one of the key high-level issues that we argue about every day.Should eatwith create a flavour for every dinner or let the locals choose their own? There are arguments on both sidesBy creating a flavour, we can guarantee the experience and ensure a smooth pre-and post dinner experience (online and offline)On the other hand, embracing the diversity and letting eatwith grow in new and unexpected directions allows a similar diversity in experience.For me, the fine line that we are striving to achieve is a for diversity to thrive within the confines of a global brand. We don’t want our big macs to taste the same all around the world, but we do want every guest to leave the table with a sense of what eatwith is and how delicious the experience can be.
Individually and as a company we are also hungry.We want to make it possible for you to share a meal with someone, that lives next door, and on the other side of the world.I am an eatwith host in barcelona and I can tell you there is nothing more rewarding than cooking for people that love to eat, and as julia child put it, they are always the best people.