
Ask HN: Critique my biz idea – local.menu the next Airbnb - andrewfromx
Remember the days before Airbnb when their biz idea would have been laughed at? There are LAWS against renting out your apartment. In 2016 I think the world is ready for local.menu, the app that lets you rent out your kitchen to a restaurant for a night, your restaurant. i.e. you are allowed to cook for people in your neighborhood with no health permit &#x2F; zoning laws issues.<p>It&#x27;s very simple. A mom is cooking dinner for 4. She posts to local.menu what she is making and sets a 5 min time limit. She gets 3 hits in 5 mins of people close by that want an extra serving of what she is making. They come by her house&#x2F;apt and get their food to go. The mom simply made 3 extra servings of what she was making for her family anyways. And the markup is crazy. She can sell her special curry for $30 a plate to hipsters that want good curry, local, and fast.<p>Go ahead. Tell me this will never work because it breaks some laws.
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altotrees
Being a single person who does not cook often, this would be a fantastic idea
to see come to fruition.

On the other hand, as a person who skews toward the overly-cautious, I would
be concerned about the lack of sanitation inspections, servsafe certifications
and other safeguards that commercial kitchens adhere to. Also, how could you
be assured that Mom is not in a dire financial situation, re-heating her
special curry to sell at a marked-up price - a special curry that went bad
several days ago.

Law-, permit- and zoning-wise, I am not sure of what would need to be done. It
is an interesting idea for sure, albeit one that would take some serious
planning.

~~~
andrewfromx
i think giving out 5 star ratings just like uber would help u find the good
places. People are people. We live in a big village. Let's all eat together :)

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pacnw
There are a bunch of these already, exactly as you described it.

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andrewfromx
links please.

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pacnw
gobble.com, mytable.com, josephine.com...

gobble seems to have pivoted to delivering ingredients, which differs from
their initial plan from 2011: [http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/gobble-
helps-you-order-...](http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/gobble-helps-you-
order-take-out-from-your-neighbors-kitchens.html)

~~~
andrewfromx
oh! you are totally right! haha, thanks. I'm gonna use one of these vs. build
this :)

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stephenr
You seriously think health standards for restaurants is something that needs
to be disrupted?

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yeukhon
1\. A lot of people make homemade food, so what's up with the health and
hygiene standard there?

2\. If you think health and hygiene standard in restaurants are good, I don't
know what else to say but many restaurants receive C or lower grade in NY.
Some due to discrimination, some due to misjudgement, but many do reflect
serious lack of proper maintenance and cleaning.

~~~
stephenr
Home made food is explicitly that - for your own home. You are already
responsible for the people you're feeding.

Once it becomes about making money without regulation, I guaran-fucking-tee
you there will be people using it to run a "business" with zero fucks given
about food safety.

Sure there are restaurants with a low rating. There are also the ones that
have been shut down. That's the sort of place you need to be worried about

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andrewfromx
but that's 0.001% of the people cooking. The rest are making nice food I wanna
eat!

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stephenr
> but that's 0.001% of the people cooking

What are you basing that number on?

Once someone starts using the system to make money, a number of important
dynamics change.

\- they need to start buying more products, with the intent of making a
profit, so there is _even more_ incentive for them to buy "discount" items
that are marked down due to being close to their use-by date. Risk goes up.

\- they need to store a lot more products. How many home kitchens do you know
of that have different fridges to completely separate raw meat from cooked
meat, dairy, etc?

\- they need to have a way to keep the prepared food ready to 'serve' once
it's been prepared/cooked. How many home kitchens do you know that can keep
prepared food easy/quick to serve and hygienic at the same time?

Your idea is no more about "sharing economy" than Uber is. They're both just
saying "who needs accreditation, licences or insurance - any schmoe can do
this".

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andrewfromx
also think about a big apartment building. What if 1 person was the "cook" for
that village? Isn't that better, more social. human like, than each human
alone in their own apt eating a tv dinner?

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stephenr
Why is the choice between everyone eating from a sole cook or everyone eating
TV dinners?

I don't think I'll ever understand American culture.

~~~
andrewfromx
big american apartment building can be very lonely and isolating. No one talks
to anyone. You goto work, u go home, u interact only with your tv. Bringing
back the concept of a village where people gather around and eat together is a
good thing.

~~~
stephenr
> big american apartment building can be very lonely and isolating. No one
> talks to anyone. You goto work, u go home, u interact only with your tv.

Do you see the irony of the situation - you're complaining about a lack of
social interaction and community - and your solution is an app and the
transfer of money.

