Gathar: How to get a celebrity chef cooking for you at home
This Queensland startup, described as the Airbnb of dinner parties, allows you to book a celebrity chef who’ll come to your home, cook a meal and do the washing up too.
QLD Business
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A SAVVY Queensland startup that pairs famous chefs with special menus and sends them to your door to cook and clean up is booming as more people celebrate milestones at home.
Gathar, a food-tech business founded in north Queensland, has ramped up over the past few months and just attracted $600,000 from investors who see it as the Airbnb for dinner parties.
Started in Cairns in 2018, Gathar has since launched in 10 markets including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Byron Bay and the Sunshine Coast.
The platform allows people to pick menus then matched to chefs who arrive at a home, holiday property or office with all the ingredients to cook, serve and wash up after the event.
Co-founder Jodie Mlikota said the investment would mean the business can to expand across Australia and ultimately, internationally.
“We are busier than before and we think it may be people being a bit more hesitant about going out and the restrictions on restaurants,” Ms Mlikota said. “People are opting for having us come to them instead.
“We are seeing a lot of 40th or 50th birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and graduations.
“Even couples, which is a new market we didn’t really have a lot of before, who would previously have gone away or to their favourite restaurant are coming to us.”
“At the same time we have a lot of cooks and chefs who aren’t working in their normal roles at the moment so this is a side hustle for them.”
The company is actively recruiting more chefs as bookings grow — next month its expects to cater for 100 gatherings and someone has already booked for New Year’s Eve in Byron Bay.
“By growing their businesses, we’re helping to aid the recovery of the hospitality industry following COVID-19,” Ms Mlikota said, adding it had already generated more than $200,000 in revenue for its “culinarians”.
Christina Laker is one of a growing list of former TV food stars on Gather, with people able to book to former Masterchef contestant who lives on the Gold Coast.
“I love that can use my own style of cooking to my advantage and enjoy being able to be with people rather than being back in a kitchen and sending plates out,” she said.
“I didn’t even know it was something I wanted to do until I started it. I had done a big few big catering gigs but this is very personalised.”
Former My Kitchen Rules star Chris Rillo, who is currently stood down from Qantas flight attendant duties in Brisbane, is also making the most of the uptick in bookings for his services such as home-made pasta.
“Thank goodness people still want to entertain, eat and enjoy themselves,” he said.