Is it safe to invite a chef to your home for New Year’s Eve dinner? .

The "secret weapon" becomes a "ticking time bomb."

Folk proverb says, "Children, don't be greedy. After Laba, it will be the New Year." A bowl of Laba porridge kicks off people's welcome to the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival is full of reunion and joy, and a symbol of reunion and joy is undoubtedly the New Year's Eve dinner. As the Spring Festival approaches, Zhao Xiaoling, a white-collar worker in Beijing, and his family are having some troubles over the New Year's Eve dinner.

The reason for the so-called "unrest", that is, the Cold War, and the stalemate between Zhao Xiaoling and her mother Jiang Yan was the "secret weapon" Zhao Xiaoling originally prepared for the New Year's Eve dinner - the chef came to cook. However, in Jiang Yan’s view, “This is just nonsense. An outsider who doesn’t know the details will come to New Year’s Eve and ruin the New Year’s Eve dinner.”

The reason why Zhao Xiaoling insists is, "Eating in a hotel is expensive and not as atmospheric as eating at home; cooking at home is too troublesome. Now, we finally have the best of both worlds."

Where to have New Year’s Eve dinner? How to eat? Many families have encountered Zhao Xiaoling's dilemma. This year, the once seemingly high-end and far-fetched method of having a private chef come to your home for New Year’s Eve dinner has begun to enter the homes of ordinary people. However, is the chef's skill up to par and are there any issues with food safety? Just like Zhao Xiaoling's mother, many people are also worried about these issues. After all, for Chinese people, New Year’s Eve dinner is really a big event.

Consumers:

There are safety concerns when strangers come in

A family of more than a dozen has not been able to book a hotel that they like, and they are worried about buying New Year’s Eve dinner online. Where to eat this New Year's Eve dinner has troubled Zhao Xiaoling for several months.

“Later, a friend recommended to me an app for chefs to come to my door. I tried it once and found it pretty good, so I made a reservation for the New Year’s Eve dinner.” Zhao Xiaoling told reporters that she booked the New Year’s Eve dinner through the chef’s door-to-door app. It is the golden rooster set meal for 3,888 yuan, "there are also the five blessings set meal for 1,888 yuan and the grand exhibition set meal for 8,888 yuan."

It is understood that Zhao Xiaoling’s app for booking chefs to come to your home has enriched the format of private chefs coming to cook New Year’s Eve dinners. In Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, it has broken out of the fixed menu mode and New Year’s Eve dinners. During this period, users can individually select the chef they are satisfied with and arrange the New Year's Eve dinner according to their own tastes. The dishes are provided by the customers themselves, and the process of chef service and processing is also more open and transparent. Considering the difficulties in preparing vegetables for New Year's Eve in the north, we still adopt the form of set meals and cooperate with suppliers to ensure the freshness of the ingredients. The ingredients in all set meals are sorted and selected the day before the New Year's Eve dinner.

“3888 yuan can already book a very good hotel banquet, and the quality is guaranteed. Who knows if this chef is reliable?” Even so, Jiang Yan has always been concerned about her daughter’s choice. She expressed strong opposition from the beginning, "The New Year's Eve dinner is too important to the Chinese people. I can't use the New Year's Eve dinner as a 'guinea pig'."

In the end, Jiang Yan also used her own "killing trump card" " If Zhao Xiaoling can solve the following problems, she will let the chef in:

How to ensure the safety and reliability of door-to-door service people - Jiang Yan's worry is that "strangers cannot enter the house with evil intentions. "People";

Whether there is unified training and whether there is a health certificate - Jiang Yan said "safety assurance is the most important".

In this regard, the founder of a chef door-to-door service platform once gave this answer: "As a platform, we will strictly control each chef. Chefs must go through interviews and taste dishes to join the platform. , identity registration, payment of high deposits and other processes, the platform will also record the chef’s identity information in a unified manner.” But such a family statement cannot reassure Jiang Yan.

Through the visit, the reporter noticed that not many people use private kitchens to come to their homes now. The reason is very similar to Jiang Yan’s worries.

“Some platforms where chefs come to visit only have a few hundred orders every day, which is incomparable to the millions of takeout orders.

"Wang Tai, who has been engaged in catering management at Changfu Palace, Xinqiao Hotel and other hotels, told reporters when analyzing the reasons, that for most people, ordering takeout is unhealthy but very convenient, and it is still too troublesome to have people come to cook food; It is difficult to hire an aunt who can cook, but only such long-term service can build trust.

In this regard, the CEO of "Good Chef" once said that private chefs are a natural extension of the field of housekeeping. However, the results of the reporter's interview did not seem to be consistent with this.

Among the 103 respondents on the Internet, only 12 said they were willing to invite chefs to provide services. Many people said this. It seems to be an "aristocratic service."

It is understood that the areas that private chefs now serve are mainly non-homely family dinners on holidays or weekend gatherings of young people. It was exclusive to the rich and powerful when they had banquets at home. Now it has flown into the homes of ordinary people. The price is acceptable, but the food is not necessarily amazing. Eating is a high-frequency need, so doing it every day seems a bit luxurious. "Even if he has booked a chef to cook New Year's Eve dinner, Zhao Xiaoling still has his own considerations about this service.

Old chef:

"Can't stand it" being a home-based chef

In the eyes of many people, inviting a chef to your home is just for the taste that you cannot make, but what if the taste is not what you want?

Such a question also exists in Wang Tai’s mind. "There is no clear way to deal with disputes and charges when customers are not satisfied with the dishes made by chefs or do not meet customer expectations."

I have been a chef for more than 20 years. Zhou Yanpeng said the following: "No matter how good the chef is, if you use 50 kinds of stoves, 50 kinds of fires, and 50 kinds of pots for him, he will be able to make several dishes for you the first time he cooks them. After ten differences, gesture habits are still very important in the cooking process. Chefs can bring knives when they visit, but they are not required to bring pots and stoves. Even if you give a Michelin chef a different kitchen, it will be difficult for him to perfectly replicate the dishes he makes in the restaurant in one go. You can also watch the King of Kitchen competition on TV. Most of the chefs are very poor, mostly because they are not familiar with the kitchen. "

Faced with the reporter's question about whether he would consider becoming a door-to-door chef, Zhou Yanpeng shook his head with certainty and said, "It's unrealistic and unbearable."

" Washing, cutting, and frying by yourself is actually very demanding for a chef's job, and he also has to keep the customer's kitchen clean. You can't just leave a pile of garbage after cooking and walk away. Young boys who have just come out of school will definitely not be able to adapt. Most of the catering industry requires people to work during meals and no one can do part-time work. Of course, there are those who work three shifts in star-rated hotels and can do part-time work, but how many people are willing to do part-time work? ? "Zhou Yanpeng said.

For chefs, Zhou Yanpeng believes that there are also problems, "For example, if a customer cancels an order and the ingredients have been purchased, how to calculate the loss. And how to resolve problems or disputes when cooking at customers’ homes.

Many private chefs told reporters that there are still some bottlenecks in home-based family banquets. “If it is a family gathering, we recommend preparing the ingredients ourselves. "Mr. Yang from a private kitchen team said that generally speaking, business banquets require relatively high-standard dishes, and it may be difficult to prepare the ingredients yourself. Family banquets are mainly home-cooked dishes, and the price of preparing the ingredients yourself is more suitable.

Mr. Wu, a private chef, said that at present, the monthly orders are not fixed. Sometimes there are orders for more than ten tables a month, and he can earn two to three thousand yuan a month. Mr. Wu said that he works part-time as a private chef. If he works full-time, It’s difficult to guarantee income. “The door-to-door service fee of two to three hundred yuan is not low. If it is higher, customers may not be able to accept it. "Mr. Wu said that if there were orders every day for a month, the income would only be 6,000 yuan.

"The price of subcontracting work and materials is higher. "Mr. Wu said that on the one hand, he works part-time as a private chef and does not have enough time to prepare ingredients; on the other hand, if it is a family dinner, more than 600 yuan may be difficult for many families to accept, and they think it is better to go out to eat.

" There have been relevant industry tests before, requiring different private chefs to prepare the same four kinds of dishes. As a result, the prices purchased by private chefs varied greatly.

" Regarding the issue of food supply, Wang Tai told reporters, "If a private chef uses expired or no longer good ingredients to cook, and customers have problems such as stomach upset after eating, there are still problems in resolving such subsequent disputes."

In addition, some consumers said that even if they choose door-to-door services, they would only choose door-to-door manicure or makeup services and let strangers cook in their own kitchens, which is not enough in the eyes of many consumers. Safety, even if the platform will purchase insurance for users who place orders, there are still hidden concerns about the safety of consumers and chefs

Operator:

Safety is still an unavoidable difficulty

“In addition to the consideration of service quality, the practicality and safety of the on-site chef have also become important factors for users to consider. Throughout the platform, the qualifications and identity of chefs have basically been completely registered and inspected. "Wang Tai told reporters that, however, when chefs work in physical catering institutions, they need to have employment certificates, health certificates, and technical grade certificates. The private chef app is still a relatively new catering service format, and the service standards are still blank. Many industry standards still need time to be improved. “Especially when it comes to the purchase of ingredients, if users bring their own ingredients, it is recommended to go to regular markets and supermarkets to buy them; if chefs purchase them on their behalf, it is recommended that the platform should manage the procurement channels in a unified manner. Choose qualified and traceable suppliers to reduce food safety risks. In the door-to-door chef service, if food safety issues arise, diners can also seek online platforms to protect their rights."

In mid-October last year, the chef's door-to-door platform "ShaoFanFan" closed due to difficulty in finding a suitable profit model. Prior to this, Hou Pengfei, the co-founder of "Love Chef" announced in an interview with the media that it would abandon the door-to-door chef business and switch to takeout. After receiving financing last year, "Love Chef" will expand to cities such as Tianjin, Wuhan, and Chengdu. But until now, the business of "Love Chef" is still only distributed in four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

According to analysis by industry insiders, the capital winter has exposed the pain points of door-to-door service of chefs, and the stickiness between users and chefs is weak. , The platform can only increase the stickiness between the two parties by burning money and subsidies. If the platform does not have a suitable profit point, it can only choose to transform.

And more importantly, the chef's door-to-door platform transforms into a high-end family banquet. , which not only meets the needs of consumers for dining at home, but also satisfies the needs of some consumers for high-end banquets. However, the service quality of door-to-door chefs and the safety of users and chefs are still unavoidable difficulties for the door-to-door chef platform.

According to people close to ShaoFanFan, conflicts between chefs and users of ShaoFanFan have occurred from time to time. “Those chefs who work in large restaurants have clear rules in the kitchen. The division of labor does not require doing all the work, and the hierarchical system of chefs in Chinese restaurants has always existed. Higher-level chefs go to consumers’ homes and not only have to wash and cook dishes, but also ensure that users are satisfied. Many chefs cannot adapt, so conflicts often occur.”

As a former operator of this type of platform, Li Tao also felt that it was not easy. At the beginning, his target customers for private kitchens were high-end people. Based on this positioning, the plan was to cooperate with high-end hotels and find top chefs to cook meals at customers' homes.

“The cost of a meal is roughly more than 3,000 yuan. Even though it seems to be such a high price, in Li Tao's view, the price is very "tough" because "the visiting chef will not only bring his own raw materials, but also prepare his own tableware, and every meal will have exquisite presentation." , exactly the same experience as dining at a high-end restaurant. In Shanghai, five-star hotels and high-end restaurants, a big meal also costs roughly this price."

However, after testing the waters for several months, Li Tao decided to give up the project. The reason for giving up It's "the road is too narrow and there is no way to go." Compared with the prosperous takeout platform, he believes that the advantages of high-end private kitchens are his own "pain points." For example, although private kitchens have high unit prices, they have relatively small coverage and high consumption frequency. Low, usually people only think of hiring a chef when they are on weekends or when they have friends coming from afar. It is difficult to monopolize the traffic entrance, and it is difficult to predict the subsequent development.

In addition, the soul of high-end private kitchen services lies in the chefs. High-quality "master-level" chefs are hiding in five-star hotels. Private kitchen apps are mostly entrepreneurial enterprises and have no bargaining power, leaving far less profit to themselves. So high as expected.