Food is an excellent way to bring people together. Not only on a personal level, but also on a business level . At Social Media Club Utrecht, a number of interesting social media & food initiatives came up. A striking detail: passionate amateurs are gradually taking over the catering field from professionals.
Kim van Velzen happily chatted the evening together and managed to bring many social media and food trends to light list to data More information about these trends will follow in a next blog here on Frankwatching. For now; an overview of an evening with three fascinating speakers and some interesting initiatives.
To clarify the difference between amateurs and professionals, we can compare the Thuisafgehaald and Social Dining initiatives.
Social Dining
Social Dining describes itself on its website as: “(out) dining with known and unknown people with (often) a common interest. Via the online platform, people can participate in organized dinners or organize a dinner themselves”. The disadvantage, according to chairwoman Kim, is that Social Dining is mainly focused on the transaction (having people book at affiliated restaurants), without taking into account the needs of the customer/social diner guests.
Picked up at home
Home Picked Up Logo with Card - Liber Media - Lieke MullerMarieke Hart spoke about Thuisafgehaald during SMC030, which she started because her boyfriend wanted to taste the food of her neighbour. Fortunately, her neighbour loved to cook and that is how the idea for Thuisafgehaald came about. The concept of Thuisafgehaald is actually very simple. Some people love to cook, others hate it. Both parties can look on the Thuisafgehaald website to see where an enthusiastic chef is making delicious meals in their neighbourhood and with a click of a button they can pick up such a meal from the chef at home for a small fee. Much cheaper and healthier than the snack bar or pizzeria.