{"id":60821,"date":"2014-09-24T00:39:30","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T04:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=60821"},"modified":"2014-09-24T00:39:30","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T04:39:30","slug":"the-start-up-bringing-you-good-times-and-tasty-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2014\/09\/the-start-up-bringing-you-good-times-and-tasty-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Start-Up Bringing You Good Times and Tasty Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"
September 24, 2014<\/div>
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By MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

My jaw dropped yesterday when I saw the price tag.<\/p>\n

I’m talking about the one attached to dinner at the most overhyped ‘pop-up’ restaurant in Australia.<\/p>\n

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal will bring his ‘Fat Duck’ dining experience to Melbourne next year. Dinner — if you’re lucky enough to ‘win’ a seat in the ballot — will set you back $525. <\/p>\n

That’s excluding drinks, by the way.<\/p>\n

I don’t doubt that Heston would put on a sensational meal. <\/p>

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Every mate who’s made the pilgrimage to the original Fat Duck, one hour out of London, tells me it’s amazing.<\/p>\n

But if you think there’s a direct link between bill size and meal enjoyment, you’d better think again.<\/p>\n

I’ve just found a tech start-up<\/strong><\/a> that understands that link better than anyone does. And based on its early momentum…this company has every chance of becoming the next tech titan.<\/p>\n

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Cuban buzz<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

If you pay top dollar for a restaurant meal and expect the time of your life, you’ve got things twisted.<\/p>\n

The enjoyment you get from these kinds of experiences comes when they exceed your expectations.<\/p>\n

You see, I’ve dined at the swankiest end of Park Lane in London. I’ve had Michelin-starred chefs chat me through degustations in New York.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong…these were sumptuous, tantalising experiences.<\/p>\n

But they struggle to match the buzz I got from a Cuban paladar.<\/p>\n

‘Paladar’ comes from the Spanish word for ‘palate’. It’s a term that Cubans use to refer to privately owned, family-run restaurants in people’s homes.<\/p>\n

When I rolled into Trinidad, on Cuba’s south coast, and a friend referred me to a paladar…I was sceptical.<\/p>\n

This was eight years ago, long before Fidel Castro’s younger brother Raúl took power and opened the communist nation to foreign investment.<\/p>\n

Back then, Cuba wasn’t renowned as a culinary destination. I discovered this shortly after touchdown, when I found the Cuban national dish is the ham and cheese sandwich.<\/p>\n

That’s a direct result of the rationing, food shortages and general poverty that accompanied the decline and collapse of the Soviet Union…Cuba’s one-time most important trading partner. <\/p>\n

All of this meant the average Cuban prioritised survival…not haute cuisine.<\/p>\n

So my expectations for a home-cooked meal were low.<\/p>\n

But the spread our local hosts put on was outstanding. Fresh lobster, spicy crab, clams in green sauce, tangy mojitos…and the dishes kept coming.<\/p>\n

My friends and I staggered out the door three hours later…several shades happier…and merely a few dollars lighter.<\/p>\n

Our hosts that night in Trinidad understood a powerful secret. This secret is key to success in the restaurant game.<\/p>\n

Good cooking is only half the battle when you want to impress a dinner guest. You need to provide hospitable entertainment.<\/p>\n

That means making your guest feel at home. And what more comfortable place to do that than in your own home?<\/p>\n

The lively Cuban spirit — friendly, vibrant, loud, cheeky, smiling — makes places like Trinidad an ideal home for this kind of business model.<\/p>\n

But the secret to success behind the Cuban ‘paladares’ is opening up a market with enormous potential. <\/p>\n

And if you think you have the skills, it could bring you a brand new income stream…<\/p>\n

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Serving a hunger for human connection<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

This basic fact of hospitality provided a light bulb moment two years ago for two Israeli entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, Guy Michlin and Shemer Schwarz had watched Airbnb rise from strength to strength. <\/p>\n

I’m sure you know about the opportunities that Airbnb provides for its hosts. <\/p>\n

You can meet new people and make money by renting out parts of your home that you’re not using, if you join Airbnb’s platform.<\/p>\n

In that spirit, Michlin and Schwarz’s start-up — EatWith — aims to provide you with a similar opportunity. <\/p>\n

You can think of EatWith as ‘Airbnb for home-cooked meals’.<\/p>\n

The platform provides a marketplace that connects diners with hosts. It enables that rare social experience where you get to know your fellow guests while you share an authentic, home-cooked meal.<\/p>\n

It’s a brilliant example of tech coming full-circle<\/a> to bring people into closer personal contact.<\/p>\n

Hosts get to meet new people and make some extra cash while doing something that they love. <\/p>\n

As a guest, you can break bread with open-minded visitors and locals, share stories and make friends.<\/p>\n

EatWith vets hosts for friendliness, cooking ability and home ambiance. <\/p>\n

Michlin says only about 4% of applicants make it onto the platform…and then, of course, guests rate hosts (and vice versa) to encourage a high-quality experience.<\/p>\n

With 500 hosts in 160 cities across 30 countries, EatWith could be coming soon to a home near you.<\/p>\n

Raising $8 million of Series A funding should speed up that process. Here’s hoping that money gets EatWith to Australia.<\/p>\n

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The new world order<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

If this business model seems familiar to you, that’s because it’s not new.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s jumping into a stranger’s car through Uber, or staying overnight at a stranger’s house through Airbnb…people are getting more comfortable with paying for personal services through less formal channels.<\/p>\n

This trend lets consumers save money and gives them exciting new options. <\/p>\n

On the other side of the ledger, it lets people monetise previously untapped aspects of themselves. In this case, it’s a talent for hosting dinner parties.<\/p>\n

The old guard will complain. <\/p>\n

Long-established industries, be they in taxis, hotels or restaurants, can react in one of three ways. <\/p>\n

They can lobby governments to regulate these new business models out of existence.<\/p>\n

They can improve their own offering to compete in this new world.<\/p>\n

Or they can wither and die.<\/p>\n

Some call that ‘creative destruction’.<\/p>\n

I call it collaborative consumption. <\/p>\n

It’s the new way of the world, and you’re witnessing the trend take flight in real time.<\/p>\n

Keep your eye on start-ups<\/a> with a great collaborative idea like EatWith. <\/p>\n

The company that gets this model right and builds itself to world scale will make millions in profit. <\/p>\n

Not just for investors…but also for regular people with a flair for hospitality.<\/p>\n

Cheers, <\/p>\n

Tim Dohrmann<\/strong>+<\/a><\/u>
\n Contributing Editor, Money Morning<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The above article originally appeared in <\/em>Tech Insider<\/a> as a guest contribution.<\/em><\/p>\n

From the Port Phillip Publishing Library<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Special Report:<\/strong> The Hundredth Robot<\/a>: <\/strong>Sam Volkering has discovered the next technology set to transform daily life. Its mass adoption moment could be just six months away. And if you invest now, it could transform your wealth in just a few years<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Join Money Morning on Google+ <\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post The Start-Up Bringing You Good Times and Tasty Profits<\/a> appeared first on Stock Market News, Finance and Investments | Money Morning Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\nBy MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MoneyMorning.com.au My jaw dropped yesterday when I saw the price tag. I’m talking about the one attached to dinner at the most overhyped ‘pop-up’ restaurant in Australia. Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal will bring his ‘Fat Duck’ dining experience to Melbourne next year. Dinner — if you’re lucky enough to ‘win’ a seat in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}