Hungry London lads launched online Eatro for healthy, homemade food to go recruiting home chefs across London looking to monetize their passion. New online marketplace Eatro went live on Monday 20 January 2014, offering a variety of wholesome, home-cooked takeaway dishes from around the world. We decided to chat with one of the founders about their innovative idea and what it brings to the dining scene in London.
G: Tell us about your business.
B: Eatro is an online marketplace for homemade food. We connect home chefs with foodies in the neighbourhood that are looking for a healthy and affordable takeaway meal. We want to challenge and democratise the takeaway industry, because we believe that takeaway does not have to be mass-produced, unhealthy and bland-tasting. Corporate fast food should not be the only choice when you step out of your office or home. We want a healthy and delicious alternative to fast food that is homemade and affordable!
Inspiration for the business came from frustration. We all studied at universities here and after three years of having the same food options we decided to create an alternative. And what’s a better food alternative than home cooked food from all over the world!
G: What is unique about what you do?
B: Our platform allows food entrepreneurs and passionate home cooks to develop and introduce their signature dishes to the world. It gives them a chance to earn money and also get feedback. It perfect for people who want to offer their amazing culinary skills to the world but want to build their menus and a customer base first. It also allowed us to cover the cost of eating by cooking a few extra portions and selling it around our neighbourhood. We interview every home chef and offer professionally photography to ensure detailed profiles and complete transparency.
G: What would you say has been your most memorable experience while developing your business? What were the most successful or unique projects?
B: The most unique experience would have to be how we have fully immersed ourselves in the sharing economy to cover our costs of living in London. The three of us co-founders have moved into one bedroom and rent out our other two bedrooms on Airbnb, this covers our rent. We sell food to the shops in our street to cover the cost of eating and hold cooking classes on Meetup for some extra cash. You get to meet lots of wonderful people and it goes to show that 9 to 5 isn’t the only work option we have anymore.
G: Why do you choose Shoreditch to run your business?
B: We chose Shoreditch because of the great crowd that lives here. It’s a really progressive community of open minded people. We figured this is the place to get early adopters to try out our business and we were right. We’ve walked shop to shop and knocked on our neighbour’s doors and people are all really excited about we have to offer. It also helps to be near London’s Silicon Roundabout
G: Who/what are your favourite CEOs/Businesses in Shoreditch?
I’ve recently read about Dattch and I think it’s a really great idea. There used to be a pretty large gender gap in entrepreneurship, being mainly male dominated. Now there is a surge of innovative women solving solutions to issues women face that I wouldn’t have even thought of. There is a large market there and space to do a lot of good. With match making generally thought of as men making the first move, Dattch really flips the script!
G: What are your favourite places in Shoreditch?
B: Our home/office of course! Shoot me an email and we’ll invite you to one of our dinner parties!
G: What does the future has in store for your business?
B: We will be developing our app so you can find homemade food on the go. Once we cover London we are also planning on moving into other major European cities.
Visit: Eatro.com
