What is TalkToChef?
Have you ever wanted help from a real chef while cooking at home? TalkToChef can turn your dream into a reality. TalkToChef is an online and mobile platform where people can get their everyday cooking questions answered in real-time by a culinary professional. It uses the latest in two-way video streaming technology to provide you with instant culinary support without leaving your kitchen. In just a few clicks you will be connected to a professional chef, who is ready to give advice on a variety of cooking matters.
TalkToChef is here to solve your cooking questions, including what to cook for dinner tonight, how to make a meal healthier, and how to fix a meal gone wrong. TalkToChef is available through the website, on mobile devices (iOS), and through a widget that can be installed on third party websites. Professional chefs have never been so close!
Our Philosophy
We believe that cooking is much more than a necessity. It is the process of creating and sharing emotions through food.
We are here to help people improve their cooking experience by encouraging them to be more creative and to not fret failure. TalkToChef is a place where cooking is easy and joyful, and where anyone can experiment with new cuisines, methods and diets. The best way to achieve this goal is through confidence. Our expert chefs are standing by with advice and support. The TalkToChef mantra is “never screw up your dish again.”
At the same time, we want to offer our expert chefs the opportunity to build their online reputation and exposure among the food community. We deeply believe that all chefs can cook in front of the camera and teach the world the art of cooking. While working in culinary sphere, we’ve met so many amazing chefs willing to share their experience. Now they have the outlet to do so. Every neighborhood has a great chef ready to share their professional secrets.
Modern technology has afforded us the opportunity to engage with the world. We aim to socialize the cooking process by giving users the opportunity to speak with a real chef. We would hate for someone to get stuck on a recipe while browsing a recipe website. We predict that the “ask a chef” widget will develop as a new industry standard, appearing on recipe websites across the net.
With TalkToChef we envision every table adorned with a home cooked meal as if it were prepared by a professional chef.
Our Story
Have you ever tried to replicate an amazing dish you saw on the internet or television? Did you follow all of the instructions and still end up with an inedible dish, essentially throwing away hours of preparation?
Consider the following scenario:
A cooking show inspires you to make a delicious dish on the weekend. You find the right recipe, purchase your ingredients and begin cooking. Then, right in the middle of mastering your culinary creation, you notice something is wrong. Your food looks nothing like the picture and it doesn’t taste very good either. Your dinner is under attack and your groceries are headed towards the garbage. You begin to contemplate a frozen pizza.
This is a scenario we have seen over and over. Something had to be done. It was only a matter of time until we stumbled upon an idea.
The idea was awaiting us at the Hult International Business School in San Francisco. The TalkToChef team met in 2011 and quickly realized a shared a passion for cooking. We discussed how to make cooking better, easier and healthier. With these three ideas in mind we produced the TalkToChef concept and placed among the winners at Startup Weekend, 2012, in San Francisco. We believe TalkToChef will take-off in popularity and change the way we think about cooking.