Food delivery services just got more homely with the expansion of home-cooked meal specialist website Cookisto.
Think social media meets foodie-ism, or your local fast-food delivery being taken over by your parents. Cookisto is a new type of home-delivery service with hundreds of chefs and list of options longer than any fast food corner shop. How? Because the meals are cooked and delivered by chefs in the neighbourhood who just enjoy cooking for other people.
The Concept
The concept originated out of crisis‑stricken Greece by young business entrepreneurs, Michalis Gkontas and Petros Pitsilis. Unable to produce the same delicious home-cooked food like his mother would make, Michalis teamed up with his friend Petros to develop a solution.
“Cookisto is a community marketplace for homemade food. It is here that hungry foodies find personalised, delicious and healthy homemade food prepared by talented home cooks.”
Home delivery food doesn’t have to be unhealthy or expensive; rather Cookisto was developed with people on a budget in mind. Given that Greece is in an economically difficult position these days, and with unemployment rates high, Cookisto has been a popular solution for families who can make a little extra money by doing what they normally do every day.
How it Works
Budding chefs sign up to become Cookistos, becoming in turn the chefs and delivery service in one. After registering, the Cookistos create a personal profile and set up a list of what meals they offer that day. Hungry students, professionals and foodies can then search for meals available in their area and order directly from the chef.
As Cookisto has no control over the quality of the food or hygiene standards, being themselves only the ‘marketplace’, customers are encouraged to rate the meals they receive – much like on eBay or other similar services – to make sure that Cookisto chefs deliver what they promise. Therein lies the company’s weakness, that success of the service relies entirely on a network of would-be chefs. But like what eBay did for online trade, it has all the potential to completely revolutionise the way we think about food delivery.
Cookisto is currently only available in Athens, Greece but it is soon to take over London when it arrives in the UK shortly. The rest of the world: stay tuned.
Originally from Northern Ireland, Emily came to the Netherlands for her boyfriend and a masters degree in Physical Geography. She enjoys photography, baking, and her cats… preferably not all at the same time. 
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