DALLAS (KDAF) — When it comes to new and innovative ideas coming to Dallas, a new app is looking to change the food delivery industry.
Toronto- based food delivery app, Cookin’, is looking to change the way people interact with their food and the people behind it. The concept is based on homemade food being delivered straight to your door by the chefs in your area.
“Food is the best unifier for all of us, and we have hundreds of home chefs and professional cooks ready to facilitate that in the Dallas area,” said Michael Baruch, co-founder and President, of Cookin. “Many of our amazing food creators are sous chefs, line cooks, and private caterers looking to re-invent themselves and launch their own businesses on their own terms. Cookin is proud to empower their entrepreneurial ambitions and to facilitate this opportunity for them while providing a fresh, new experience.”
Morley Ivers, co-founder and CEO, Cookin believes that Dallas was the best place to start their US headquarters.
“Dallas has a world-class restaurant scene, but nothing compares to the taste of a bespoke home-cooked meal prepared with love; it’s like having a private, yet affordable, chef on demand. We are celebrating the city’s incredibly diverse, rich food culture by kicking off our U.S. launch in Dallas to empower cooks, inspire consumers and build community,” says Morley Ivers, co-founder and CEO, Cookin. “As the latest evolution of the sharing economy, Cookin will bring consumers a much-needed personal connection to food and local chefs who have turned their home kitchens into small businesses, infusing heritage, personality and passion into their dishes.”
We had the chance to visit the Cookin’ Headquarters, for a preview party and met Founders, Morely Ivery and Micheal Brauch. As well as some of the amazing chefs and team that are part of the Cookin’ app experience.
“The fabric of our entire nation’s backbone is entrepreneurship. But in the food industry, these people traditionally have been working for minimum wage, incredibly long hours, your lifestyle is impacted and we thought that there was just a better way,” said Morley Ivers, co-founder and CEO.
Ochenta Dias specializes in butchery and natural ingredients with his own flair. Chef Juan Altamirano introduces his culture through food, as well as dishes that express the seasons and the bounties of harvests.
“I didn’t have any social media before this. I mean like none, so my girlfriend is all about food and new experiences and next thing I know she’s like ‘Hey, there’s this new platform in Canada they are amazing’ They hadn’t opened in the States. So at first, I didn’t know any way to see if they were actually going to make progress,” Owner of Ochenta Dias, Juan Altamirano.
Ochenta Dias specializes in American and International food, butchery and natural ingredients with his own flair. Altamirano introduces his culture through food, as well as dishes that express the seasons and the bounties of harvests.
Altamirano felt at ease once he met the company, and saw the vision and how they were going to execute it. He knew that Cookin’ was chef-driven and that the people behind it had a goal of being genuine and wanting to supply some of the best food.
Like Altamirano, the cooks hope to express their identity and uniqueness through their food. Samarcus Palmer and his concept Animunchiez fuses his love for Japanese culture and the food he grew up eating in the South.
“It’s a Japanese and Southern food fusion. like the food I grew up with my mom cooking, like collard greens, mac and cheese, potatoes, meatloaf that we would have on Sundays.I would always look forward to it. I took all those skills and taught myself Japanese and I love anime. So I taught myself something new. So I taught myself in Japanese techniques and Animunchiezwas born,” Palmer said.
Palmer said he has been selling under Animunchiez for three years and wanted to find a way to help his business flourish. ” It would be so much easier if I just had a team, that took up all the things that didn’t have to deal with cooking… it would be so easy,” he said.
After late-night scrolling on Instagram, he saw an Ad for Cookin’ applied for it and was able to make his dream a reality. Neydi Hernandez, of Neydi’s Waaj Tamales, was another cook featured at the Cookin’ preview event.
Her story about how she incorporates her Mexican heritage into her food, served as a reminder as you tasted the love and passion in her tamales. ” I have been making tamales my whole life,” Hernandez said. ” Because my family for generations they have made them. Not just tamales but different kinds of food too. When I moved here I learned about different types of food but this time I’m really sure of my passion.”
After moving to Dallas she saw that Tamales were a thing in Dallas, but the diversity was missing. She wanted to share her take on tamales and bring a different taste of culture to Dallas.
Hernandez says she hopes in the future that her passion will pay off. She hopes her business will flourish with more people contacting her for her amazing food. She has three jobs right now but she doesn’t feel like Cookin’ is one of them as she loves what she does.
Cookin’ has changed the lives of all three of these cooks, and there are more cooks that are eagerly waiting for your order on the app as well!
To celebrate the launch, Cookin is offering $40 off to try the app ($20 off of a new customer’s first two orders), simply by using the code “20TX” in the app.
