We're a startup that launched late last year, we connect amazing home chefs with hungry people :)
Each week we feature a couple of home chefs and their cooking - there's dinnerboxes which are around $20-$25 and serve 2 people. Some have 2 mains and a dessert.
At the moment we're doing free shipping within the Sydney area
If these are cooked by anyone, how do we know they are following proper hygiene standards ?
Also, why is this a bargain? It looks like normal prices without any discount? More like SPAM
yes what is the discount… free shipping?
the food looks pretty good though.
possibly free salmonella…
No mention on the website about meeting health regulations…
Found something regarding liability:
Accepting an order
6.1. Once a customer has placed an order through Your Fork for your Home Cooked Meal, we will send you a notification to accept or reject the order. You will be provided with 10minutes to respond to the order.
6.2. If you have not responded to the order after 10 minutes, we will automatically reject the order and notify the customer.
6.3. Once you have accepted an order from a customer from our Site, then you are completely responsible and must honour and deliver all orders accepted within the agreed timeframe.
6.4. You agree that you are solely responsible for your interactions with any customer in connection with the Service and Your Fork takes no liability or responsibility with respect thereto.
6.5. You agree that you are solely responsible for maintaining food quality in the home cook meals.
6.6. You also agree that you are solely responsible in identifying ingredients that may cause allergic reactions for customers with food allergies as well as appropriately preparing meals to avoid allergic reactions.
6.7. You shall be solely responsible for any and all injuries, illnesses, damages, claims, liabilities, losses and costs suffered by or related to a customer concerning any customer order accepted by you.
I think its a good concept, but a bit of a cop-out as well after reading this.
providing the middle link between customer and cook, but not taking any responsibility.
OP - You should consider enforcing all cooks to adhere to specific guidelines, have appropriate insurance, food and health licenses, etc. If they are providing food to a customer, it is essentially a catering business and needs to act like one.
6.17. You agree that you are solely responsible to ensure that you are legally compliant with any international, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the preparation and sale of your home cooked meal and it is your responsibility to continue to be compliant with all your legal requirements at all times. You agree that you have independently researched and comply with all international, federal, state and local laws and regulations and have made the required notifications to the relevant authorities and obtained any necessary licenses or permits when required. You agree to indemnify Your Fork for any loss we may experience as a result of your violation of any laws and regulations.
sounds like a cop-out and i doubt it can be legally upheld. it's like a hospital hiring fake doctors and putting a disclaimer they are not responsible for individual actions
Not really…. I guess it's more like an owner of a food court… or a shopping mall…. they aren't responsible for individual businesses in their establishments.
Many catering companies are 'home run' businesses….
of course they are. they are responsible for checking whether a contractor has the appropriate license and qualifications, just like a food court would require a liquor license for selling alcohol and catering license for a take-away. it would be negligence if they don't
it will be different if they ran a delivery business who is solely responsible for delivering meals, but they aren't. they select and recruit chefs which means they need to ensure their kitchen and preparation satisfies hygiene standards
Many catering companies are 'home run' businesses….
see post below http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/home-cook-fined-20000-over-mass-fo…
Uhh. It's not the food courts responsibility to ensure its clients are licensed… It may be in their interest to check, but that's it.
Imagine if a car park had to make sure all vehicles were licensed..
Responsibility always falls to the owner of the business requiring licensing.
when you select contractors in your business it is your responsibility to make sure they are appropriately qualified to do the job, and that includes making sure they hold the relevant licenses. you would fail in your duty of care to your customers otherwise and a waiver isn't likely to get you out of trouble
a carpark is a poor analogy as cars do not provide services to anyone and a carpark obviously isn't selective in which cars it allows inside.
I would more liken it to Napster, or torrent sites today.
I would like to know about how hygiene is monitored? Also what is the bargain part?
I would like to know about how hygiene is monitored?
They don't seem to care about that…
what a great concept.
will definitely be giving you guys a go - how long is the free shipping going for.
there are rules and regulations for providing meals commercially.. can you supply evidence of the relevant license and such, rep? restaurants and take-aways have licenses and can be inspected by health authorities if reported or linked to outbreaks of illness - i don't see this as policeable in the home kitchen setting.
this is not for nsw but as an example
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/laws-permits/laws-and-permits…
it's a good concept but there are issues of hygiene and safety as raised above which is concerning and not addressed on the website. it's not enough to provide merely a liability waiver when you are running the business
I am negging this deal until the op can explain how the food meets the regulations. Imo it is too slack to simply pass on the liability to the food supplier.
I'm going to neg this as well for potential health issues. It's hard enough to get commercial kitchens to conply with regulations. Have you ever seen how some people live? Some of their houses are just disgusting, they literally live in their own waste. They could have cockroach and maggot infestations in their kitchen. A home cook has no public liability insurance if someone gets seriously sick or dies from their food.
This would only be a bargain if it was free, anything more is just spamming their new business.
It is a huge pity… as this is a great idea.
Agreed, a fantastic idea, just a cursory look at the web site and available menu items, there are foods there you would never get from a traditional restaurant or delivery service, health concerns are a big factor for some people, though.
OP, if you ever branch out to Canberra, I make a mean wood fired pizza, dessert ones too ;)
And as a food provider I would take heed from the below…
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/home-cook-fined-20000-over-mass-fo…
there's no guarantees…..
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/food-news/rats-bugs-and…
One in 10 restaurants and cafes across NSW has been fined for food safety breaches in the past five years
What point are you trying to make?
If 1 in 10 restaurants and cafes fail to meet food safety standards even though they are fully aware of the requirements and know they can be inspected at any time, fined and put on the offence register, how many private homes will meet these standards where there is zero risk of being inspected and being caught? It's safe to assume it will be much higher than 10%, and within that would include a much higher rate of severe breaches.
But what about deals involving eatnow and others… From eatnow web site:
Eatnow.com.au endeavours to deal with reputable third parties who provide quality products and services, however we accept no responsibility or liability for the quality or quantity of any goods delivered by or collected from said third parties. It is the responsibility of the customer to thoroughly check the supplied goods before agreeing to receive an order.
It's a bit harsh to single these guys out.
eatnow sources registered and licensed (i hope) restaurants and takeaways with a shopfront. this is home kitchen
this is home kitchen
But you don't know that for sure, you're assuming.
As stated above, in their T&Cs (http://yourfork.com/terms) - section 6.17. I'd take the T&C's from YourFork over EatNow's..
For all we know, the only suppliers of food for YourFork might be home catering companies, attempting to make some extra money from over stock/cooked food.
uhh first line of OP's post
We're a startup that launched late last year, we connect amazing home chefs with hungry people :)
For some reason you seem to be unable to make any kind of link between 'home' and 'licensed'.. So I'm not even going to bother anymore.
As an FYI: I know a couple of home caterers, fully licensed, cooking out of their home kitchens.
As an FYI: I know a couple of home caterers, fully licensed, cooking out of their home kitchens.
and how is that useful to anyone, exactly?
you seem to be the one making all the assumptions here. whether or not they are actually licensed (which i doubt) it's up to them to produce evidence of license/registration/compliance with industry standards. you are welcome to consume food from unknown sources to your heart's content but i personally would like assurance it comes from reputable sources and i don't see any reasonable person being against scrutiny without an ulterior motive
I think most people are being a little harsh, I have seen this company on daytime television, the morning show I think it was, so it is definitely a real entity.
If anyone have worked in restaurants, you will know that food prep areas are often not pristine despite being licensed.
Do people ask for a license every time they go over a friends place for a dinner party, does everyone think there own hope will pass license standards.
Try them and if there good review them as good, if there bad rate them as bad.
If anyone have worked in restaurants, you will know that food prep areas are often not pristine despite being licensed.
that's exactly why you have licenses. if they don't meet hygiene standards there can be complaints and they may be inspected by health authorities and fines issued. which is what this kind of catering is missing
it's all good and well until something goes wrong.
you go to parties and you eat their food because you know the host and know they will prepare their food properly and won't poison you. will you do the same with a host you don't know with a kitchen crawling with rats and cockroaches? not saying that is likely to be the case, but it's their responsiblity to be compliant with all rules and regulations so the 1 in a 100 doesn't happen.
if they don't meet hygiene standards there can be complaints and they may be inspected by health authorities and fines issued. which is what this kind of catering is missing
You might have missed this from further up…..
6.17. You agree that you are solely responsible to ensure that you are legally compliant with any international, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the preparation and sale of your home cooked meal and it is your responsibility to continue to be compliant with all your legal requirements at all times. You agree that you have independently researched and comply with all international, federal, state and local laws and regulations and have made the required notifications to the relevant authorities and obtained any necessary licenses or permits when required. You agree to indemnify Your Fork for any loss we may experience as a result of your violation of any laws and regulations.
So your answer to his concern about these home cooks being immune to council or health authority inspections, is that there's a clause in the terms in conditions which says they must comply with requirements?
Oh, ok.
It's the same legal requirements for any establishment selling food…. Be it from home or otherwise….
Do you think catering companies are immune because they have no shopfront?
I think most people are being a little harsh, I have seen this company on daytime television, the morning show I think it was, so it is definitely a real entity.
No one claimed it was a fraudulent operation or didn't exist.
If anyone have worked in restaurants, you will know that food prep areas are often not pristine despite being licensed.
Imagine how much worse they would be if they knew they would never get inspected?
Do people ask for a license every time they go over a friends place for a dinner party, does everyone think there own hope will pass license standards.
Is that the best comparison you can make? Seriously. How about, you can open your eyes and inspect the place yourself. And you know the people cooking for you. Bit of a difference to some random cooking in their dingy kitchen.
Try them and if there good review them as good, if there bad rate them as bad.
If where is good and if where is bad???? What?
somehow I very much doubt that the food delivered will look in anyway like the ones in the pictures…