The marketplace - which launched in 2020 - connects consumers with more than 300 chefs cooking meals in their home kitchens

Home-cooked meal marketplace Cook My Grub launches chilled ready meal option

Around 60 home chefs are sharing their delicious dishes with people across the county

The takeaway service with a difference in Berkshire

The emergence of new technologies, including mobile app-based services, is transforming the way that the food industry operates. Innovations in foodtech that meet growing consumer demands for convenience, and environmental sustainability are set to define the future of this sector.

Meet Four Startups That Are Shaping The Foodtech Industry

Shabbir is the Co-Founder & CEO of disruptive food tech startup Cook My Grub. Cook My Grub is the UK's leading marketplace for home-cooked food. Cook My Grub provides a platform for home chefs and artisan food creators to sell directly to those seeking fresh, authentic, high quality home cooked meals.
Previously, he has helped deliver large scale digital programmes and built technology teams at world-leading organisations like Sky, NBCUniversal, Cubic Transportation Systems and Dish Network.

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Food delivery platform Cook My Grub, which provides dishes made by home cooks, has signed up to the governments help for household programme offering unlimited discounts to those in need. The digital platform allows home cooks to earn money as well as build their reputation and master their cooking skills from the comfort of their own homes.&nbsp; Food from 80 different chefs, who specialise in cuisines from around the world, will be available for delivery across the UK starting from this week. Meals can be ordered on the day or pre-ordered several days or weeks in advance. Dishes are delivered precooked in cooler boxes, have a two-day shelf life and are suitable for freezing. Cook My Grub was first established in 2020 by serial entrepreneur friends Shabbir Mookhtiar and Dinesh Patil. At the start, the company only operated in towns across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and West London, with meals made by more than 300 chefs. Indian-origin businessmen Mookhtiar and Patil are based in Maidenhead, said they wanted to offer wholesome and authentic home cooked meals that could be ordered through the app, and found a gap in the market for such a delivery service. They also wanted to find a way to stop ethnic dishes from being sold illegally through platforms like Whatsapp or Facebook marketplace. The founders said: “As a community-oriented business, we wanted to be one of the first to offer support to all the household struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis. At the same time, this gives us an opportunity to introduce people to exciting world cuisines, and help chefs build a business on our platform." “As the leading food delivery marketplace for home cooked food, we are following the framework defined by the Food Standard Authority to help systemise a previously unorganised industry and put an end to food exchanging hands without regulations on Whatsapp, Facebook or NextDoor.” The meals are also intended to be more affordable than many food delivery platforms such as Deliveroo, UberEats, or Just Eat, with a curry and rice on Cook My Grub costing around £7. All home chefs working for the platform have registered their businesses and must pass regular hygiene and allergy checks. Each chef also has to undertake an allergy awareness and Food Hygiene Level 2 training. Most of the chefs working for the delivery service have received a five-star hygiene rating, which Cook My Grub says is much higher than most takeaway restaurants. As well as offering a range of meals that aren’t readily available on the high street, Cook My Grub has helped home chefs build their profile in a manner which can be compared to independent crafters selling their products on sites like Not on the High Street, or Etsy. According to the company, the chefs – many of which have never had the opportunity to work professionally before – can earn as much as £25,000 a year on the platform. Reading-based Sri Lankan cuisine chef, Shyama Wijayaratna said: “I enjoy the challenge of creating fresh Sri Lankan food from scratch. There is nothing artificial about it and that is what makes it special. “The idea of doing something on my own scared me but my supportive son-in-law and my children provided the much-required push and convinced me that this was something worth considering. I also realised that there were not many home chefs providing the authentic Sri Lankan cuisine experience and this was something that I wanted to do.” &nbsp;<blockquote>As a community-oriented business, we wanted to be one of the first to offer support to all the household struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis. At the same time, this gives us an opportunity to introduce people to exciting world cuisines, and help chefs build a business on our platform.</blockquote>

Home-cooked food startup offers unlimited discounts to ease cost of living

Food delivery platform Cook My Grub, which provides dishes made by home cooks, has expanded its capability to the whole of the UK. The digital platform allows home cooks to earn money as well as build their reputation and master their cooking skills from the comfort of their own homes. Food from 80 different chefs, who specialise in cuisines from around the world, will be available for delivery across the UK starting from this week. Meals can be ordered on the day or pre-ordered several days or weeks in advance. Dishes are delivered precooked in cooler boxes, have a two-day shelf life and are suitable for freezing. Cook My Grub was first established in 2020 by serial entrepreneur friends Shabbir Mookhtiar and Dinesh Patil. At the start, the company only operated in towns across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and West London, with meals made by more than 300 chefs. Mookhtiar and Patil from Pakistan but based in Maidenhead, said they wanted to offer wholesome and authentic home cooked meals that could be ordered through and app, and found a gap in the market for such a delivery service. They also wanted to find a way to stop Pakistani and other ethnic dishes from being sold illegally through platforms like Whatsapp. The meals are also intended to be more affordable than many food delivery platforms such as Deliveroo, UberEats, or Just Eat, with a curry and rice on Cook My Grub costing around £7. All home chefs working for the platform have registered their businesses and must pass regular hygiene and allergy checks. Each chef also has to undertake an allergy awareness and Food Hygiene Level 2 training. Most of the chefs working for the delivery service have received a five-star hygiene rating, which Cook My Grub says is much higher than most takeaway restaurants. As well as offering a range of meals that aren’t readily available on the high street, Cook My Grub has helped home chefs build their profile in a manner which can be compared to independent crafters selling their products on sites like Not on the High Street, or Etsy. According to the company, the chefs – many of which have never had the opportunity to work professionally before – can earn as much as £25,000 a year on the platform. Reading-based Sri Lankan cuisine chef, Shyama Wijayaratna said: “I enjoy the challenge of creating fresh Sri Lankan food from scratch. There is nothing artificial about it and that is what makes it special. “The idea of doing something on my own scared me but my supportive son-in-law and my children provided the much-required push and convinced me that this was something worth considering. I also realised that there were not many home chefs providing the authentic Sri Lankan cuisine experience and this was something that I wanted to do.”<blockquote>“We couldn’t be more excited about expanding our food business across the country and continuing in our nationwide mission – to introduce people to exciting world cuisines, and help chefs build a business on our platform. “As the leading food delivery marketplace for home cooked food, we are following the framework defined by the Food Standard Authority to help systemise a previously unorganised industry and put an end to food exchanging hands without regulations on Whatsapp, Facebook or NextDoor."</blockquote>

Home-cooked food delivery startup Cook My Grub goes nationwide

Shabbir is the Co-Founder & CEO of disruptive food tech startup Cook My Grub. Cook My Grub is the UK's leading marketplace for home-cooked food. Cook My Grub provides a platform for home chefs and artisan food creators to sell directly to those seeking fresh, authentic, high quality home cooked meals. Previously, he has helped deliver large scale digital programmes and built technology teams at world-leading organisations like Sky, NBCUniversal, Cubic Transportation Systems and Dish Network.

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