“We’re like Airbnb, but for local food experiences in Africa.”
That’s how co-founder Peter Muchemi describes JiranisFood, a Kenyan tech startup that has developed a platform connecting users with chefs, who host them for meals at their own homes or deliver to the user.
“Currently in Africa there is no way locals can share local food with guests who are nearby. We have made an easy-to-use website with local food experiences in mind,” he told Disrupt Africa.
Connecting visitors with locals for exciting food experiences is the goal, with JiranisFood having launched last year and has been honing its product ever since. It has proven popular, with 1,200 customers having had around 3,600 meal experiences thus far. Mucheni said people have loved the concept, but JiranisFood won’t start charging for its services yet.
“We will be charging commissions of between six and 10 per cent on any order or booking that is transacted successfully through our platform, but for now we are not charging the host as we are interested in building the business first,” he said.
“We are planning to start charging the hosts next year April when we have enough traction to scale.”
The overall goal for JiranisFood, Mucheni said, would be reaching 20,000 hosts and 200,000 customers, and launching in other regions. Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are initial targets, but for that the startup would need to take on some investment.
“We have not raised any round yet, but we welcome any investor to come on board and make JiranisFood a reality. We plan to raise a seed round early next year,” Mucheni said.
