Status: 16.01.2024, 11:32 a.m.
By: Lukas Schierlinger
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Nilgün (left) is one of the cooks at the "HomeMeal" delivery service. © Screenshot/IMAGO/Arnulf Hettrich
In 2024, Martin Schmidt wants to take off with his unusual delivery service in Munich. Our editorial team tested a "HomeMeal" box in advance.
Munich/Berlin – Nilgün smiles a little shyly from the packaging in which her Icli kofta is waiting. Bulgur wheat husks stuffed with a mixture of minced meat and onions. The amateur chef prepares the traditional Turkish delicacy in her home kitchen in Berlin – for customers all over Germany. Nilgün is one of the chefs at HomeMeal, a delivery service founded by Martin Schmidt. In 2024, it is expected to establish itself in Munich.
Schmidt moved to Berlin four years ago. During the Corona period, he got to know many chefs who had suddenly become unemployed. "The idea was to establish a kind of 'home office' for them," Schmidt recalls in an interview with our editorial team. In the meantime, 150 people are registered as small business owners with "HomeMeal". However, very few of them are classically trained chefs. The vast majority have turned their hobby into a sideline.
"We offer the opportunity to realize their dreams of a grocery business and earn a meaningful income from what they love," the company's website reads. Plenty of pathos, but does it taste good? Click here to go directly to the test.
Founder of Lieferdienst: "In the future, we want a more sustainable model"
For 60 euros, customers can put together a box with six dishes in the app. According to Schmidt, 65 percent of the money goes to the chefs. A messenger picks up the vacuum-packed food prepared by the hobby chefs and takes it to the start-up headquarters in Berlin-Kreuzberg. From there, it is transported in a cooled isolation box to customers throughout Germany. You can heat the dishes in the microwave or pan.
"In the future, we want a more sustainable model," says Schmidt. The challenge is that the cold chain must always be maintained. Customers can currently return their packaging waste to "HomeMeal". "We can reuse some of it." After all, delivery by DHL parcel (500 g CO₂) is said to be more sustainable than ordering from a conventional delivery service (1 kg CO₂ for 5 km by car).
This is how the test dinner in the Munich editorial office went
Employees of our editorial team tested a "HomeMeal" box with six dishes. There were curries, African jollof rice, Nilgün's icli kofta and an eggplant maqlubah from the Middle East. "The portraits of the chefs on the packaging are simply likeable," sums up one of the testers, who finds positive words for Nilgün's Icli Köfte: "Surprisingly fresh, considering the journey they have been through." However, he found the QR code, which leads to the heating recommendation via detours, to be annoying. "As a customer, I feel like I'm being led around by the nose. It's easier to do that with a three-liner print on the packaging."
His colleague was critical of the "unpacking experience": "I am convinced that there is a much more environmentally friendly way." In terms of price, the testers rated the box with six dishes as fair. In terms of taste, the dishes would have stood out pleasantly from the "delivery service monotony". Although the curries were quite spicy.
Tester 1 brings an unexpected model into play: "I could very well imagine the offer in the rural region, also as a more sophisticated alternative to meals on wheels."
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In 2024, the "gastro revolution for Munich" is to come: hobby chefs have already applied
In Berlin, "HomeMeal" has found customers mainly in the suburbs. "Where restaurants are becoming fewer and delivery services can't get there, we become more interesting." In 2024, the company's founder wants nothing less than a "gastro revolution for Munich". About 50 amateur chefs from the state capital have already applied, and Schmidt wants to release the first ten in February or March – initially only for self-collectors. "If we have more than ten chefs, it makes sense to set up a quality center in a city and connect them to our Germany-wide logistics."
The start-up concept is particularly well received by expats. People who come from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, for example, and appreciate the authentic cuisine of their countries of birth. "The food of home, produced by moms," Schmidt outlines it. And he emphasizes that he doesn't mean that with the moms in a disrespectful way. "Many of our chefs come from cultures where conservative family models prevail. They would like to create something of their own."
If you want to be part of the cooking team, you first have to survive a test meal. Schmidt and his employees get a taste of it. "It helps that we are very diverse. But of course, these are quite subjective impressions." In practice, the decisive factor is whether customers order from the same chef again. "Sometimes the offer is too exotic, or the pictures don't fit." Then you have to make adjustments. In a few cases, the start-up has had to part ways with chefs, Schmidt reports.
That's what Auberginen Maqlubah warmed up during the test in the Munich editorial office. © fkn
"HomeMeal" cooks must expect a visit from the food inspectorate at any time. At the health department, training in personal hygiene is mandatory for small business owners. The hobby cooks have to separate ingredients for their dishes from private food in a second refrigerator. (lks)
Since Corona, they have been particularly in demand: food delivery people bring the shopping home and the customer saves himself a trip to the supermarket. We have tested five of the most important providers in Munich.