Platd: A cookbook in your pocket

For the past year, I’ve been cooking up (pun intended) a food-tech startup idea that’s gone through an iterative process of research, design and testing. And I couldn’t be more excited to finally see it through with the upcoming launch of the beta app on both Android and iOS.

What’s the Problem

“On the weekend, we usually sit down to go through the recipes I saved on Pinterest, put the ones I want to make on my white board meal prep calendar, then look up the ingredients, and write them down on paper or on a notes app.” — Pamela

“I get my food inspiration from Instagram. But since you can’t really sort or filter your feed, you end up scrolling a lot, just to find these recipe posts. And if you forget to save them, you can’t find them anywhere.“ — Florent

“One of the issues I’m having is wasting food, cause I usually buy the same things from the grocery store out of habit, but don’t end up using them. So if I had a way of only buying what I need for certain dishes, that would help me a lot.” — Mariya

“There is no easy place for me to keep all my recipes. Some of them are in Notion, others are in my notes app and for family recipes, I usually call my mom. I would love to have all my recipes in one place.” — Derrick

These are just some of home cooks’s biggest challenges today, based on numerous in-depth 1:1 remote user interviews.

In other words, currently, there really isn’t an easy way for both coming up with new recipe ideas and for planning out meals for the week.

While there are dozens of apps and websites for finding recipes, their user experience isn’t very intuitive. Specifically, their content navigation is mediocre at best, there is little-to-no personalisation and the social aspect that is very relevant and important when it comes to food, is missing entirely.

What’s the Solution

Platd is a food-focused social app designed to help home cooks discover recipes based on their preferences, to create, save and share all their recipes in one place, as well as simplify their grocery planning. If you’d like to see a demo of the app, click here.

Why Now

Changing consumer behaviours and attitudes

It’s fair to say that the pandemic has been hard on all of us. However, one of the positives to come from the experience, is that for many its reignited the joy of cooking, and for others it’s been a way to pass the time either productively or with their family.

Research from Bain and Company estimating 60% of meal occasions in the U.K. were cooked in the home pre-pandemic, has now increased to 72%.

In addition, people’s priorities and expectations have shifted towards more flexible work arrangements. Seeing as more people will be permanently spending more time near or at home, it can be assumed the boom of home cooking is also set to continue.

In fact, people in the U.S. are continuing to cook more, with 71% saying they will continue to do so after the pandemic ends, according to a survey by consumer market research firm Hunter. This habit is driven by the increase in home cooks’ creativity and confidence in the kitchen, as well as the motivation that cooking at home helps to save money (67%), eat healthier (56%) and feel good (56%).

Unbundling

Social media is ripe for unbundling. I hardly use Facebook anymore and it turns out I’m not alone. Instagram, on the other hand, I use almost daily for personal interests but the experience of scrolling through so much randomness is becoming annoying.

That’s why vertical-specific social networks have only grown stronger in recent years, from fitness, mental health, to music. For example, Strava, the exercise tracking app, is essentially an online social hub for people to share their workout journeys only among those who actually care.

I believe there is an opportunity for a vertical social network designed for passionate, serious-yet-amateur home cooks.

Users would initially use Platd as a single player tool. For Strava, that’s been route planning and progress tracking. For Platd, its a way to digitise and keep one’s recipes in one place, as well as more easily manage their weekly grocery list. Then, as more users join, home cooks would stay for the multi-player feed as a source of recipe inspiration and a way to connect with other foodies.

Creators’ Economy

Social media platforms made their fortunes by relying on the constant supply of user-generated content. Despite this, content creators have not been given a bigger seat at the table compared to advertisers when it comes to how platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have been built.

A the same time creators don’t really have a different way of monetising their output that is not sponsored posts or brand deals.But there are signs that this is slowly shifting. Clubhouse recently confirmed that it will be introducing products to help creators on the platform get paid, including subscriptions, tipping and ticket sales.

This matters for Platd, because it will be free for all users, nor is it ad-supported. Therefore, adding monetization for users also introduces a method for Platd itself to monetize. By paying a monthly subscription users can get first access to pro in-app features, along with premium content for culinary up-skilling, hopefully attracting emerging creators and celebrity chefs.

Why Me

On a personal level, it wouldn’t be an overstatement that cooking changed my life. It all started back in 2019, when I was going through a bit of a rough patch. I was unemployed, trying to make a career transition and had broken up with my then girlfriend at the time. Through the constant self-doubt and rejection, cooking was the one time that I found myself being present, detached from thoughts and worries. There was something about chopping veggies and experimenting with new flavours, that relaxed me.

So the more I engaged in the daily habit of cooking, I slowly started to feel better, both mentally and physically. That’s when I discovered my love and appreciation for cooking. And ever since, I’ve been driven to make home cooking a more easy and accessible regular practice in people’s time-strapped lives.

I hope you join me on this mission by subscribing to our waiting list and following us on Instagram @platd.co

Thank you ❤️