Boston startup brings chefs into home kitchens with virtual cooking lessons

BOSTON — A Boston-area startup company aims to reinvent the culinary experience for the moment by Zooming professional chefs into home kitchens.

Cheft co-founder Josh Schneider told Boston 25 News the original idea for the company’s April launch was to link professional chefs with regular people looking to entertain in their homes. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Schneider and his partners pivoted to create Sous Cheft, a virtual product, after realizing the launch could not happen as planned.

“The main differentiator that we’re bringing right now is that the chef tailors every meal recommendation based specifically on what you have in your home,” Schneider said.

With Sous Cheft, clients are coached and entertained by the chef via the videoconferencing platform Zoom. At launch, one dozen chefs, mostly from the Greater Boston area, offer their services on the virtual marketplace and set their own fees for the 60-to-90-minute experience, Schneider said. The founders expect to add about another 10 chefs to the platform soon.

“For us, it really is genuinely: How do we get these chefs back to work? How do we bring smiles back to guests’ faces with everything that they’re experiencing?” Schneider said.

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