Why No Dining App Is the ‘Airbnb of Food’ Yet
While this is an interesting idea, restaurants are booming right now.  In many cities you also see the proliferation of cheap(ish) tasting&#x2F;dégustation menus, and higher end food in more casual settings.  If the choice is between a 60-70 dollar menu in someone&#x27;s home vs. 60-70 dollar menu at a restaurant, I think the restaurant wins most of the time.<p>Then there&#x27;s the fact that this is basically illegal in much (most?) of the US, Canada, and likely elsewhere.  You can&#x27;t prepare meals for the public without the food being prepared in an inspected and licensed establishment.  Just like you can&#x27;t run a hotel without the proper permits.<p>Also, as a side note, I was a cook&#x2F;chef for 10 years (now an older university student), my last gig being a head chef job in a fine dining restaurant.  I&#x27;ve toyed with the idea of starting a food-related business.  I would personally love to be able to serve people in my home instead of spending $100,000+ (actually more like $500,000) on a small restaurant, or $50,000 on a food truck or other mobile establishment.<p>But allowing unlicensed establishments to operate opens up a huge can of worms - what happens to businesses who pay thousands of dollars in taxes, who buy liquor licenses often for upwards of $100,000, who are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money to build a kitchen which follows the various health codes?  Will they be compensated?  Will the meal-sharers be forced to upgrade their kitchens?  Will they be inspected?<p>We have to decide, as a society, if we want to allow businesses to operate in residential areas.  We can&#x27;t simply encourage people to break the law because it makes some guy with an app money...<p>Edit - just found a good article about the legality of food sharing&#x2F;underground dining:  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lawreview.uchicago.edu&#x2F;page&#x2F;regulating-underground-secret-supper-clubs-pop-restaurants-and-role-law" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lawreview.uchicago.edu&#x2F;page&#x2F;regulating-underground-s...</a>