Startup Spotlight #87: Learn From A Chef

Learn From A Chef's mission is two-fold: help people become better cooks at home, and support chefs with supplemental income.

Feb 17, 2021

Latest F2F Case Study - Case Study: This Founder Doesn't Believe In Product-Market Fit. Yet His Startup Is Growing Rapidly.

I got the chance to speak with Querida Qiu, founder and CEO of Learn From A Chef, about what she’s working on at her startup, and any advice she has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Learn From A Chef offers livestream, interactive culinary classes taught by Michelin-star chefs and mixologists. Our classes are enjoyed by foodies to improve their culinary skills, as well as organizations like Facebook, McKinsey, Samsung, Stanford University as effective team building events.

Learn From A Chef was founded by Querida Qiu. After working as a high-frequency trader in Chicago and Amsterdam, she decided to follow her passion for food and went to culinary school in New York, while working as a line cook at 3-Michelin starred Eleven Madison Park. She also worked as a business manager at Alinea, a 3-Michelin star restaurant in Chicago. She’s currently finishing up her MBA at Stanford.

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Startup Spotlight: Learn From A Chef

Learn From A Chief founder and CEO Querida Qiu.

Problem: As remote work becomes the future, companies need more effective employee engagement tools – and food and drink is a timeless unifier. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of talented chefs are looking for alternative ways to make money with restaurants shutting down.

Market: Companies in our customer and target list have between $500-$1500 per person per year budget for employee engagement spend.

Solution: Learn From A Chef offers a marketplace for companies to search for vetted, professional, Michelin-star chefs and mixologists to host effective team building events.

Team: Our founder has years of experience and a wide industry network as a former chef and restauranteur at two of the world’s best restaurants.

Recent Success:

Qiu: We’ve been successful at converting one event with a corporate client into many recurring ones. Most of our clients started with one employee who tried our classes either on their own or with another group, and then recommended to their companies. We make sure to always follow up and offer incentives for internal referrals (to other teams/departments) so that we can develop deeper relationships with every corporate client.

Recent Struggle:

Qiu: We’ve been debating constantly about whether to raise funding and when. We had some discussion with a few firms over the summer but decided to hold off and keep the business bootstrapped as we can. Being in the valley where venture-backed is the “default” way to go, coming to terms with the bootstrapped decision took some effort. It has made us feel cash-strapped at times, but overall it’s been the right and beneficial choice, ensuring every decision we make is well thought out.

Founder Advice:

Qiu: It’s incredibly beneficial to have a cohort of founders in similar stages and have regular check-ins. I’m lucky to have a few Stanford classmates who are also bootstrapping their businesses, and we have bi-weekly discussions updating each other on our progress and sharing triumphs and concerns. It provides not only a support system on this otherwise lonely journey but also an accountability mechanism to give you the necessary boost when things get tough.

Two Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Qiu: Here are two founders you should check out next!

Dylan Robbins, Founder of Verre Vert Glass: Verre Vert Glass is your eco-friendly, lightweight, and durable wine bottle solution.
Auja Little, Founder of Beautyocracy: Beautyocracy is a marketplace for discovering diverse, inclusive, and clean indie beauty.

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