With dine-in officially off the menu at restaurants across Alberta because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a local couple got creative with a way to bring the experience of a restaurant inside your own home.
Coronavirus has sent the hospitality industry scrambling – and Vanessa Ojeda and Daniel De Oliveira were no exception.
The co-founders of Chef Table Living ran bike food tours in Edmonton, taking customers on a culinary journey through the city on two wheels.
They had to pivot their business during the pandemic.
“We were thinking: ‘How are we going to promote the locals? How are we going to do something that’s still a behind-the-scenes experience, and fun?'” Ojeda said.
“We came up with this idea of doing a Chef Kit, where they get a royalty from every box that’s sold, and they don’t have to do anything.”
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It’s a twist on the trendy food kits like Hello Fresh, Chef’s Plate and GoodFood, where raw ingredients are delivered to your doorstep to make meals, following recipe cards.
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But instead of looking at a piece of paper, these local Chef Kits allow you to cook along with a professional chef, via a pre-recorded video.
“They go through our step-by-step instructional video on how to create the dish. We provide everything, all the raw ingredients, all the products delivered to your house, contact-free,” explained De Oliveira.
If cooking isn’t your forte, Chef Table Living also designed cocktail kits with how-to videos from local bartenders and virtual wine tastings with local sommeliers.
“Basically a night out, without going out, while still supporting the restaurants,” De Oliveira said.
So far, a handful of prominent Edmonton restaurants have chosen to take part.
“We have Sabor, we have Blue Plate Diner, we have Why Not Cafe, the Italian Centre.”
De Oliveira said there’s no cost to the restaurants. Chef Table Living pays to shoot the video – and the restaurant gets $5 each time their meal is sold.
WATCH: Edmonton-area restaurant struggles amid constantly changing pandemic restrictions
The chefs, bartenders and sommeliers get to show off their favourite dishes and drinks in their videos.
“I’m doing sort of a Japanese fusion – crispy glazed teriyaki chicken thigh for the main,” explained chef Levi Biddlecombe. “Had some fun with the sides there. We’ll be roasting some eggplant, going to be grating some cauliflower.”
He said he wants customers to try something new through his recipes.
“Just trying to keep a lot of fun, bright textures and flavours with techniques that people aren’t already comfortable with. I want people to be learning when they’re doing this.”
The royalty from the Chef Kits will come at a critical time for Biddlecombe, whose restaurant, Why Not, was destroyed in a fire at the start of December.
“It’s going to be huge. Any and every single thing that I can get my hands on right now helps.”
He sees the kits as a taste of a normal night out for families or couples missing that experience.
“In a time like this, people need something to look forward to. People like to eat, they want to eat good food and right now. If you’re not getting takeout, then you’re not eating like you were before, you don’t get to go out,” Biddlecombe said.
If the Chef Kits take off, De Oliveira and Ojeda hope to take them province-wide, and eventually country-wide, to share Edmonton’s food scene coast to coast.
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