Collaborative consumption, as popularized by “What’s Mine is Yours” describes the shift from ownership to access, and how that shift is facilitated/enabled by technology that moves online virtual presences to offline physical reality. Some typical collaborative consumption examples include: AirBnB, SnapGoods, and ThredUp.
Given that sharing is “today’s smart choice” and in the spirit of The Secret, let me tell you what I want:
Kitchen Witchen’
Kitchen Witchen’ (the pg-rated joke of a name) would be a place with professional cooking equipment, tools, and a selection of recipes and ingredients already prepped, and all cleanup included. You can go on a first date and when it gets awkward, pretend you’re really concentrating on the recipe. Or go with your kids and not worry about making a mess. Or go with your company as a team building exercise. Or go because you want to make creme brulee but you live in New York City/a dorm room and your kitchen is tiny/non-existent. You pay by the recipe or by time/ingredients (if using your own recipe). There might be cooking classes and/or local amateur cooking competitions and/or a mini cafe.
I have no idea if this is economically feasible/commercially viable but there are at least two similar-ish companies:
Close but no cigar
Just Add Heat: they pick recipes and prep ingredients, you assemble the meals and take them home. Yes this company is out of business. But it seemed like it was for suburban moms who… didn’t want to cook at home? Kitchen Witchen’ wouldn’t be an alternative to regularly cooking meals at home but rather an entertainment destination like a movie theatre; maybe that would work better?
Culinary Incubator: a directory of commercial kitchens willing to rent/share their facilities with small food businesses. Close but not really for the average consumer who’s hanging out with her sorority sisters or whatever.
So can Kitchen Witchen’ work? Does it already exist and I just don’t know about it? If the former, please make it—you can have the awesome name I came up with and I promise to use it at least once a year if you’re in NYC!
The blog is cool