Dusseldorf The hip restaurant Ox & Klee in the new Cologne customs port has 46 seats. The two-star restaurant is fully booked on the weekends until May. For the past six months, however, gourmets have been able to have their Ox & Klee menus delivered to their homes and warm them up themselves. This is made possible by the Getvoila.com order portal.
The Berlin start-up ships pre-cooked three- to five-course menus from top-class chefs to your home anywhere in Germany. “With Voilà, you can enjoy the best restaurants at home, no matter where you live,” says co-founder Julius Wiesenhütter. The dishes can be prepared in just a few simple steps on the stove at home.
The gastro start-up has now collected ten million dollars (around 8.7 million euros), as the Handelsblatt learned in advance. The platform for home fine dining intends to use the capital to expand in Europe – including in the gourmet country of France.
As a two-star chef, Daniel Gottschlich from Ox & Klee was initially skeptical, but is now convinced of the concept: “This way, everyone who can’t come by in Cologne can get a taste of the fine cuisine.”
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Ox & Klee’s four-course Valentine’s Day menu quickly sold out. For two people there was lobster soup, guinea fowl and duck, beetroot gnocchi with truffle walnut pesto for 219 euros.
“The menu is not available in the restaurant in this form,” emphasizes Gottschlich, “there it would cost many times as much.” He has sold 150 Valentine’s menus via Voilà: “An additional business that pays off.” The star chef considers fine dining at home to be a large market that was previously untapped in this country.
Second mainstay for gourmet cooks
Voilà only launched its order portal in August. There are 25 restaurants such as the star temple Opus V in Mannheim, Dr. Kosch in Düsseldorf and Cookies Cream in Berlin. There are also culinary trendsetters such as Food Technique in Berlin with ramen specialties or Yamas from Bochum with mezze menus.
Voilà has convinced well-known investors. EQT Ventures is leading the financing round, along with existing investors such as Food Labs from Berlin and business angels such as Roger Hassan, ex-COO of the meal box mail order company Hellofresh. “Voilà gives chefs access to whole new audiences and gives their customers a culinary experience of a new quality,” says Christophe Maire, founder of Food Labs, who also invested in the fast-delivery service Gorillas.
The founders Julius Wiesenhütter, 29, and Florian Berg, 28, studied business administration together in Mannheim and then worked for subsidiaries of the delivery service Delivery Hero. There they met co-founder Mostafa Nageeb, 31. Berg worked at Foodpanda in Hong Kong, Wiesenhütter went to Foodora.
He was head of Germany there until the sale in 2018 and was responsible for 3500 restaurant partners. At that time he noticed that star chefs were reluctant to offer their prepared food via conventional delivery services.
>> Read here: Innkeepers in need – “Rather lockdown than 2G plus”
Gastro delivery expert Wiesenhütter was irritated: “Every other industry apart from gastronomy delivers throughout Germany and Europe – even in the premium sector such as Farfetch in the fashion sector.” The London platform sells designer fashion from boutiques from all over the world.
Getvoila.com works like this: by Wednesday evening, customers can order limited menus or signature dishes for 39.95 to 109 euros, for at least two people. The restaurants prepare everything on Thursday – then the food is pre-cooked anyway for the weekend.
The cooks are there, but the guest room is empty. The dishes are packed in mason jars or sous-vide bags and shipped in a recyclable cool box. The customer pays 9.90 euros shipping costs, Voilà receives commission from the restaurant. Wiesenhütter is silent about the height.
Know each other from times together at Delivery Hero companies: Mostafa Nageeb, Julius Wiesenhütter and Florian Berg (from left). Voilà sends food from gourmet chefs nationwide.
(Photo: voila)
Voilà collects the boxes from the restaurants that are with the customer by Friday noon with DHL Express or Go. 1200 cities have already been supplied.
Videos of the chef and cooking instructions can be accessed via QR code. It takes five to ten minutes to prepare each course. “The sous-vide technique is well suited for transport, and it’s easy to warm up,” says food expert Hanni Rützler. The method is suitable for many dishes, although not for all.
A music playlist is included to create the right atmosphere for the meal. “Voilà is not intended to replace going to a restaurant. We offer a different way of getting to know restaurateurs and unique kitchens,” emphasizes Wiesenhütter.
Voilà is not the first platform for home fine dining. Goldbelly is very successful in the USA. The portal was founded in 2013 by Joe Ariel. The pandemic gave a boost. 850 top restaurants cook for Goldbelly, which raised $100 million in May 2021. Supper is established in London. The start-up has been delivering food from more than 200 fine restaurants like Nobu since 2015 – but only in the capital and with its own delivery fleet.
In Germany, Eat with the Chefs sent pre-cooked dishes based on recipes from star chefs nationwide. The Founders Fund of star investor Peter Thiel and Holtzbrinck Ventures had invested in the start-up of ex-Studi VZ boss Clemens Riedl. However, after two and a half years, operations were discontinued.
“Just a few years ago it would have been unimaginable that star chefs would send food home to be warmed up,” says food trend researcher Rützler. “It was a point of honor to serve fresh from the kitchen, with tweezers as the central tool.”
Growing number of gourmet foodies
But the pandemic has triggered a rethink. Since the lockdown, even celebrity chefs like Tim Raue, Alexander Herrmann and Tim Mälzer have been sending out their menus. Voilà combines various chefs on one portal and takes care of customer acquisition, logistics and service. Rützler welcomes the new forms of gastronomic cooperation, sharing customers on a platform and thus growing together.
>> Read here: Star chef Tim Raue becomes a delivery hero due to Corona
There has been a big change in the gourmet kitchen in recent years. According to Rützler, the focus has shifted away from the luxurious ambience towards the product. “The sensory demands have increased in Corona times, people want to spoil their taste buds – more and more often at home too.”
The food expert sees Home Fine Dining as an opportunity for restaurateurs to convince new customers with this culinary calling card. However, it is certainly not suitable for every restaurant. “The business model is organizationally challenging, but restaurateurs can build up a new mainstay in this way,” says Rützler. The delivery service expands the scope for the growing number of gourmet foodies. “The market is niche, but big enough to establish itself.”
“Europe offers a wide range of culinary delights in a very small space,” says founder Wiesenhütter. “With Getvoila.com, gourmet cuisine from all over Europe can be enjoyed in the future – whether in a caravan on Rügen or in a holiday home in Spain.”
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