Hey! Food is Ready

The online marketplace connecting local cooks to their wider community

Hey! Food is Ready is an online marketplace connecting certified cooks from diverse cultural backgrounds with customers looking for a different selection of food.

The business was born from Yuru and Frankie’s frustration with making compromises when enjoying their favourite meals at home. Whether it’s empanadas or pad thai, they believe that anyone who loves cooking should share their native cuisine, stories and culture with the wider community.

They also recognised the barrier for certain groups in the cooking industry. For instance, women often need to work from home due to childcare purposes and are unable to work in a commercial kitchen. There’s also the issue of language barriers and access to facilities for cooks who are refugees or immigrants.

Their new project hopes to improve their existing platform and make it more inclusive. By working with website design experts and engaging with their community, they hope to create more job opportunities and economic empowerment of minority groups.

With an end goal of having a nationwide service, the Hey! Food is Ready team believes that the Innovate UK Inclusive Innovation Award will be instrumental as part of this journey.

“We anticipate this improvement of our innovative product will help us to provide more opportunities for our diverse cooks to onboard to our platform and earn a meaningful income,” say Yuru and Frankie, co-founders of Hey! Food is Ready.