Tastes of Success: Co-Founder of Meal Platform Delivers Homemade Dishes And Business Tips

Merav Kalish is the co-founder of WoodSpoon, a home-made meals delivery platform expanding in the Northeast and later across the country.

It is precisely because she is not a good cook that Merav Kalish founded a national business centered on home-cooked meals delivered to your home.

As co-founder and chief marketing officer of WoodSpoon, Kalish has helped solve problems for both chefs and customers craving home-cooked meals reflecting the tastes and traditions of their own homes of origin.

“As co-founder and chief marketing officer of WoodSpoon, @Spoon_wood, Kalish has helped solve problems for both chefs and customers craving #homecooked meals reflecting the tastes and traditions of their own homes of origin. #femalefounded”

Based in New York City, but with chefs on its platforms throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and soon across the country, WoodSpoon has been the perfect pandemic-era solution for 350 downsized restaurant chefs and tens of thousands of literally hungry customers.

“I don’t know how to cook,” says Kalish, “but I want home-made meals. I feel guilty when I get takeout, I want to order home-made food from neighbors.”

Since their launch in March 2020 right before the pandemic hit, WoodSpoon is now offering meals from home chefs specializing in dishes from Vietnam, Italy, Middle East, the Caribbean and throughout the Mediterranean.

“Since their launch in March 2020 right before the pandemic hit, @Spoon_wood is now offering #meals from #homechefs specializing in dishes from Vietnam, Italy, the Middle East, the Caribbean and throughout the Mediterranean. ”

Born in New York City, Kalish moved back with her family to Israel when she was two years old. After serving in the Air Force, she graduated from Reichman University in 2013 with a bachelors and in 2016 with a masters degree.

She worked in marketing strategy before moving back to New York in 2016, where she was working for a technology company also in marketing strategy.

After her first son was born in 2017, she met with Oren Saar, and together they began working on the plans for what became WoodSpoon; Saar is co-founder and CEO.

Read more in Take The Lead on women in culinary leadership

“We talked about how we missed home-made food in Israel and how it is not the same in restaurants,” Kalish says. “We could smell our neighbors’ shakshuka and you could not order anything like it in the city.”

Shakshuka, meaning mixture, is a meal with tomatoes, onions and poached eggs.

Beyond searching for specific dishes, Kalish says she and her partner dove into how to create a company that would best deliver needs.

“We did very thorough research,” Kalish says. “We realized there was a great need for home-made food and home chefs who use their own recipes.” Their “due diligence” on creating the company began in December 2019 before the launch the next year, that also coincided with the onset of COVID in early 2020. Her second son was born in February 2020, as she was readying for Woodspoon’s launch.

“It’s not just the Israeli community that misses home-made food. A lot of immigrants miss their home-made food, and a lot of working parents want home-made food,” Kalish says.

““It’s not just the Israeli community that misses #homemade food. A lot of immigrants miss their homemade food, and a lot of working parents want homemade food,” Kalish says. #fooddelivery”

Read more in Take The Lead on women in foodservice leadership

This was a business concept that was not original or unique, she says.

“We found out that people who tried to do it before us didn’t have the right momentum, so we started building it.”

With COVID closing down many restaurants, word of mouth about opportunities at WoodSpoon travelled fast, and soon home chefs and out of work restaurateurs were earning up to $10,000 per month through WoodSpoon, Kalish says.

“With #COVID closing down many restaurants, word of mouth about opportunities at @Spoon_wood travelled fast, and soon home chefs and out of work restaurateurs were earning up to $10,000 per month through @Spoon_wood, Kalish says. #homechef”

“A lot of people in the food industry lost their jobs,” she says. Here was another option for them in their profession.

Restaurant Business reports that between January 2020 and January 2021, “The industry has likely lost some $200 billion in sales due to the pandemic, having fallen to the lowest monthly rate in nearly two decades in April. Sales have recovered in the subsequent months but that recovery has stalled—even after improving for the first time in three months in January, sales still remain some 17% below where they were a year ago and likely more like 25% below where sales should be.”

Read more in Take The Lead on women entrepreneurs in food service

Most of the spending on restaurants was on takeout and delivery, Restaurant Business reports, with a 63% increase in 2021.

WoodSpoon has been a part of that increase. The company has a home chef’s team and a process to onboarding that includes screening, auditioning, kitchen inspections and a food critics community, she says. “We make sure everything is safe.”

The mission behind Woodspoon is about community and connection to cultures of origin, as well as discovering new cultures and their foods.

“The mission behind @Spoon_wood is about #community and connection to cultures of origin, as well as discovering new cultures and their foods. #femalefounded”

“I think that food connects people,” Kalish says. “I love travel and tasting new cuisines. I love real quality food in small portions.”

While WoodSpoon feels like the perfect name for the platform, it was not the company’s first name, which was Bupp, she explains.

“We realized quickly it was not a good name, so we asked people from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come up with a list of names, and it was a very long list,” Kalish says. “We decided on WoodSpoon because you find wood spoons only in homecooking, not in industrial kitchens.”

Read more in Take The Lead on glass ceiling in restaurant industry

Kalish has not only recipes and chefs to call on for home-made meals in many cultures, she also offers recipes for entrepreneurial success, or anyone interested in launching a company based on their interests and passion.

“The first thing is you should have a partner or hire people who don’t think exactly like you. It is very tempting to work with people who are on the same page as you. But in reality, you would want to work with people who have more angles to analyze things in different ways.” Kalish adds, “The discussion is much more rich.”

““It is very tempting to work with people who are on the same page as you. But in reality, you would want to work with people who have more angles to analyze things in different ways.” Kalish adds, “The discussion is much more rich.” #businessadvice ”

Still, launching a business and building it to success is not simple.

“It is extremely hard,” Kalish says, “It is like having another baby. You have to build expectations with business partners and life partners and make them understand what it will take. There are a lot of challenges and sacrifices and if you don’t have people in business and on the personal side for support, it would be impossible.”

Women and those identifying as women, do have equity in the foodservice industry, but not equity in leadership positions.  According to Nation’s Restaurants News, “In 2019, women held 56% of jobs in the industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with 47% of jobs in the overall economy. Women represented about 70% of server positions.”

“Women do have equity in the #foodservice #industry, but not equity in leadership positions. #bias #femaleleaders”

“About one-third of U.S. restaurant businesses are majority-owned by women, and 48% were at least half-owned by women, according to the National Restaurant Association.”

 Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president told NRN, “Although the pandemic has dramatically altered industry employment and restaurant ownership, the post-pandemic environment for women will be one of increased employment and ownership. A growing economy will only accelerate those opportunities, as the industry continues its path toward recovery and revitalization.”

Kalish says that the pandemic has shifted how people choose to eat and where, and also has created a longing for comfort foods that may remind them of their own homes.

“Kalish says that the #pandemic has shifted how people choose to eat and where, and also has created a longing for comfort foods that may remind them of their own homes. #foodservice”

“WoodSpoon is food from real people from real places with real stories,” Kalish says. “It will be the future of home dining.”

The timing of WoodSpoon may be just right.