Plateculture founders: the concept might be feminine but we’re a very masculine startup

Malaysia-based startup PlateCulture is an Airbnb for food. It allows users to eat home-cooked meals from someone’s home. The concept is as simple as the customers go to the site, pick a home (similar to picking a restaurant), book it, pay for it, then enjoy the home-cook meal!

Plateculture’s business model isn’t too complicated, either. Hosts decide how much they want to charge for their food, the company gets 20 percent of what they make.

Founded by two Lithuanian ladies, Audra Pakalnyte and Reda Stare, the startup is serving Malaysia, Singapore,Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. They’re also planning to expand the startup to Myanmar, Laos, Taiwan, and Japan.

How it started

Plateculture is definitely one of those startups that began on the grounds of passion, not just business. Reda loves travelling and would skip a meal for a good meaningful conversation, while Audra is well-travelled foodie with a teapot obsession and enjoys jazz.

Three years ago, Reda was backpacking through Asia. She was invited to a house to have a great dinner and was charged for it. Since then, the idea stuck in her head. Wanting to duplicate a similar culture and make money out of it, PlateCulture was founded. The company was launched in early July this year.

But a passion for food and travel is not enough to get a company running. The two founders shared with Tech in Asia how they operate Plateculture.

What are your roles?

Audra and Reda: We are both co-founders. We run the organization and take care of everything from marketing, community growth and engagement, attracting investments, product design to paying the bills. The exciting part of early stage startups is that they get to do everything and learn every single day.

How and why did you get started in this industry? What made you decide to be an entrepreneur?

We always wanted to embark on a journey of starting business on my own and following passion. The idea of creating a business which would provide travellers with unique experience while traveling now grew into a new trend of home dining which impacts local communities and most importantly breaks stereotypes between different cultures just by connecting people through food.

Did you face any challenges in particular?

We face challenges every day. It’s a lot more challenging than working for previous corporate jobs we both had before. The difference is that now the level of responsibility has increased as we are the ones who have to find solutions for all problems. Challenging situations are always rewarding as, at the end of the day, you find a solution to innovate and improve. In this process, having a good partner and team is crucial.

How do you seek out relevant mentors and people for help?

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