BonAppetour gives backpackers a belly full of home-cooked food

Backpackers Rinita Vanjre and Inez Wihardjo conceived their startup idea while traveling through Europe and ending up in London on Christmas Eve.

“We found ourselves very hungry because all the restaurants were closed for the holidays,” explains Rinita. “Being spontaneous travelers, we were completely unprepared for it. We then thought, how nice it would be if we could join a family in their home for the celebrations – not only would we be able to eat amazing food, we would also experience how the locals lived in London.”

A few days later, the pair found themselves in Scotland at someone’s home through an Airbnb booking. Rinita and Inez were charmed, not just by the host’s cooking, but also by the social aspect of the evening. They were afforded the chance to learn about authentic Scottish culture at another person’s dinner table.

Rinita and Inez then decided to pursue a business venture they would name BonAppetour. The site launched in December 2014. Today, the Singapore-based startup slates itself as a marketplace that connects travelers with local hosts for unique dining around the world.

See also: Withlocals connects tourists with authentic local food, activities, and tours across Asia

“We realized that there was a huge market opportunity here,” says Rinita. “Travelers are always looking for amazing and unique experiences, and what better way than to combine this element with food?”

Going global from day one

With BonAppetour, travelers get to dive into the cultures of the cities they visit, while hosts get the benefit of making money from what they are passionate about – cooking and hosting.

BonAppetour has more than 1,000 hosts in over 80 cities around the world. Rinita says her startup is growing, but declined to share the number of monthly active users BonAppetour currently has.

The startup’s idea is endearing, but it’s far from groundbreaking. A slew of competitors exist in the space, including the well-established PlateCulture, which is active in Southeast Asia (though based in Lithuania) and bagged seed funding at the start of last year. It also goes head-to-head with Withlocals, a Netherlands-based startup that’s been running in Southeast Asia for several years already, offering home-cooked food as well as tourism options in addition to meals. BonAppetour also sees indirect competition from mainstream players like Couchsurfing.

See also: Don’t eat at a restaurant, use PlateCulture and eat at someone’s house

Rinita says her site differentiates itself from these companies with a high degree of host curation. She says:

Travelers demand authenticity