The Power of a Homemade Meal

At Shef, we’re rebuilding the food system from scratch, redefining who can participate in the food economy, and returning personal connection to the making, eating, and sharing of food. We are an online marketplace for local, food safety certified cooks to connect with customers in their community and earn a meaningful income selling homemade dishes.
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Homemade is the aroma of your childhood kitchen, the laughter around a family table, the taste of locally sourced produce; it’s memories, nostalgia, and tradition. It’s building bridges between cultures and people that make us whole.
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More than anything, the power of homemade food comes from the love and care of those who make it, all opening up their hearts to provide the gift of a homemade meal to you.

A combination of “she” and “chef”

In honor of mothers and parents everywhere, who do so much to support and nourish their families and communities.

The Power of a Homemade Meal

A combination of “she” and “chef”

In honor of mothers and parents everywhere, who do so much to support and nourish their families and communities.

Our Community

Shefs are aunties and abuelas, immigrants and refugees, stay-at-home parents and restaurant dreamers. Together, they represent countries around the world, from Algeria to Korea, to India and Venezuela. And the best part? Shefs are your neighbors, passionate local cooks in your community who are doing what they love most — sharing their food and culture with you.

A movement

Shef is part of a growing movement to build a more inclusive food system for all. We are proud to support and champion advocacy efforts to expand home cooking laws across the country so that talented cooks everywhere can earn a meaningful income from their own kitchens.
In the three years since we delivered our very first order, we have now expanded to serve more than 70 million people in 11 states and counting. Each prepared with love and care by passionate neighbors and reminding us that there’s no taste like home.

Our Founding Story

We’re Alvin and Joey, two sons of immigrants from Iran and Italy who grew up eating delicious, homemade food from scratch. Our stories are those of so many immigrant families who make their way to the United States, filled with uncertainty, hope, and dreams of building a better life for their loved ones.

We both come from cultures where food is an experience meant to be shared, and meals nourish not only your body, but also your heart. No matter where we were, the jobs our parents were working, or the struggles they encountered, it was meals around the dinner table that kept us together, loved, and happy.

We both often think about how Shef could have been an economic lifeline for our families had it existed when we were growing up. Shef is our way of bringing a community-based food system to life, where everyone can have access to a meaningful income, and where anyone can feed their neighbor and support one another – one meal at a time.