REVIEW: Grub Club

Ever fancied yourself a bit of a chef? I have to say I have toyed with the idea myself, and some of my friends are amazing in the kitchen it almost seems a waste that they are not sharing their extraordinary skills. But seriously who wants to give up a lucrative job where you sit at a desk all day for a job that involves all night, hot kitchens and knife injuries?

Well Grub Club solves that dilemma by letting you host a pop up restaurant in your own home. I went along to Nathalie’s Armenian kitchen and it was a wonderful experience full of laughter, food and a great deal of fun.

That said it was a little on the pricey side — £29 without alcohol (although a welcome cocktail was provided when we arrived). Nathalie’s was also the cheapest event (apart from The People’s Kitchen which was free) when I booked but still expensive enough that a few friends of mine couldn’t come and the boyfriend was mortified as to why I would pay so much (thankfully I didn’t tell him about the £95 per head chef created dinner). Lokoing at the website again now there seems to be a much better range.

The pricing is interesting. Obviously it is a lot of work for the host, and you need to factor in ingredients, their time etc, but it just feels like a bit too much of a gamble given that you have nothing but their description (and reviews of course) to go on.

Grub Club also doesn’t take that much, just a 7% fee, plus a 3% bank service fee. Compare this with Uber which is around 20%, Fiverr which is 20%, Airbnb which charges a 3% host fee and a 6–12% guest fee for every transaction.

So if Nathalie had 10 paying guests (I am actually not so sure if everyone paid as some people were friends and neighbours) that would be £290 — £29 = £261 profit. Pretty good for a nights work — I’m looking at all of you budding chefs out there.

So maybe the price will go down as grub Club catches on more in the UK. But for now it is definitely a worthwhile experience if you are up for meeting some new people and having a dining experience that is definitely not run of the mill.