The Home Taste wants to help homecooks build their brands

Nelson Mori didn’t know that saying yes to being a mentor would end up getting him a role at The Home Taste, a new food tech venture. The Conestoga College Broadcasting

Performance and Digital Media graduate was working as a digital media strategist when an email from Pallavi Zore, a current student in the program popped into his inbox.

“She had seen the content I was creating for Conestoga and asked me to be her mentor,”

Nelson said. “We met and I gave her some tips. Then two weeks after that, she messaged

me saying that she had an interview. Two days later she had the job.”

Not only had Nelson’s mentee landed the role, but Shaileshkumar Rathod, the startup’s

founder, wanted to meet Nelson after hearing so many great things about him and his

mentorship.

“I instantly liked the idea. The Home Taste works the same way as UberEats, but for home cooks,” Nelson said.

Instead of a platform that connects users and restaurants, The Home Taste connects users with home cooks. Like restaurants and food production facilities, home-based food

operations are highly regulated. For many aspiring food entrepreneurs, lack of access to a certified production space often stops them before they get cooking.

“We talked about his idea and realized that there was a path where we could connect certified kitchens and home cooks. They get their food handling certificate, register as a

business, and operate out of our kitchens. We’re providing a service and also helping fellow entrepreneurs,” Nelson said.

The regulations for home cooks extend beyond where they cook to when they can sell their food.

“They are only allowed to sell their food when they’re in the kitchen. They can’t package it

and sell it later. With The Home Taste, we have memberships so people who subscribe

have access to the meal plans that we have,” he said. “We're providing services for different communities, helping entrepreneurs, and the last part of the plan is that all of the leftovers we have at the end of the day, we give to local food banks.”

Nelson brings a wealth of experience to his role with The Home Taste, including time spent in Conestoga Entrepreneurship Collective’s Gig Lab and Sales Lab. It was his connections to the Collective that inspired him to apply to the Venture Lab For Tech (VL4T) program.

“It was two days before the application period ended. I told Christian (Snyder) about the

plan and he told us to apply,” Nelson recalled.

Nelson and The Home Taste have used their time in VT4L to refine the product idea as they talk to potential customers. This includes end users, home cooks, and businesses that could be interested in catered lunch programs.

“We're still building trust. That's the most difficult part. It's a new concept. But we're

heading in the right direction. We already have some angel investors who've invested

around $100,000,” he said.

Nelson is also bringing lessons from the Sales Lab program into his time with VT4L.

“My coach was Michael Downing. He was very demanding, but in a good way. I learned a lot from him. How to approach companies, how to present a project. Right now I'm working with a Sales Lab intern to start building out our sales playbook,” Nelson said.

As they get closer to launch, Nelson is continuing to find ways to give back like giving

workshops on branding for home cooks.

“Many of these people have no background in business, so we're helping them build their

brands — working on logos, their voice, their identity. Some of them had never even heard the word ‘branding’,” Nelson said.

From certified kitchens to food bank donations to branding workshops, The Home Taste is as much about building community as it is about building a business. For Nelson, that's

exactly the point.