Frequently asked questions

Our Vendor map now shows every active kitchen, food truck, street vendor, private chef, and caterer as a color-coded pin. Filter by vendor type from the dropdown; mobile vendors that posted a live location get a "here now" badge.

The rotating Spotlight rail on the home page highlights featured kitchens with paid boosts first, then rounds out with newer cooks so there's always something to discover.

Cook cards on the home page, Discover, Spotlight, and search results now display a badge (Home cook, Food truck, Street vendor, Private chef, Caterer) so you know at a glance what kind of vendor you're looking at.

Vendors can paste YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook video URLs into their profile. Videos play through each platform's official embed, so views, watch time, ad revenue, Creator Fund, and monetization stay with the creator on their original platform — OpenKitchen never takes a cut of video revenue.

Vendors can link Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X, and a website from their dashboard. Icons appear on the vendor's public page and open in a new tab so you stay on OpenKitchen.

OpenKitchen's own Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and X links now live under the legal footer on the home page.

Admins can open any seller from the Sellers tab, review their profile, menu, videos, and status, then activate, pause, or delete accounts with a required reason logged to the moderation trail.

OpenKitchen.Food is an online directory that lets you find and connect with independent home cooks, personal chefs, and small caterers in your neighborhood. We are a technology platform only — every Cook operates their own independent kitchen.

No. OpenKitchen does not cook, package, store, deliver, inspect, or handle any food. All food preparation, packaging, storage, labeling, allergen disclosure, and delivery/pickup are the sole responsibility of each individual Cook. OpenKitchen operates strictly as a directory and technology platform.

The Cook is. Each Cook agrees in the Cook Agreement to comply with all applicable cottage-food, health-department, sales-tax, insurance, allergen-disclosure, and food-safety laws in their jurisdiction. If you have specific dietary, medical, allergen, or licensing questions, ask the Cook directly before ordering.

Open Discover or scroll the "Fresh from the kitchen" board on the home page. You can filter by cuisine and see distance based on your location.

Tap any menu item, choose quantity and add notes (dietary needs, preparation preferences, pickup time), then Add to Cart. Your cart is per-cook — you check out one kitchen at a time.

Checkout is powered by Stripe. Your card details never touch OpenKitchen servers. We support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and every major card. You'll get an emailed receipt for every completed order.

Default is pickup at the Cook's address shown on their profile. The address and phone number are clickable — the address opens directions and the phone launches a call. Some Cooks may offer delivery or catering drop-off; that's arranged directly with the Cook.

Cooks mark orders as Accepted → Preparing → Ready for pickup → Completed. You'll see live status in your Orders page, and Cooks will typically message you when the food is ready.

Cooks can schedule daily or weekly specials with photos, custom pricing, and optional markdowns. See what's live today on the Today's Specials page — sorted by distance from you.

A Cook can set a regular price and an optional sale price. The strike-through price shows the original and the highlighted price is what you pay. Markdowns are entirely at the Cook's discretion.

Yes — tap any cuisine chip on the specials page to filter.

On any Cook's page, scroll to the Catering section, pick a package, add special instructions (dietary notes, setup, delivery), and check out. The Cook will confirm your booking after payment.

Yes — use the Special Instructions field. If you need something outside a listed package, contact the Cook directly via the phone number on their profile before booking.

Tap Open your kitchen, fill out your profile (name, bio, address, cuisines, hero photo, phone), add menu items, and go live. You keep full control over your menu, prices, availability, and hours.

Open your dashboard → Specials tab. You'll see every field: title, description, photo, regular price, markdown/sale price, cuisines, link to an existing menu item (optional), start/end dates, one-off vs weekly recurrence, and which weekdays. Specials appear on your public page and on the site-wide Today's Specials list.

OpenKitchen takes a small platform fee: 7% on food orders and 5% on catering bookings. Stripe processing fees are separate and standard. You keep the rest.

$19.99/month optional upgrade for cooks. Free tier lists up to 10 active dishes with standard placement. Pro unlocks unlimited listings, a verified badge, priority placement, cook analytics, AI menu generator, AI price suggestions, and 20% off featured listing boosts. Cancel anytime from the Pro plan tab.

Any cook can pay $5, $10, or $20 to pin their kitchen to the top of Discover for 7 days. Private Chef Pro members get 20% off. Buy them from the dashboard → Boost tab.

Yes. Tap the heart on any cook profile to save them, then view all favorites in the top-right menu → My favorites. From any past order, tap Reorder to rebuild your cart with the same items.

In your dashboard, open the Videos panel and paste the public URL of any YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook video. OpenKitchen never re-uploads the file — we only store the URL and render the platform's official embed on your page.

Yes — 100%. Because playback happens inside the platform's own player (YouTube iframe, TikTok embed, Instagram embed, Facebook plugin), every view, watch minute, like, share, follow, ad impression, Creator Fund payout, TikTok Shop sale, and YouTube monetization dollar stays with your account on that platform. OpenKitchen takes no cut of video revenue.

If you disabled embedding on the source platform, the card falls back to a "Watch on {platform}" button that opens the original URL in a new tab. That still counts the view on your account.

Add Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X, and website URLs from the Social & Links panel in your dashboard. Icons appear on the right side of your description row on your public vendor page and open in new tabs.

No — both are included for every vendor on the free tier and on Private Chef Pro.

Contact the Cook first — most issues resolve in a message. If they don't respond, email hello@openkitchen.food and we'll help mediate. Refund decisions are at the Cook's discretion; OpenKitchen is not the seller of the food.

Seek medical care first. Then read our Disclaimer & Hold Harmless page. OpenKitchen is a directory only and does not warrant food safety; claims are between you and the Cook. If you believe a Cook is operating unsafely, report them via safety@openkitchen.food.

Only Customers who have completed an order can review. Reviews go through AI moderation and human review before publishing.

No. See the Privacy Policy.

Email hello@openkitchen.food from your account address and we'll delete your profile, orders history (as required by law we may retain financial records), and reviews within 30 days.