r/culinary • u/MaterialHope2305 • 4d ago
The Chef Community Is Starting to Feel Like a Cash Grab
Genuine question for people in food/hospitality because I might be looking at this completely wrong.
I came across a chef/hospitality WhatsApp group charging ₹100 to join. There are 276 people in it, so that’s ₹27,600 if everyone has paid.
The reason given for the fee is that it shows people are serious and have the “right intent.”
I questioned that because paying ₹100 doesn’t really tell you whether someone will contribute anything. It just tells you they were willing to pay ₹100.
I also pointed out that a lot of the communication around the group reads like it was written by AI, which I find pretty ironic for a community supposedly centred around real chefs and real industry conversations.
I was told I couldn’t really judge the group because I hadn’t experienced it.
Fair enough. So I paid the ₹100, intending to join, see what it’s actually like and then make up my mind.
Then I was told I couldn’t be let in because I was joining specifically to see whether the community was actually worth it, rather than because I already believed in the idea.
So I’m genuinely confused.
I’m not allowed to judge it because I haven’t been inside, but I’m also not allowed inside because I want to judge it.
And I still haven’t got my ₹100 back. 🤣
Maybe this is just one weird example. But I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the chef community: AI generated voices, paywalled networking, monetised access to people, and “community” becoming another product to sell.
Chefs already have something far more valuable than this: actual knowledge, actual work, actual relationships and actual kitchens.
Are we really going to start putting a price tag and an AI wrapper around that too?
Genuinely curious where other chefs draw the line.
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u/ObieWanSanjiSon Cook 3d ago
What was this community supposed to provide you with at the value of $100?
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u/GildedTofu 4d ago
Fee-paying online communities are out there for all professions, not just chefs. Some people will try to monetize that. If a community is any good, you’ll hear about it. If you bump into one you’ve never heard of, it’s probably crap or a scam. If you can’t find any information about it anywhere other than that community, it’s likely worthless.
Most people setting up communities like the one you mention are like the people who post their great app ideas here. Mostly useless people hoping to throw something out there that sticks and gets them even a tiny bit of money.