A typical VizEat listing for Paris
First there was Airbnb, then there was Uber—calling themselves “the sharing economy,” and now there’s VizEat, one of several sites that link up travelers with local hosts willing to cook and share a meal, for a price. Definitely looks more like sharing than hailing a ride!
But restaurant owners are not happy about the development, attacking it on two fronts in France, where the union of restauateurs is meeting with the Commerce Minister today. On the one hand, they are worried about competition; on the other, they complain that the amateur cooks are not bound by regulations or the licenses needed to operate a restaurant or serve alcoholic drinks.
Their spokesperson told TheLocal.fr that “…if you look at Airbnb in 2012 they had 7,000 homes in France, now they have 50,000.” He suggested that in 3-5 years there could be 20,000 “illegal restaurants,” against an estimated 3,000 now.
On the other hand, Camille Rumani, who is one of the founders of VizEat (which lists meals in more than 50 countries) says they’re not in competition at all. “Our hosts are amateurs who have guests occasionally, on average once a month. It’s not additional revenue…their aim is to showcase their culture, to share with people who come from all over the world.” She pointed out that travelers generally use VizEat once on a trip, for fun rather than instead of restaurants.
For more details from TheLocal.fr, click HERE; to find out more about VizEat, click HERE
