[00:00:00] Liam: Okay. Welcome back to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast gives you the hosts, the tools, the tactics, the training, and most of all the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookings. We talk about increasing your bookings, no matter how you operate, no matter the size of your business. And one thing that we were talking about earlier on, on a panel this week was that you need to stand out from the crowd.
[00:00:21] Liam: You need to offer things that your competition may not offer. And that is what we're going to be talking about today. A way that you can stand out. from the rest of your competition and ultimately offer your guests something a bit different and something which they may take off. So, we've got a special guest with us today.
[00:00:38] Liam: We've got Siddhi from, uh, is Yhangry? And, uh, it's a great service which you are going to enjoy, uh, hearing about. And we're going to dive in. So, welcome along. Thank you for joining me.
[00:00:50] Siddhi: Really so excited to be here
[00:00:52] Liam: The first question I love to ask on these is, what would you like the listener to take away from this episode?
[00:00:58] Siddhi: So the one key thing that I learned recently at all the conferences was that SDR industry, this is the very first time ever since 08, where there is oversupply and the focus is back on demand. So if you are in the SDR space and looking to compete against hotels, you really have to focus on the guest experience and a very core part of a hotel is.
[00:01:23] Siddhi: They do breakfast, they do food, it's easy. So if you are a property manager, offer that to your guests, and I'm here to help you with that.
Introduction to Yhangry: Siddhi explains the concept and purpose behind Yhangry.
[00:01:33] Liam: Awesome. This feels like a great segue into tell us about Why Yhangry? How did it come about? And what is the service? And why is it important to you? There's quite a few questions there.
[00:01:45] Siddhi: I know, I'll simplify it. So we started around four years ago very much because everyone in this world says this thing and it really pisses me off. They say private chefs are so expensive, it's unaffordable. And it bothers me because what they don't know is restaurant chefs barely earn any money. They make minimum wage, they have mental health issues, and they're trapped behind the kitchen.
[00:02:09] Siddhi: We earn like 20 to 24k a year. It's actually like a very terrible life. So guys, come on everyone can afford a private chef And it actually costs less than a restaurant. You save on the markup of drinks, you have a higher quality time with your friends and family, and the chef's happier. So it's like a win win win.
Transforming Chef Experiences: How Yhangry improves life for chefs and brings luxury to guests.
[00:02:28] Siddhi: That's why we started Yhangry. It just is a no brainer. Chefs actually earn three times more they would than a restaurant. And they work like twice a week rather than like every single day. So it's kind of crazy. It's changing the life for chefs. Kind of like how when Airbnb started, it created the SDR industry and then hosts started earning money.
[00:02:46] Siddhi: So it's kind of the same thing we're doing. Now, why is this relevant? We did start off as a consumer company. So we kind of went viral, people would post about it on Insta and all this stuff. But we realized more than half of our bookings now are coming in the SDR space. That's kind of wild. And I kind of thought about it and it made sense.
[00:03:06] Siddhi: People go on a vacation, they get a really nice home. Why are they going to leave that and go to a restaurant nearby? It just makes no sense. You want to make use of this beautiful house. And that's where we come in. So with Yhangry, and we're doing a lot of product iterations, but guests, let's say when they, and I'm sorry, I use Airbnb very loosely, and I know in this industry, that probably isn't the right thing to do, but let's say in a house, a country house, imagine if someone books it.
[00:03:31] Siddhi: You should be able to book food for your family and kids. You should be able to order breakfast delivery. You should be able to have a celebratory dinner with a master chef that costs just 70 per person. So all these things, Yhangry can take care of. It's no fuss, no cost to you, no tech integration. We do all the heavy lifting.
Why Private Chefs Enhance Stays: Siddhi highlights the growing demand for in-home dining experiences in STRs.
[00:03:51] Siddhi: You just need to spend fun. That's all we do.
[00:03:53] Liam: That's cool. So how does Yhangry help both the host and more importantly, their guests? What is it? What is the pain point that you're solving for hosts? How many use the service?
[00:04:05] Siddhi: So, you know, this is funny. I was looking to book one day of a staycation with my husband and I started saying, Oh my gosh, let me just book a short term catering property because I'm now in this industry.
[00:04:18] Siddhi: Unfortunately, I gave up. I realized I don't know how we're going to get food. What we're going to do, there are no experiences. And I think we went back towards the hotel. We went back towards Soho farmhouse that has a couple of restaurants and just something to do. As choice customers are making, it is not just about booking a place.
[00:04:39] Siddhi: It's about having the optionality to have an experience. So as a host, you are delivering, helping people create memories. And when a person comes to your direct website, let's say, which I know People are looking. People are like, what are the things on offer? Imagine clay pigeon shooting. That's amazing.
[00:04:59] Siddhi: They might never book it, but they want to know that they can, like they have the option. And people are lazy, but people need to know there's availability of stuff to do. And I think that's kind of the thing. Because now people care a lot about experiences. And also I say the second thing. I think stay somewhere and leave and that's cool.
Affordable for All Properties: Siddhi debunks the myth that private chefs are only for high-end stays.
[00:05:21] Siddhi: But how do you really deliver a six star experience? And I think when you offer amazing service in your, um, sort of, and the customer goes, Oh my God, I had such a good time.
[00:05:33] Liam: She is a host. Which plays on my mind, should I just be offering this kind of thing in the high end places or should we be spreading it across all, all home types?
[00:05:44] Liam: I mean, we, in the industry, we have like midterm stays, we have experienced, yeah, should we do it across the whole, whole portfolio?
[00:05:52] Siddhi: So let me give you one anecdotal example. Someone who had a night stay of 400 between 10 people. So let's say they're paying 40 per night split between 10 people. They booked a chef for 1, 000.
[00:06:05] Siddhi: And the chef can be way higher. Why? You've already paid for the trip now. You're kind of tagging on more experience. And people get looser with what they can spend. And obviously I'm not saying this is going to be the case with everyone. However, now if you imagine two people. They're going on date night.
[00:06:21] Siddhi: You might just think, oh, they're not going to book a chef. Well, what are they going to do? Imagine if they could do a cooking class in their home and then have like a very nice interactive dinner and that just occupies the whole dinner on that anniversary celebration. That's incredible. Also imagine if you are two parents and you go with your kids.
[00:06:41] Siddhi: It's your holiday, yet you have to now hunt for food cooked. What if you could just have some delivery and it costs like 150 pounds for have food delivered for the whole day For you your husband for your kids. So I think we have something at a lot of price ranges And we're making that product better by the day But this is not an exquisite product.
[00:07:00] Siddhi: Like I said people think private chefs are so expensive It really is the same cost as restaurant delivery sometimes in a restaurant. So I think I would encourage you to offer this, no matter the stage or the bedroom size, because our chefs can do a lot of things and it's not just
[00:07:18] Liam: how easy is it to do it?
[00:07:21] Liam: Is this something which the host needs to sign up or is this something which the guest just needs to go on? How does that work?
Hassle-Free Integration for Hosts: How Yhangry's simple system benefits both hosts and guests.
[00:07:27] Siddhi: I love it. Great question. No one needs to do anything. Why? He does all the heavy lifting. So as a host, you literally can just add and what sometimes. Here, check out our private chat for the best rates here.
[00:07:39] Siddhi: You get a unique affiliate link. Once someone clicks on the link, people, guests come on to our website. That's where they add a request, they make the booking. We can track all these things and we can attribute it back to the host. And the host can get a kickback at admission. So the guest does land on our website, but we're able to track all the metrics.
[00:07:59] Siddhi: And actually we say like, um, like high touch, middle touch, low touch, but we have all the data and we pass it back towards our host and we set up the link for them. We also make the payments. So you literally, all you have to do is add a line saying here, book a private chef and hyperlink it.
[00:08:17] Liam: Is it something which is offered?
[00:08:19] Liam: Is this England wide, UK wide worldwide? Where do you cover? And where is it? Is it sometimes difficult to find those services in those places? What do you do in those those instances?
[00:08:31] Siddhi: Great question. So we're all across UK. We currently have 4000 plus chefs, way more than we actually need. So we have a 10x larger network of chefs just waiting to start getting jobs.
Nationwide Coverage: Yhangry’s wide reach and how they address logistical challenges.
[00:08:44] Siddhi: We have so many chefs, so we spoil for choice. So yes, when we started, it was harder, but we really figured out how to get chefs to these areas. I would say the only place where it gets really hard admittedly is, I think there's something called the aisle of something where when you go there, you have to get them on a boat.
[00:09:00] Siddhi: And once I was telling the property, don't worry, a chef can get there. And they were like, even if they get a boat, where are they going to stay? And I was like, okay, this is really hard. Even that's possible, you know, it's in lunch booking, but away from really weird places to get to. Chefs can drive, no issue.
[00:09:18] Siddhi: Chefs can get there. We have a very robust network. And I think one other thing, some hosts try to do it themselves. And they're like, I'll just recommend a local chef. And they really focus on locality and they want to feel very like cool. And they're like, no, we're not going to use a platform. I think they're kind of missing a big point here.
[00:09:37] Siddhi: A chef is busy a lot of the key days, and the chef is going to be unresponsive as one human being. What then ends up happening is if a customer contacts a chef, they're unresponsive. The customer is going to be like, fuck's sake, I'm done. Like, people don't have time. We know that because for every single request, we actually match the request to 30 plus chefs.
[00:09:58] Siddhi: And that's what ensures that within the first hour, a customer can get up to three responses. And if they don't get a response, the chance of booking a chef drops ridiculously. So I think all I'll say is if as a property host, you're thinking, Oh no, I'll just curate my local supply. It's actually probably a terrible, it's very different saying here is a restaurant you can go to the restaurant will most likely always give you a reservation.
[00:10:23] Siddhi: But if you're offering a local service provider, that is a frustrating experience. So please don't do that or try not to do it. You know, it's
[00:10:31] Liam: so much for your time on this podcast and If you're listening to this and there's somebody, another host who needs to know about why Yhangry, then you can check out the show notes.
[00:10:41] Liam: It's in the show notes, or you can go to the website. Uh, CD, CD, can you just give that website one more time? So we know exactly where we've got to go.
[00:10:51] Siddhi: Absolutely, www dot the letter Yhangry yhangry.com So just type in Yhangry or just type in UK's number one private chef Dragon's Den and the first link will be up.
[00:11:05] Liam: Awesome. I love it. Thank you so much for your time. And we look forward to seeing where Yhangry is. And hopefully we can have you back on in years to come as it grows. And if you're a host. Capitalize on this now. The reason this is happening on the Boostly podcast and why we're talking to you as a host about this is you should be signing up.
[00:11:25] Liam: You should be looking to do this because your competition won't be doing it. And that is exactly why you should do it now before it becomes the mainstream. And, uh, you can capitalize on it. So, thank you very much for listening. We'll see you on the next podcast.
