How Bites Works - FAQ's

Select from drop-off meals, meal prep services, in-home dining experiences. 1. Before you begin, keep in mind that your order must be finalized and paid for within the Bites app at least 3 days in advance of the requested date. Otherwise, your request will expire and you won't be able to complete your request. 2. Search for a cook of any skill level, from amateur to pro (student cook, homecook, professional, or independent eatery). 3. Use the "Filter" button to refine your search. 4. Check out cook profiles by tapping on them. You can enlarge food pictures by tapping on them. 5. You must tap on "Begin Your Request" to request a meal or dining experience from a cook. You'll collaborate with the cook on a tentative menu through the Bites app. You are not committing to place an order by taking this step. 6. Tap on "Request Changes" at the bottom of the menu each time you want to request that the cook make changes to the menu. 7. Place your food order or dining reservation with a credit card in the app. The total cost for the menu set by the cook covers all ingredients and services provided by the cook. You don't pay tip, tax, service charge or delivery fee. 8. Message the cook with any questions within the Bites app. 9. Remember that you can request menus from multiple cooks at once. 10. All communications and menu versions between the cook and you must remain entirely on the Bites app.

You can offer any of the following: drop-off meals, meal prep services, in-home dining experiences, and interactive classroom lunches. 1. Create a Cook profile. 2. Foodies will check out your Cook profile. They must tap on the "Begin Your Request" button on your Cook profile to begin their request for a menu from you. 3. You'll respond by providing a tentative, initial menu through the Bites app for them to consider. The menu creation process is collaborative. You'll go back and forth with the Foodie in revising the menu, before finalizing it. 4. The Foodie will order a meal from you or reserve a dining experience with you by paying through the Bites app. 5. Foodies will then get to rate & review the food experience they had with you on the app. 6. All communications and menu versions between the Foodie and you must remain entirely on the Bites app. IMPORTANT PAYMENT INFORMATION: The menu price you set is the total amount the Foodie will pay for the meal order or dining experience. The menu price covers the full cost of your services and all ingredients. The Foodie won't pay anything beyond this amount. See "How Do Cooks Get Paid & How Much" in the FAQ's below.

Yes. In addition to all cooks maintaining a valid, current food handler card or food manager certificate on file with us, they must also comply with safe food handling practices, including those specific to COVID-19 (washing hands often, using hand sanitizer, wearing a mask that covers nose and mouth, and social distancing, as appropriate).

Cooks will identify themselves in terms of their cooking skill levels, and may elaborate on their cooking skills in their Bios. "Student" cooks include college students and culinary school students. College student cooks will generally seek to cook for other students at their college, while culinary school students will generally seek to cook for the general population. "Home cook" includes all amateur cooks who are passionate about cooking but who are not college students. "Professional" includes all skill levels of restaurant cooks & chefs (executive chefs, celebrity chefs, sous chefs, prep cooks, and line cooks), caterers, personal chefs, and any other industry cooks. These chefs/cooks may elaborate on their cooking skills in their Bios. "Indie Eatery" includes independent restaurants and cafes that give authentic character to our cities, as well as amazing food trucks. Cooks who have identified as an Indie Eatery have created a cook profile on behalf of their establishment, rather than creating a personal cooking profile. These eateries may send any of their cooks to a foodie's home to provide in-home dining experiences, or simply to drop off meals or offer meal prep services. Our app seeks to support independent eateries, giving them a leg up over chains and franchises. That's why these eateries are encouraged to offer off-menu items, in addition to on-menu items. This gives eateries an opportunity to try out new dishes that they may later want to add to their menu at the eatery. This also gives foodies the opportunity to enjoy personalized dining experiences that they can't otherwise get at their favorite eatery.

Yes, we offer virtual onboarding sessions (free) on the First and Third Saturday of each month at 11am MST (Phoenix, AZ time zone) with a member of our team. You can sign up for a virtual onboarding session by contacting us through our website ( www.bites.mobi ). Please include your full name and email address so that we may send you a virtual onboarding session calendar invite. Each onboarding session lasts up to one hour and fills up at 100 participants. We must receive your request for an onboarding session at least 48 hours prior to a scheduled onboarding session in order to include you (assuming there is space available in the session). If an onboarding session is already full, we will send you a calendar invite for the next onboarding session.

If the foodie has placed an order for a drop-off meal or meal prep services, the cook and foodie will coordinate via chat as to a 45-minute delivery window for the date selected. For in-home dining experiences and interactive classroom lunches, please see relevant FAQ sections below.

Cooks of all skill levels, from amateur to professional can create a cooking profile on Bites. We welcome home cooks, student cooks (university & college students, culinary students), *professional cooks, and cooks representing independent eateries. We believe in supporting individuals with a passion for cooking, regardless of skill level. We also believe in giving visibility and support to independent eateries that lend authentic character to our cities. *Note: The category "professional cooks" includes all skill levels of restaurant cooks, top chefs, caterers, commercial cooks, personal chefs, and food truck cooks. All cooks indicate their actual experience in their profile bios.

Cooks are highly encouraged to source their ingredients locally. We encourage cooks to source ingredients from urban farms, micro farms, co-ops, backyard gardens, community gardens, organic and family-owned small growers. We believe that encouragement on our end and transparency on the cook’s end in terms of where cooks source from is the best starting point to getting more cooks to source ingredients locally. As we grow, we intend to make significant improvements to this system, for the benefit of foodies, cooks, and the growers themselves.

You can search online for “food handler card” or “food manager certificate” and reference your state (i.e., Arizona). ​ In order to get either of these, you’ll need to take a short online test with one of these providers (the food handler card test is easier, faster, and costs less) to measure your understanding of safe food handling practices. ​ Once you’ve taken either test and received either a food handler card or food manager certificate, you will upload a picture of either document to your cooking profile on Bites and enter the expiration date. We'll validate this on our end. We make sure that all uploaded food handler cards or food manager certificates remain current. Note: Cooks whose cards or certificates become expired will have their profile hidden from search results until they upload a current, valid card or certificate.

Foodies will check out a cook's profile and collaborate on a menu with the cook. After you've collaborated on a menu that you're happy with, you'll place an order with the cook for a dropped-off meal. The cook will provide all ingredients and prep and cook the meal(s) for you. The cook will package the cooked meal(s) in food safe containers and deliver the meal(s) to you within a 45-minute time-frame coordinated between you and the cook for the requested date. You will provide your own dishes, silverware, napkins and beverages to enjoy your meal.

Foodies will check out a cook's profile and collaborate on a menu with the cook. ​ After you've collaborated on a menu that you're happy with, place an order with the cook for meal prep services. ​ The cook will provide all ingredients and prep the meal(s) for you. The cook will package the prepped meal(s) (these will be uncooked or only partially cooked) in food safe containers and deliver the prepped meal(s) to you within a 45-minute time-frame coordinated between you and the cook for the requested date. The cook will include all necessary instructions for you in proper refrigeration/freezing and cooking of the prepped meal(s), including cooking temperatures, cooking method, and cooking times. You will provide your own dishes, silverware, napkins and beverages to enjoy the meal.

Check out a cook's profile and collaborate on a dining menu with the cook. After you've created a menu you're happy with, place your order through Bites. The cook will show up at your home or other designated location, bringing along all necessary ingredients and cooking gear to prep, cook, and plate a complete meal for you and your guests. The cook will plate each dish or course one time for foodie and foodie's guests using the dishware and serving ware provided by foodie. Beyond that, the cook will not function as a food server or clear the table between courses. From the time the cook arrives at foodie's home, the cook will have up to 4 hours within which to set up, prep food, cook, serve, and clean up. The foodie and cook can mutually adjust this length of time if they so choose. The foodie will provide all dishware, serving dishes, stemware, glassware, cutlery, silverware, other utensils, napkins, linens and any decorative items. The cook will perform all cleanup related to food preparation and cooking, using cleaning products provided by you. The cook will not perform any kitchen cleanup beyond that. ​ The cook will discard of all trash, compost and recyclables associated with food prep into those receptacles that the foodie provides in foodie's kitchen. Beyond that, the foodie removes the trash associated with the dining event.

No, there is no tip or tax paid by foodies, ever.

Cooks may offer Interactive Classroom Lunches to teachers for their students in grade schools K-12. By reserving an Interactive Classroom Lunch experience, the teacher is bringing food literacy into the classroom via a professional chef or homecook who can engage students in a collaborative effort of making their lunch together, while discussing a bit about nutrition, seasonality of vegetables, local farms, and possibly the culture behind the cuisine being prepared. To cover all costs, teachers will reach out to the students' parents prior to reserving the chef, to ask parents to monetarily contribute to their children's interactive lunch experience. When reserving a cook's services, the teacher will indicate to the cook any food allergies of the students, as well as any special requests associated with the interactive classroom lunch experience. The cook will bring their cooking gear, including any hotplates, along with all ingredients, into the classroom, to perform the interactive lunch experience with the students. Teachers will provide all plates, utensils, napkins, cups and beverages for the interactive classroom lunch. Cooks will seek to provide a lunch experience that is interactive, fun and incorporates food literacy.

No, there is no service charge or delivery fee paid by foodies in using our app.

The foodie can go back into the Bites app to rate and review the cook. We highly encourage foodies to rate and review cooks so that others get a better sense of what they might experience with that cook. You can also upload any related food and dining pictures to these reviews!

We issue partial and full refunds on cancelled orders only as follows: So long as the foodie placed an order (paid for a meal or dining experience) through the app at least 3 days in advance, the foodie may always cancel the order through the app within the initial 24 hours of having placed the order. In such instance, the foodie will receive a full refund. Outside of the above-stated 24 hour window, if the foodie cancels the order 5 or more days in advance, foodie will get a 50% refund; if foodie cancels the order 4 or fewer days in advance, the foodie does not receive any refund.

Yes, absolutely. If the cook cancels a paid food order or dining experience for any reason, the foodie is entitled to a full refund.

So long as the foodie placed an order (paid for a meal or dining experience) through the app at least 3 days in advance, the foodie may always cancel that order through the app within the initial 24 hours of having placed the order. In such instance, the foodie will receive a full refund. The cook will not get paid in such instance. Outside of the above-stated 24 hour window, if foodie cancels the order 5 or more days in advance, the cook will get paid 50% of what the cook would have otherwise been paid if the cook had perfomed the order; if foodie cancels the order 4 or fewer days in advance, the cook will get paid 100% of what the cook would have otherwise been paid if the cook had performed the order.

No. Cooks participating on Bites are not employees or agents of Bites or Warehouse Apps, nor are they insured by Bites or Warehouse Apps. Cooks are all independent contractors who represent themselves and work for themselves. They are required to have a valid and current food handler's card or food manager's certificate uploaded to their account when they create a cooking profile to indicate to us that they understand and will adhere to safe food handling practices. Beyond this, cooks are individually responsible for and encouraged to secure and maintain insurance in adequate amounts and in accordance with coverage that is appropriate to them providing their various offerings to foodies.

Within 36 hours after the cook fulfills an order, all associated payments due to cook for that order will be deposited to cook's connected Stripe account. From there, it generally takes Stripe 5 business days to deposit funds into cook's connected bank account. Cooks get paid 80% of the total bill (i.e,, 80% of the total menu price) for the meals and dining experiences they perform. Stripe then takes approx 3% of the total bill for processing the credit card transaction, and the remaining approx 17% of the total bill goes to Warehouse Apps, creator of Bites. For purposes of illustration only, if the total dining bill (total menu price) is $100, then $80 will be paid to cook, $3 (approx) will be paid to Stripe, and $17 (approx) will be paid to Warehouse Apps. ​ Contact us at Support@WarehouseAppsPhx.com with questions!

Cooks can contact Stripe several ways: through email, chat, or a phone call. Go to their website: https://support.stripe.com/contact to get in touch with them directly in any of these ways.

If a cook received $600 or more in a calendar year for the services the cook performed through the Bites app, then by end of January of the following calendar year, the cook will receive a Form 1099 NEC. We advise that cooks consult a tax professional with any questions regarding their taxes.

Yes, you can experience Bites both as a foodie and as a cook. Alternatively, you can choose to simply be one or the other, and create the appropriate profile. It's up to you

Yes, the cook can bring along a friend, if they'd like.

You can find us on IG: @bites.app and also visit our website: www.bites.mobi to subscribe to our newsletter to learn about any upcoming pop-up chef events or get promo discount codes to use on our app.

We actively encourage and support refugee cooks to participate on the Bites app. We celebrate all cultures and cuisines through our app, providing cooks of all skill levels and backgrounds an opportunity to share their unique personal stories and cultures through delicious food experiences. Simply indicate what your cooking skill level is as you create your profile. We welcome your participation.