Credible Inc., the parent company of ChefsFeed, the only expert-powered food media company, announced it has acquired Feastly, a marketplace platform for food and dining experiences ranging from pop-up dinners to cooking classes to private dining. Together they will create the only media company that can deliver high-quality content combined with in real life (IRL) activations and experiences at scale, furthering Credible Inc.’s mission to engage consumers, empower experts and elevate brands. Terms of the deal are not disclosed.
Feastly’s addition to the Credible Inc. portfolio will offer its growing digital audience across web, mobile, social, and OTT, access to unique one-of-a-kind food experiences, and the ability to engage with the acclaimed chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers they follow on ChefsFeed.
In the coming months, consumers can expect expanded availability of culinary experiences, including cooking classes, pop-up dinners, and private dining. Chefs and other notable food and beverage experts will see an expanded inventory of marketplace opportunities ranging from paid media campaigns and the ability to manage and market their own ticketed experiences for consumers, to more paid brand partnership opportunities.
“Food is the global language at the heart of celebrations, gatherings, travel, and so much more. The ChefsFeed audience is made up of diners who seek out meaningful connections to food through our unique stories, videos, and restaurant guides that serve as their inside connection to all things culinary,” says Rich Maggiotto, Credible’s CEO. “With Feastly, we’re elevating their online-offline experiences and offering new ways to immerse themselves into amazing culinary experiences.”
Over 1,000 food and beverage professionals are already marketing, managing and monetizing their personal brands through events on Feastly’s platform where more than 200,000 meals have been served in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, and New York in the past 48 months. By combining with ChefsFeed’s Expert Offer Marketplace, where its influencer network of 3,500 notable culinary all-stars are already discovering unique paid media opportunities, Credible will expand on its long-standing mission to empower experts and artisans.
“Feastly was conceived as a scalable technology and market-making platform to remove chefs’ barriers to entry. We wanted to empower chefs to do what they love, when they want, and with improved economics. The Feastly platform allows them to experiment and explore possibilities outside of the pressures and confines of the traditional restaurant model, while making an income,” says Noah Karesh, founder of Feastly. “Combining with ChefsFeed is an ideal evolution of our vision. It has grown to become the industry’s voice and has created new opportunities for experts to create brand-sponsored revenue streams.”
Added Maggiotto: “The meshing of experiential marketing and digital media is on the rise across industries, but few have done it at scale. Together, ChefsFeed and Feastly have the ability to create a marketplace and platform that will enable brands, chefs, and other food and beverage influencers to create, manage, and market events en masse – rolling out in dozens, or even hundreds, of cities of the world, all at the same time.”
From SXSW to The Color Factory, there has been a surge across all industries to bring products and services to life in innovative ways. In 2018, brands like Chefwear, Topo Chico, Whole Foods Market, Staub, Hess Wines, and numerous tourism boards, partnered with ChefsFeed to combine real-life activations with authentic branded content into a successful formula. The addition of Feastly accelerates the ChefsFeed Expert Offer Marketplace’s ability to connect a proven expert ambassador to partner brands they deem worthy, in a cost-effective way, at scale.
For more information about ChefsFeed visit https://www.chefsfeed.com/.
About Credible, Inc.
As the only consumer media platform powered by experts, Credible provides access to industry-leading talent, coupled with award-winning production and premium distribution at scale. ChefsFeed, their flagship culinary category, introduces millions of people—across mobile, web, social, and OTT—to a new way of discovering food experiences, destinations, and products based on expert recommendations from top chefs. Credible is expanding its international footprint and adding complementary categories, fueled by experts who inspire in their respective fields.
About ChefsFeed
ChefsFeed publishes expert-powered media you can trust, with the attitude and authenticity you crave. We work with thousands of the best food and beverage professionals to bring you exclusive videos and stories, and provide a new way to discover where to eat and drink based on their expert recommendations. Download our apps, visit our website, follow us on social media, or watch us on our OTT channels. For more information, visit chefsfeed.com and follow ChefsFeed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
About Feastly
Feastly is building the next generation culinary and dining platform to empower chefs with a more flexible, faster, and better paid career path than has ever been available before. The Feastly platform empowers chefs with the tools to market, manage and monetize their culinary brand and host culinary experiences. Through the marketplace, diners and clients can discover and book seats at these shared culinary experiences and join the table of exceptional chefs from around the globe. Feastly currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and New York. For more information visit feastly.com and follow Feastly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
