Have you heard about or tried MyDish? It might not be social media as we know it, but it is based on the common principle of sharing information and is proving very popular amongst people interested in their food!
MyDish was launched at the beginning of 2008 by Carol Savage. Her vision was to create the most popular social network for people who are passionate about cooking. The idea was inspired by recipes from Carol’s mother-in-law, which had been recorded only on scraps of paper. Carol wanted to both preserve and share these recipes, so she set up the site as a place for people to store and share their favourite recipes.
There are now over 10,000 tried, tested and treasured recipes on the site.
Carol’s dream got a very welcome boost when she secured investment from Deborah Meaden as a result of appearing on Dragons’ Den on BBC TV. According to Deborah, Carol clearly explained the market, the business model and why www.mydish.co.uk was the perfect site to take advantage of the huge surge of interest in social eating. This argument convinced Deborah to invest £100,000 for a 15% stake in the business, which has now gone from strength to strength.
Since Dragons’ Den was broadcast, visitors to the MyDish website have increased significantly. The site currently attracts 100,000 visitors per month and has 25,000 members.
Other recent developments include the creation of a special recipe calendar to raise funds for Great Ormond St. Hospital and securing sponsorship deals with Twinings, Pataks, Maltesers and Coca Cola.
Over the last few months Carol has built the Tesco White label site where MyDish members will find even more recipes to share. There is also now a Tesco API which allows customers to choose their recipes for the week or for a dinner party and to have the ingredients delivered to their door. White label versions of MyDish have also been created for two national newspapers groups, The Telegraph and the Mailonline.
I personally love MyDish and I can see why Deborah refers to is as a foodie equivalent of Facebook. If you try it yourself, you will find that you can:
- Store your favourite recipes in one place
- Share your recipes easily with friends and family
- Connect with your friends by sharing recipes, menu ideas and hints with them.
- Build your own personal recipe book either as a gift or to raise funds for charity
- Receive monthly recipe ideas by signing up for regular email newsletters
- Create shopping lists
For more details and to have a play, go to: www.mydish.co.uk