Is it reliable to invite strangers to cook?

Recently, the substitute kitchen that provides door-to-door cooking service is
on fire.
Ms.
Zhang from Xiangxiang, Hunan Province, is a substitute cook, and the four-course meal charges 68 yuan, which has aroused heated discussions
among netizens.
Many netizens said that there is a difference between this service and traditional nanny and part-time workers, and they feel more novel than takeaway and are willing to try
.
At the same time, many people posted through online platforms that they can provide kitchen substitute services
.

The so-called substitute chef means that the employer finds a special person to provide cooking services according to its own needs, the employer provides ingredients and seasonings, and the chef cooks the dishes according to the taste and needs of the employer
.
When the reporter searched on social platforms with keywords such as "substitute kitchen" and "door-to-door cooking", he saw that many popular cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou have substitute kitchen services
.

Let strangers come to the door to cook, how to ensure food safety and personal safety? How to resolve disputes in the event of a dispute? In this regard, the reporter conducted an interview
.

Door-to-door cooking is a novel form

But it also implies all kinds of hidden dangers

Wei Chen (pseudonym), a college student in Shanghai's Xuhui district, is part of
the cooking substitute craze.
In June this year, Wei Chen accidentally saw someone providing door-to-door cooking services on the Internet, and he felt that he was worried that he could not use his cooking skills, so he also learned to be a substitute cook
.

"In the first month, I didn't receive a single order, and I slowly received the order later
.
" Wei Chen said that he thought that he only needed to come to the door to cook a meal, but in the face of various requirements from his employer, the young man was obviously not prepared and wasted many orders
in vain.

He told reporters that this job is not simple, not only need to meet the appetite of the employer, but also need to prepare a lot of other materials, such as health certificates, nucleic acid certificates, identity certificates, etc.
, some employers even need to sign a contract to allow him to cook
.

After a few months, Wei Chen confessed that he did not make much money, and the long hours of running and working exhausted him
.
In early November, he stopped taking orders, and "interests and careers are really two different things.
"

It is understood that at present, substitute chefs are mainly divided into two categories, one is a professional private chef company, which provides a wide range of dishes, including eight major cuisines of Chinese food, Western food and creative dishes, and most of the applicable scenarios are important occasions, such as birthday banquets, birthday banquets and business banquets; The other category is individuals, and the applicable scene is generally family dinner
.

In some online trading platforms, many private chef companies do not specify the price, and need the employer's private message to determine the price, and some need to place orders through other platforms
.

The reporter contacted a private chef company that "I invite chefs to serve at home" on an online platform, and the other party said in a private message that it can provide two forms of service: the first requires the employer to prepare its own ingredients, and the chef makes it door-to-door, and the single charge ranges from 400 yuan to 800 yuan per table, and the specific price depends on the number of diners, the city, the number of dishes, and the grade requirements; If the number of diners is more than 8 people, 200, 300, 400 yuan per capita can be arranged, if the number of diners is 5 to 7 people, the per capita starting from
300 yuan.
To place an order, you need to go to a WeChat mini program
.

The customer service told reporters that if the employer provides its own ingredients, the services provided by the chef include pre-food processing, cooking and kitchen cleaning, but the purchase of ingredients and the cleaning of dishes after meals are not included
.

In some housekeeping platforms, there is also a door-to-door cooking service
.
Taking Beijing as an example, the price of the door-to-door cooking service package is 435 yuan 3 times, and the average cost is 145 yuan per time, the price is slightly more expensive than other platforms, and the employees have health certificates and related insurance
.

The reporter saw in the comment area that the praise rate of the service reached 97.
5%, and many employers said that the meals made by the master were delicious, the kitchen was also clean, and the service attitude was very good
.

The price of individual orders is generally clearly marked, and the price is determined according to the amount of food and different cities, and there are also additional charges
for grocery shopping, dishwashing and transportation.
The profession of the substitute chef provider who accepts orders is variable, ranging from professional chefs who can provide health certificates and nutritionist certificates to folk cooking enthusiasts
.

Do substitute chefs need to show a health certificate? In this regard, some netizens think it is essential, but some netizens think it is not necessary, saying that "does having a health certificate mean that a person is healthy"?

The reporter also noticed that there are not a few young people engaged in substitute kitchen services, and in the service advertisements they released, there was no lack of netizens in the comment area who were worried about their personal safety
.

In September, Li Yun (pseudonym) from Changsha, Hunan Province, began experimenting with the substitute kitchen business, and one of the orders is still fresh in her memory
.

Li Yun recalled that the single was far away from him, it would take an hour by car, and he ordered dinner, and he didn't really want to go, but the other party said that he could add money, and finally agreed
.

From communication to the whole process of ordering, the other party is very cheerful, not only the taste is not picky, the ingredients and seasonings are also available, eight dishes and one soup 132 yuan, plus 15 yuan dishwashing fee, the other party directly transferred the total amount, just waiting for Li Yun to show his cooking skills
.

On the same day, Li Yun came to the employer's house on time to cook, and the meal was unanimously praised
by the diners present.
Because the employer also ordered the dishwashing and cleaning service, Li Yun swiped her mobile phone in the kitchen and waited for the meal to end
.

Through the kitchen door, the sound of clinking glasses and toasts in the living room became louder and louder, which made Li Yun faintly feel a little uneasy
.
At the end of the banquet, Li Yun opened the kitchen door to clean up the table, a drunk guest suddenly got up, raised his glass to toast Li Yun, and spoke frivolously, which really startled her, and finally calmed the guest down with the help of others
.

"My heart was beating so hard that I was afraid that he would do
something drastic.
" Li Yun said that she had never considered personal safety before, and this experience made her a little afraid
.

There is no barrier to entry to becoming a substitute chef

Netizens received mixed reviews

"Can you come and help me cook, and this kind of good thing?" Xiao Zhou, from Pudong, Shanghai, was swiping his phone when he accidentally found that someone was offering this service on the Internet, and he decided to try it out
.

After clicking on the post, the picture shows a variety of home-cooked dishes and pasta dishes made by the chef, and just looking at it makes people have an appetite
.
The next picture is the price list: 88 yuan for less than 4 dishes, 20 yuan for more than 4 dishes, 20 yuan for washing dishes, and 20 yuan for transportation
.

Precautions are written under the price list, all services need to be booked one day in advance, and the needs are communicated after the order is placed; The ingredients can be purchased by the host himself or on behalf of the owner; The chef will come to your home two hours before the
meal.

After understanding Xiao Zhou, he learned that the chef was about the same age as himself, very keen on cooking, and the residence was close to herself, and cooking at home was just a part-time job for her, and her job was a company clerk.

The other said
.

On the day of service, the other party arrived at Xiao Zhou's house as scheduled, watching the substitute chef skillfully use the kitchenware at home and carefully cook every ingredient, Xiao Zhou couldn't help but sigh at the gap
between himself and his peers.

"I am used to takeaway and fast food, I haven't eaten such pure home-cooked food for a long time, and I feel the taste
of home in a foreign land for the first time.
" Xiao Zhou said that this experience touched him deeply, so he also began to try cooking
like a substitute chef.
Since then, there have been fireworks in the empty rental houses
.

However, some netizens complained on the Internet that the cooking skills are not good
.
A netizen in Chongqing posted that the cooking effect of the substitute chef he reserved was extremely poor, the meals were difficult to eat, and the kitchen was as chaotic as "having fought a war" after cooking, wasting energy and money
.

In the course of the investigation, the reporter found that the group of substitute chefs who provide services in the name of individuals is often simple in form, and employers only need to communicate the dishes in private messages, and after paying the fee through their mobile phones, they can make an appointment to cook
at home.

The reporter contacted a substitute chef on an online trading platform, and the other party immediately sent the reporter a price list, and asked the reporter where to cook, and after confirming the number of diners, the number of dishes, whether it was necessary to buy ingredients, whether cleaning services were required, etc.
, he directly sent the collection code to the reporter
.

When the reporter asked whether the other party could provide a health certificate and nucleic acid certificate, the other party said that he had not heard that door-to-door cooking also needed to provide these
.

The reporter randomly selected 4 substitute chefs who were closer to him on the platform, and only one substitute chef said that he had a health certificate and could issue a nucleic acid certificate within 48 hours, and the rest of the substitute chefs could not provide these certificates, indicating that cooking was just his hobby, and he did not know that he needed to apply for a health certificate and other certificates
.

Substitute chef "Xiao Xiao" told reporters that becoming a substitute chef is very simple, you only need to show the rice you make, and mark the price to send on major platforms, waiting for orders, there is no other threshold
except cooking.

"Xiao Xiao" also said that another form of substitute chef is more standardized, generally joining a private chef company, requiring assessment and training, and the treatment is relatively stable
.

Emerging industries still need to be regulated

Choose risk avoidance carefully

How should the legal relationship between a substitute chef and an employer be defined? What is the difference between traditional babysitters and part-time workers?

Zheng Ning, director of the law department of the School of Cultural Industry Management at Communication University of China, believes that legally speaking, this is a contractual relationship, and the employer's relationship with nanny and part-time workers is often a labor relationship
.

Shi Xin, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke (Hefei) Law Firm, believes that door-to-door cooking has many similarities with online taxi business, and in the past, most of the employment relationships between workers and companies were employees, but in the O2O era, platforms and service personnel will no longer be an employment relationship, but a sharing relationship
based on labor contracts.
While the combination of door-to-door economy and local life in the O2O era brings convenience to the majority of employers, related issues cannot be ignored and need to be solved
urgently.

Zhao Zhanzhan of Beijing Yunjia Law Firm said that the legal relationship between the substitute chef and the employer is still controversial whether it is an employment relationship or a contract relationship, and the legal responsibilities of the two are different
.
In the case of an employment relationship, the corresponding liability is borne according to the fault of both parties; In the case of a contractual relationship, the contractor is liable
only if he is at fault in the order, instruction or selection.
Because the substitute chef has a strong personal dependence on the employer and needs to complete the cooking work arranged by the employer at the time and place required by the employer, the employment relationship between the two should be an employment relationship rather than a contract relationship
.
If the substitute chef has greater autonomy and is able to decide on matters such as the time of home cooking, the relationship between the two parties may be contracted
.

Regarding the possible legal risks of substitute chefs, Zheng Ning believes that health risks, safety risks and quality risks are the three most important issues, and the chef's physical health, whether the operation meets the hygiene requirements, whether the operation is standardized and whether the quality of the dishes is passed, should be clear
before providing services.

Zhao Zhanzhan said that for the substitute chef, the main possible legal problem is that if the substitute chef is injured in the act of substitute cooking, the contractor may not be liable for compensation according to the contract relationship; If the two parties are in an employment relationship, once the substitute chef is injured during the cooking process, he or she shall bear the corresponding responsibility according to the
fault of both parties.

As for employers, Zhao analyzed that if the substitute chef causes personal injury to the employer or his family and friends in the process of providing services, such as food poisoning due to undercooked food or unhygiene, who will be liable? If the substitute chef is employed by a domestic service company, his acting as a substitute cook is an act of duty, and the employer can have the domestic service company compensate, and the domestic service company will recover the compensation
.
If the substitute chef cooperates with the employer, the substitute chef shall be liable
in tort.

Shi Xin also believes that because door-to-door service involves many security issues such as privacy and personal affairs, it is recommended that the platform set up a pre-audit system, and employers also have consumer experience rights such as good and bad evaluations and safety warnings when receiving services, which will have an impact
on the service credit of service personnel.

Zheng Ning suggested that the relevant departments should require chefs engaged in such businesses to undergo regular physical examinations and safety training, and establish and improve the complaint and reporting system and credit supervision system
.
At the same time, he also reminds employers and chefs that rights, obligations and responsibilities
must be clearly stipulated in the contract before serving.

Shi Xin believes that in order to ensure the smooth performance of the contract, it is recommended to implement a prepayment system for service personnel, that is, the employer pays a part of the expenses in advance to cover the transportation expenses and the employer's breach of contract
.
The platform can also collect service deposits from service personnel to prevent conflicts or irresponsibility between service personnel and employers, so as to improve service satisfaction
.