May 29th, 2018: I joined the team at Komeeda, a startup company here in NYC. The companies agenda is to create events that bring people from all walks of life together around food. These events take place throughout the tri-state area in restaurants and at special locations.
Currently the company has 11 members including myself. We work remotely and occasionally will meet in a conference space that may change over time.
As described on their site:
“Komeeda was built to connect eateries with food-lovers looking for new and exciting food experiences. We created a marketplace for eateries to create customized dining experiences for casual diners/foodies to enjoy. We want people to discover new restaurants, taste new dishes, and interact with their hosts and fellow eaters.
Komeeda is the go-to marketplace for restaurant dining experiences to attract new customers by uniquely marketing themselves to a experience-driven, socially engaged audience who consider dining out as an experimental, cultural, & quality experience.
The Komeeda platform will harness a “kommunity” of member profiles which include both restaurant & foodie users. Profiles will maintain general details (photo, name, ratings, etc.) and a activity history within the platform including gatherings attended/hosted, ratings, etc. The gatherings are reviewed solely by the confirmed attendees, creating an unbiased resource of credible reviews, which is openly accessible.”
Komeeda refers to their audience as “kommunity” a play on words for Komeeda community. The audience is treated like a large neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. The audience benefits from being treated this way when events take place it becomes easy for the audience to communicate with other food lovers at the events. They’re not the only ones who are targeted, the restaurants across the city who are looking for more reviews and new customers are also part of the audience. Komeeda helps the clients get the recognition they are looking for along with great critiques on how to improve themselves as a business.
Komeeda has been affectively creating these events since July 2015. This 3 year old company that began in NYC has now created over 200 culinary experiences not only in NYC but also in Washington D.C and Austin Texas in the past year. It all started with the founder who had the vision and made it a reality. The founder and I have worked on Komeeda’s designs in the past so it was not a difficult transition for me to get right back into working for them. I have been placed within the design department. The design department consists of me and Alex who has been currently the lead designer for the company.
What really makes me admire this company is its desire to pay it forward. In the article “For Refugee Chefs, This Meal Is a Business Card” written in the New York Times on Sep. 20th,2017 the founder along with a fellow Komeeda member co-founded the Refugee Food & Art Festival. It is the next step in Komeeds’s Displaced Dinner Series, which assists migrants, including refugees and political asylum seekers, with financial need.
In the article it shares stories from refugees and what the festival means to one of them, the hope to receive employment and a chance to show what they can make. But not only is it about the individuals but the conversations we hold on the topic of refugees. This event would give an opportunity to get first hand facts from those who the media spends a great deal of time degrading. Seeing for yourself who these people really are and what they are about. Bringing people together around food which Komeeda continues to do.
Although this was only one event that took place in 2017, Komeeda has plans for more. In an article written in the Washington City Paper called “Break Pita With Refugees at Two Dinners at Mama Ayesha’s During Ramadan”, Komeeda plans to bring the Festival to Washington D.C. The article states that Komeeda is bringing two festivals one on May 28th, and one on June 11th,. Komeeda member says “Komeeda has fed 2,000 people across the country through refugee-related events and they’re looking to ramp up activity in D.C.”. The article states that the proceeds after the cost of renting the space is paid for, goes to the refugee. The refugee who will be head chef on May 28th is Al Chahada and another which is not named in the article will be there on June 11th.
I named this blog post American Dream because this company is a pure example of what that statement stands for. Not only did a man create a business out of an idea but created freedom in a land that promotes just that. Freedom to create and freedom to grow, the American dream.
Haijra Heidi Bajraktarevic, Komeeda, Dept. of Communication Design, NYCCT/CUNY, Summer 2018, COMD-4900/D032[7372]
