French social start-up partners Airbnb for experiential dining event

French social dining start-up VizEat has partnered with Airbnb for the latter’s three-day experiential event in Paris later this year.

French social dining start-up VizEat has partnered with Airbnb for the latter’s three-day experiential event in Paris later this year.

VizEat’s website enables travellers to select a local person’s home to dine in for lunch or dinner, with the occupant cooking the meal.

Founded in early 2014, the company has raised €1 million in a funding round led by UK-based Eurovestech Plc.In February it acquired Cookening and now has 35,000 members in more than 50 countries.

During Airbnb Open, which will run from November 12-14, VizEat’s members will provide meals for Airbnb’s hosts.It is the first time the annual gathering will take place outside of San Francisco.

VizEat chief executive and co-founder, Jean-Michel Petit, said: “Nowadays a majority of tourists are eager to discover a culture with the help of locals, yet restaurants leave you often disconnected from the city and its culture.

“Our partnership with the Airbnb Open is the perfect occasion to make thousands of guests discover this new travelling experience.

“The table is the original social network and this event will again demonstrate the power of shared meals.

“Peer-to-peer dining is effectively the next frontier of the sharing economy and we are very proud to be leading this conversation.”

Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, added: “We are happy to be partnering with the European leader in social dining.

“VizEat will help us introduce a new layer of local experiences to the Airbnb community and we look forward to partnering with more innovative, disruptive and high-growth start-ups that promote our core messages of global hospitality among like-minded people.”