CookUnity

CookUnity is a chef-to-consumer meal marketplace that connects a collective of chefs with eaters across the United States. Rather than operating as a single restaurant brand, the company describes itself as the first chef-to-you marketplace, bringing small-batch, restaurant-quality meals crafted by award-winning chefs directly to customers’ doors. Each dish is a chef’s signature creation, delivered ready to heat and designed to make premium, chef-made dining more accessible and convenient at home.

Customers subscribe to a flexible weekly plan, choosing from four to sixteen meals per week and selecting dishes from a rotating menu that CookUnity says can include 300 to 400 or more meals. The service offers a wide range of cuisines and dietary options, with personalized weekly recommendations tailored to each eater’s preferences. Subscribers can skip, pause, or change their plan size at any time, and meals arrive fresh with no preparation or cleanup required beyond heating.

The chef network is central to the model. CookUnity works with Michelin-starred chefs, James Beard Award winners, Food Network personalities, and other culinary creators, including names such as Marcus Samuelsson, Vikas Khanna, Rick Bayless, Esther Choi, Cat Cora, Jose Garces, and Michael Solomonov. Chefs and their teams handcraft their signature dishes locally in CookUnity kitchens, and the company shares revenue from every dish sold so chefs can scale their craft, reach audiences beyond their own ZIP codes, and build independent culinary businesses.

According to the company, CookUnity began operations in 2018 with six chefs in a small Brooklyn kitchen. It has since expanded to eight kitchen locations across the United States, listed as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, and Toronto, with a growing community of more than 150 chefs and over 1,700 team members. CookUnity states it has delivered more than 50 million meals per year and, on its consumer site, reports over 90 million meals delivered to more than one million customers.

Beyond individual subscriptions, CookUnity offers CookUnity for Business, which brings chef-made meals to teams and offices, including delivery to workplaces or stocking smart fridges. The company also offers meal programs for healthcare payers, providers, patients, members, and staff, with medically tailored meals and recipes developed by registered dietitians and chefs. CookUnity further states that it partners with mission-driven organizations to make good food more accessible.

Sustainability is presented as core to the business. CookUnity says it minimizes food waste and carbon emissions, partners with responsible and fair-trade suppliers, and operates a returnable and reusable packaging program that has reportedly reused more than 2.3 million bags.

CookUnity’s stated mission is to empower chefs everywhere to nourish the world through a shared love of great food. Its careers site describes values centered on the belief that food unites people, and lists benefits including comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, paid parental leave, and a wellness benefit, noting that benefits may vary by location and role. The company was named one of Forbes’ Best Startup Employers of 2025. Co-founders Mateo Marietti, CEO, and Clara F. Quiroga, Chief Business Officer, lead the company.