Former White House advisor helps local cooks make a meaningful income  

WASHINGTON, USA –  Shef, a platform that enables cooks to sell homemade meals to their local communities, recently announced that it has expanded its fast-growing business to Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV). Since its founding in 2019 by Obama White House tech advisor and Code.gov co-founder, Alvin Salehi, and two-time food startup entrepreneur, Joey Grassia, Shef has served over one million meals across the United States. Passionate and talented cooks around the country have found a world of hope and possibility on the platform, and now those across the DMV will have an opportunity to make a meaningful income while sharing their culture and authentic recipes with their neighbors.

Maryland, Virginia and D.C. are host to a vibrant diaspora of cultures and Shef’s cooks reflect this diversity, with cuisines ranging from Northern Indian and Jamaican-American dishes to Turkish and Peruvian. For example, for the first time since arriving in the US, Kenyan cook Marni Muhati felt she could proudly share a meaningful part of her African heritage with friends and neighbors. Similarly, Carla Mantecon, a transplant from Guadalajara, Mexico, prepares the very family recipes that brought her own loved ones together around her family’s dinner table; she hopes to bring that same authenticity to dinner tables across the region.

“As the sons of immigrants, Joey and I watched our parents work incredibly hard to build a better life for their kids,” said Alvin Salehi, co-founder of Shef. “There are millions of people just like them looking for new opportunities to support their families, and we’re excited to finally bring Shef to the DMV – a beautiful region I had the privilege of calling home for many years.”

Currently, there are more than 16,000 applicants on the waitlist to cook and sell food on Shef. Local cooks can visit Shef.com to sign up and get started.