Table Colombia Challenge

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Gastronomical tourism can be a great opportunity of economical growth for our region. The main issue is that we are not very well know for our culinary diversity (besides Peru and Mexico, that is) plus the access to local experiences or to a variety of experiences is difficult. You have to spend ours in internet to end up in the same place that every body else goes. This not only can be boring to consumers, but is also a lousy way to share the pie.

We at FILO, we believe that by providing hosts and dinners a place to find each other, and to make easy and secure transactions, can  boost the gastronomical tourism and create new opportunities for culinary providers.

We have created a platform, like a market place, that offers a wide variety of experiences offered by selected hosts, form which costumers can discover, reserve and enjoy.

Our platform allows hosts to showcase their experiences and sell the tickets, in exchange of a commission.

We have started in Colombia, but are looking to expand to new countries in the LATAM region.

Immersive tourism is a growing trend not only in LATAM but in the world. Plus year after year LATAM has become a new destination for receptive tourism, and movements inside the countries have also grown.

In Colombia the Hotels, Restaurants and Casinos industrie sells around 1thousand million dollars a years and Tourism almost half of this. Plus in 2018 tourism in Colombia showed a growth of 8% in comparison to the prior year. This shows there is a market for gastronomical tourism that we can tap into in Colombia.

• Eatwith.com competitor in Europe and USA. They have not yet reached LATAM and they are not working with restaurantes. They are the biggest culinary experiences platform in the world.
• Houspoon.com competitor in Colombia. They are starting, and so are we. But they are not as focused on culinary experts, but on being a social network. Plus they have not tapped the restaurant market yet.
• Aibnb Experiences. They are the biggest company in private accommodation, and they are offering immersive tourism. Although they have culinary experiences, they are not focusing in this market plus they are still starting in LATAM with this service.

We have been in the market for a year now. We have worked with more than 20 hosts in the city of Bogotá, and have served more than 300 dinners in our experiences. So far we have sold around 12.000 usd.

Plus we have been elected by to be one of the companies of the apps.co program (Crecimiento y Consolidación, MinTic Colombia)

Our business works with a commission model. We charge our hosts for every ticket effectively sold a commission that ranks between 15% a 35%.

We have three lines of services:

• Host programmed events: events programmed and created by our hosts, we sell the tickets for a 15% commission
• Private events: Our hosts events, completely booked by one of our groups. We charge 20% commission.
• FILO events: events that we create from scratch and are charged to sell all of the tickets for the event. 35% commission.

We sell through our web page to individual dinners, and we have taped the private segment through partnerships with travel agencies.

• Karola Viteri: CEO and founder. Owner of 90% of the company. I am a hospitality manager that turned entrepreneur. I have worked in the food industry for almost ten years, and prior in the hotel industry. My strength lies in the creation and sales of niche services and products.
• Catalina Alba: CMO. Has an agreement of partnership for 25% of the company. Catalina is a publicist turned cook. She works with food brands in their communication strategy and is the creator of the blog www.loquesecocinaenestacasa.com

• So far we are working with a MVP created in wix platform. This has allowed us to test the market, but is not optimal for growing our business. Our next investment needs to be in perfecting our technological tool.
• We need working capital to support us in this growing stage.

2019: Sales of 14.500 usd, operations in Bogotá, Cali and Medellin. 50 users per month.

2020: Sales of 70.000. Operations in Colombia. 200users per month

2021: Sales of 300.000 Operations in Colombia and Perú. 1000users per month.

Tourism is a huge opportunity for the economic growth of our region. A tourism that is focused on the culinary of a territory is one that no only perpetuates its cultural diversity but also allows new players to enter the game, from cooks to producers.

We are allowing hosts to manage their own small "company" by providing them with the right sales channel.

We also offer our dinners the opportunity to learn more about the region they are living in or visiting and thus fulfilling their connection necessities.