Today we meet Noah Karesh, founder and CEO of Feastly.
Noah Karesh is an entrepreneur, technologist, and restaurateur. He is obsessed with building social capital and creating value through disruptive technology in the food space. From a social media driven taco stand in the Middle East, to a highly praised pop-up cafe in D.C. (Blind Dog Cafe), to his current startup, Feastly, Noah uses creative dining concepts to build community around the world.
Noah is the founder and CEO of Feastly, a p2p platform that enables hungry eaters to discover delicious meals by supper clubs and up-and-coming chefs. Feastly’s mission is to give eaters access to unique meals all over the world. As a community-based hospitality company, Feastly is rebuilding the dinner table one meal at a time.
From his work, Noah has become a sought after thought leader on the future interplay between food and technology. Noah has advised Fortune 500 companies, government officials, and venture capitalists. He has also appeared on the largest media platforms including CNN, WSJ, MSNBC, Wired, Forbes, Fast Company, among many others.
The inspiration for Feastly occurred when he was traveling in Guatemala with his girlfriend. As he explains to us, “When we travel we, like many people, love to eat as locally as possible. I explore culture through its food. However, in Guatemala a very strange thing happened; I could not find any Guatemalan food. After an exhaustive search we randomly asked a young avocado seller where we could find some. He looked up at us with a big smile on his face and said “at my mom’s house.” So we followed him to his house, he swung open the door and there was his mom making an epic Guatemalan meal. It was at the moment that I asked: why was it so hard for me to find this food and why was it so hard for this woman to showcase her amazing cooking? After that, I wanted to eat better meals no matter where I was in the world and empower the millions of cooks and chefs all over the world to showcase their food on their own terms. I returned from that trip and immediately started Feastly.”
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As for Noah’s personal style:
My style is all about comfort. It is the most important thing about my clothing; it guides all my decisions. I like all my clothing to be multifunctional. I want to be able to easily dress it up or down. I also like to layer. Beyond liking the layering style, layers are incredibly functional. I’m constantly between San Francisco and New York City and it’s important for me to layer for the varying temperatures and to be comfortable when I travel.
Jeans: Levi’s 511. Levi’s 511 are extremely comfortable. You can also dress them up or down. So it’s perfect for spending time in San Francisco or New York.
Shirts: I mostly wear button down shirts. I don’t really care about labels or specific brands, as long as the fit is perfect and I like the look.
Pants: Majority of my pants are jeans, except for a few pants from J.Crew.
Suits: Most suits don’t fit me well. So all of my suits are bespoke. I am big fan of sites like indochino.com. For the cost of off-the-rack suits that you then have to get tailored, it’s almost more than the cost of a bespoke suit ordered online. It makes the most sense in terms of value and it looks much better on me.
Shoes: I’m always looking for a comfortable shoe that looks sweet. I love mid tops. Most of my shoes are nice looking, but still casual. I also love brands that have a great ethos behind them. Some of my favorite shoes are Natural World, which use all natural materials and ethical manufacturing practices.
Another is Inkkas. They use traditional prints and work with local artisans all over the world to make their sneakers. Also, they plant a tree for every shoe purchased.
Accessories: I keep it pretty minimal on the accessories. I do love cool watches with a great story. Some of my favorite brands Nooka and Shinola watches.
Outerwear: In the winter I love mid-thigh length Shearling coats. They are so warm. I’m also loving this new brand called AQ. It’s started by a surfboard shaper up in Marin County. It looks like clothing you’d see in a 1970s surf magazine: original cut & sew, bright, super comfortable. Their hoodies are epic.
Favorite Cologne: I prefer to keep it as natural as possible, but when I put something on its BVLGARI AQVA.
Your favorite App: My favorite apps are my go to ones. To find my way around town it’s always Google Maps. To get around town, it’s Lyft. I use Yelp a lot of find things to do/eat. I am a news junkie, so always read The New York Times and Timeline, a new cool app for getting history of a news story. For killing some time, I use Duo Lingo to practice my Spanish and play Trivia Crack. I also love Pocket – you can store any article to read later on your phone offline. Another app I love is Postmates, it gets me whatever I need on demand.
If I need some quiet time in the city, I open up Breather and can find a beautiful quiet space anytime.
Favorite piece of technology: Nomiku is an epic sous vide machine that anyone can use. If you are a lazy cook, this is the perfect item for you. Its super simple and everything comes out delicious and perfectly cooked every time. You literally can’t mess it up. It also sounds very fancy, so you can impress everyone by telling him or her how you cooked it.
Next tech purchase: Grow Bounty. It’s the coolest way to grow the most nutritious food possible. I can grow my own food without having to put too much effort into it. They provide a guided process, all the right ingredients, and connected tech that makes it super easy for me to grow the freshest food. It’s modular and portable, so it goes anywhere. And the subscription to new seedlings means I never worry about upkeep. I just pop in a new one and keep growing.
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