Cootoh is a platform with an AI foundation that helps independent chefs grow their businesses, and entrepreneurs and creators can learn from it.
What if scaling your business isn’t about finding more customers, but making it easier to support and growing your existing client relationships?
It’s a question that came up during my latest Worthy for Thirty conversation with Jarrett Applewhite, Co-Founder of Cootoh, and returning guest and co-host Chef Ed Porter.
Jarrett is building a platform that makes it easier to book private chefs. But what grabbed my attention wasn’t the technology. It was how he uncovered the problem worth solving.
And there’s a lesson here for anyone building a startup, growing a small business, or trying to turn a creative passion into a living.
1. Sometimes the Problem Isn’t Demand. It’s Everything That Comes After.
When Jarrett began working with independent chefs, he defaulted to thinking they needed more customers.
Then he began managing operations for roughly a dozen of them.
What he discovered was surprising. Many chefs already had packed schedules. They just couldn’t keep up with the administrative work.
Menus. Proposals. Scheduling. Invoices. Payments.
The work kept piling up.
So Jarrett and his team developed Chef OS, a tool that uses AI to help chefs handle those managerial tasks faster. A chef can upload a photo of a menu, organize dietary information, and prepare a customer proposal during a conversation.
The goal is to streamline a process that might take two weeks to a day or less.
The takeaway for founders: Before spending money building something new, spend time doing the work yourself.
As Jarrett put it:
“You gotta live it. You gotta live the problems yourself.”
It’s simple advice, but easy to overlook when everyone is racing to launch the next big thing.
2. AI Isn’t the Moat. Understanding People Is.
Everyone has access to the same Ai tools.
So what happens when your competitors have access to the same technology?
I asked Jarrett that exact question.
His answer came down to distribution, trust, transparency, and knowing your customers better than anyone else.
That last point is especially important.
Jarrett regularly brings chefs together to discuss what they need. Those conversations help shape what Cootoh builds next.
Chef Ed offered a useful reminder:
“A tool is only as good as the problems it solves.”
For creators and founders, that’s worth remembering.
Don’t add AI to your business simply because you can. Use it to remove something your customers already find frustrating.
And if you’re not sure what that is, ask them.
3. Your Community Might Be Your Moat Instead
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was Chef Ed’s perspective on community.
He travels extensively, works with different clients, and sees firsthand how relationships create opportunities.
His vision for Cootoh went beyond connecting chefs with customers.
What if chefs could collaborate across cities? Share knowledge? Connect with local farmers? Build relationships that lead to opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have?
Suddenly, the platform becomes more than a place to book a service.
It becomes a way for people to grow together.
This applies well beyond hospitality.
A newsletter writer can build a community around shared interests. A fitness instructor can connect clients who support one another. A founder can bring customers together to exchange ideas.
The lesson: Don’t just ask how many people use your product. Ask whether you’re helping them build meaningful relationships.
Because customers can come and go. Communities provide staying power.
4. Ownership Changes the Conversation.
This is where Cootoh’s mission gets particularly interesting.
Jarrett isn’t just thinking about helping chefs earn more money.
He’s thinking about how they can build independent businesses, grow their personal brands, and have greater control over their careers.
He even raised the possibility of a cooperative ownership structure where chefs could eventually share in the business itself.
It’s an idea, not an announced business model. But it speaks to something bigger.
As more people pursue careers as independent creators, consultants, and entrepreneurs, there’s an important question worth asking:
Are we building businesses that simply profit from people’s talents, or businesses that help those people build lasting value for themselves?
The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
And that’s exactly where doing good and doing well can meet.
5. Growth Needs Trust.
There’s one more detail from our conversation that stayed with me.
Cooth doesn’t simply accept every chef who signs up for its customer-facing marketplace.
Jarrett described an interview and practical cooking evaluation where chefs have 90 minutes to prepare two dishes using a set of ingredients.
Why go through that effort?
Because hiring a private chef is personal.
You’re inviting someone into your home. You’re trusting them with your guests, your food, and an experience that matters to you.
Chef Ed made a great comparison: meeting someone for coffee is very different from inviting them into your house for coffee.
That trust can’t be automated away.
And the same principle applies to any business.
Growth gets people through the door. Trust gives them a reason to come back.
For founders, the challenge is figuring out how to maintain that trust as the business gets bigger.
The Bigger Picture
I left this conversation thinking less about private chefs and more about what it means to build a useful business.
Jarrett didn’t begin by asking how AI could change hospitality.
He spent time with chefs, experienced their frustrations, and started solving problems.
Chef Ed brought the other side of the equation: the first-hand chef perspective. The relationships, creativity, and human connection that make the work meaningful in the first place.
Together, they offered a reminder that feels particularly relevant right now.
Technology should give people more time to do what makes them valuable, never at the detriment of making the human part of their work less valuable.
Whether you’re building a startup, launching a creative business, or trying to grow something you’ve already started, that’s a principle worth keeping close.
And perhaps the best place to start is with one question:
What’s taking up your customers’ time that you could give back to them?
Listen to the full conversation
In this episode of Worthy for Thirty, I sit down with Jarrett Applewhite, Co-Founder of Cootoh, and Chef Ed Porter to explore AI in business, entrepreneurship, independent ownership, and the future of hospitality.
We discuss what it takes to build a startup around real customer needs, why community matters, and how founders can create businesses that do good while doing well.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Worthy for Thirty is a podcast about founders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers building successful businesses while making a meaningful difference.