u/MaterialHope2305

Genuine question for people in food/hospitality because I might be looking at this completely wrong.

I came across a chef/hospitality WhatsApp group charging ₹100 to join. There are 276 people in it, so that’s ₹27,600 if everyone has paid.

The reason given for the fee is that it shows people are serious and have the “right intent.”

I questioned that because paying ₹100 doesn’t really tell you whether someone will contribute anything. It just tells you they were willing to pay ₹100.

I also pointed out that a lot of the communication around the group reads like it was written by AI, which I find pretty ironic for a community supposedly centred around real chefs and real industry conversations.

I was told I couldn’t really judge the group because I hadn’t experienced it.

Fair enough. So I paid the ₹100, intending to join, see what it’s actually like and then make up my mind.

Then I was told I couldn’t be let in because I was joining specifically to see whether the community was actually worth it, rather than because I already believed in the idea.

So I’m genuinely confused.

I’m not allowed to judge it because I haven’t been inside, but I’m also not allowed inside because I want to judge it.

And I still haven’t got my ₹100 back. 🤣

Maybe this is just one weird example. But I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the chef community: AI generated voices, paywalled networking, monetised access to people, and “community” becoming another product to sell.

Chefs already have something far more valuable than this: actual knowledge, actual work, actual relationships and actual kitchens.

Are we really going to start putting a price tag and an AI wrapper around that too?

Genuinely curious where other chefs draw the line.

Genuine question for people in food/hospitality because I might be looking at this completely wrong.

I came across a chef/hospitality WhatsApp group charging ₹100 to join. There are 276 people in it, so that’s ₹27,600 if everyone has paid.

The reason given for the fee is that it shows people are serious and have the “right intent.”

I questioned that because paying ₹100 doesn’t really tell you whether someone will contribute anything. It just tells you they were willing to pay ₹100.

I also pointed out that a lot of the communication around the group reads like it was written by AI, which I find pretty ironic for a community supposedly centred around real chefs and real industry conversations.

I was told I couldn’t really judge the group because I hadn’t experienced it.

Fair enough. So I paid the ₹100, intending to join, see what it’s actually like and then make up my mind.

Then I was told I couldn’t be let in because I was joining specifically to see whether the community was actually worth it, rather than because I already believed in the idea.

So I’m genuinely confused.

I’m not allowed to judge it because I haven’t been inside, but I’m also not allowed inside because I want to judge it.

And I still haven’t got my ₹100 back. 🤣

Maybe this is just one weird example. But I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the chef community: AI generated voices, paywalled networking, monetised access to people, and “community” becoming another product to sell.

Chefs already have something far more valuable than this: actual knowledge, actual work, actual relationships and actual kitchens.

Are we really going to start putting a price tag and an AI wrapper around that too?

Genuinely curious where other chefs draw the line.