KOCHI: Eat Kochi Eat (EKE) has become the first Indian foodie community to receive funding from Facebook through its community accelerator programme. The city-based popular foodie community will receive $50,000 funding from Facebook for future community activities. EKE will also get early access to all new Facebook products and a series of mentorship sessions.
Over 13,000 communities from across the world had applied for the programme and 13 were selected from India. Among them, EKE was the only foodie community from India to get inducted into the ‘community accelerator programme’.
“EKE was launched with the aim of uniting people by creating an ideal platform to celebrate food. While the core mission will remain the same, we are delighted to associate with Facebook and scale up our efforts,” said Karthik Murali, EKE founder and creative head.
“EKE offers brands a great opportunity to reach out to like-minded foodies. The rising level of traction that brands can generate through EKE has indeed contributed to this recognition by Facebook,” said Biniyas V L, co-founder and operations head, EKE.
In May 2021, Facebook announced its programme, which was intended to help leaders leverage the power of their communities to create a greater impact on society. The community has helped several food joints in Kochi hog the limelight.
Talking about her experience with EKE, Kunjimol — who runs Naadan Food place here — said, “It’s been 14 years since I started this catering service. Earlier, I used to serve only Infopark employees. After EKE visited my restaurant, people from across Kerala are queuing up to taste my food. I am delighted that I now have the opportunity to serve people from different corners of the state.”
Started in 2015, EKE has over five lakh followers across digital platforms. The community has also provided a platform for entrepreneurs to identify and master various trends in restaurant business by conducting interactive sessions with industry leaders (EKE Talks).