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The Rise of Pop-up Chefs

Jeremy Baras remembers the first time he ever saw a pop-up a restaurant. The 26-year-old entrepreneur was on vacation in England four years ago and had to look up at the London Eye Ferries wheel to see it. 1． “I thought that was the coolest thing ever”, he says. Baras, who founded PopUpRepublic. com in 2012 to promote the idea of pop-up restaurants in USA, has been studying them ever since.

Pop-ups, which have been around since the early 2000s, are open anywhere from a few hours to several months, but their defining feature is that they are temporary. They may be only a tiny part of the $709 billion U.S. restaurant industry, but popups have gotten a boost in recent years as a lower-cost, lower-risk way for entrepreneurs to test the waters. 2． And some struggling cities, like Oakland, Calif., have turned to them to help revitalize local economies affected by the economic downturn.

The concept has been especially popular with up-and-coming chefs who want to test-drive as a menu concept without investing a fortune in a permanent space. “Your cooks and chefs are really talented. 3． Ours, quite the contrary.” says Zach Kupperman, chief businessman officer and co-founder of Dinner Lab. Pop-ups’ temporary nature also allows restaurateurs to charge extra. Dinner Lab, for instance, charges diners an annual membership fee of $125 to $175, depending on where they live, plus $50 to $85 a head for each meal. “It’s the fear of missing out,” explains Zach.

4． There is no guarantee that diners won’t grow tired of the concept. Some entrepreneurs have resorted to even a weirder location — in a former limestone mine, say, or at the top of a crane — to keep customers interested.