Overview:
Kòbèy App has been revealed as an progressive platform that connects the Haitian group to native Haitian eating places throughout U.S. cities. The platform simplifies entry to genuine delicacies and facilitates visibility for native companies. With over 400 customers in its first 12 months, the platform additionally presents recent produce supply and farmer partnerships, selling Haitian gastronomy and tradition.
In a panorama dominated by mainstream meals supply platforms, Kòbèy App emerges as a devoted and handy resolution for Haitian delicacies fans in the US. Launched in March 2024 by KOBEY LLC, an Indiana-based start-up know-how firm based by Haitian American entrepreneur and software program developer Nesken Wêche, the App bridges the hole between Haitian eating places and clients craving genuine and conventional dishes.
“It was difficult to seek out out the place the Haitian eating places had been situated, however above all, to seek out out what they had been specializing in,” Wêche informed The Haitian Occasions.
“With Kòbèy, this data has turn into accessible. It was virtually inconceivable to discover a good Haitian dish with out making the journey, or in the event you’d already returned dwelling, however Kòbèy’s supply service has solved all that.”
“It was very troublesome to seek out out the place the Haitian eating places had been situated, however above all, to find out what they specialised in. With Kòbèy, this data has turn into accessible.”
Nesken Wêche, Founder and CEO of Kòbèy LLC
Kòbèy, Creole for basket, facilities its enterprise mannequin round Haitian-owned companies and clients who need a style of dwelling. Customers can browse menus in Haitian Creole or English by means of the App and get meals delivered for a flat payment. The app’s platform not solely lists Haitian eating places but in addition highlights their specialties, reflecting the regional range of Haitian delicacies in a means that extra frequent meals supply apps, corresponding to Uber Eats and DoorDash, aren’t constructed to do.
“Kòbèy has been a handy App that connects me to my Caribbean facet of delicacies. Every time I’m within the temper for sure meals, I take advantage of Kòbèy primarily as a result of it helps me connect with native mom-and-pop outlets higher,” Michael King, a consumer of Kòbèy, mentioned.
Maya Désir, who subscribes to the App from Indiana, needs she had found Kòbèy loads sooner. “I found Kòbèy just lately, however I want I’d recognized about it earlier than,” Désir mentioned.
“I used to be with a buddy, and we needed to eat Haitian meals; I puzzled why there wasn’t such a platform. Then somebody informed me in regards to the App. I used to be grateful to find it.” Désir mentioned.
One other Indiana resident, Widelène Bernard, was stunned by the app’s ease and speedy response.
“It’s good for busy individuals who don’t have the persistence to attend on an order for an eternity,” she mentioned.
“I’m delighted with the individuals who work at Kòbèy. My order often takes lower than 10 minutes to reach. I hope this platform will proceed to develop within the Haitian group.”
A sensible app, nonetheless in want of extra companions and customers
“We created Kòbèy to provide visibility to Haitian delicacies and create a brand new financial channel for our group,” mentioned founder Wêche, the Indiana-based software program developer. “We’re utilizing tech to protect tradition whereas creating jobs.”
Since its launch final 12 months, Kòbèy has attracted over 400 common customers, reflecting a rising demand for accessible Haitian delicacies. For Wêche, past being a meals supply software, Kòbèy additionally extends to traditional supply companies, with a mission to advertise Haitian delicacies and the Creole language, create employment alternatives inside Haitian communities, and generate elevated income for enterprise companions and contractors whereas sustaining reasonably priced pricing for patrons.
The corporate has quickly expanded throughout a number of states, together with Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.
Regardless of its advantages, Kòbèy faces challenges, together with a restricted variety of taking part eating places in sure areas. Kòbèy at the moment companions with greater than 20 eating places, three native supermarkets and employs 26 unbiased employees and eight full-time employees.
Rachelle Larosilière, a consumer in Ohio, expressed hope for growth: “Kòbèy is a good initiative as a result of it means that you can purchase Haitian meals on-line. However there aren’t sufficient eating places on the app, significantly in my area,” she informed The Haitian Occasions.
“ It was virtually inconceivable to discover a good Haitian dish with out having to make the journey or in the event you had already returned dwelling, however Kòbèy’s supply service has solved all that.”
Nesken Wêche, Founder and CEO of Kòbèy LLC
The app additionally incorporates options to strengthen group connections, corresponding to choices to “tip ahead” for an additional buyer’s meal or donate a portion of proceeds to training efforts in Haiti. The platform additionally presents customized help. Brokers can be found to assist customers place orders and guarantee well timed supply, catering to those that might discover on-line ordering difficult.
For Wêche, the app’s added options assist flip meals supply right into a mission-driven expertise.
By bridging the hole between Haitian eating places and the diaspora, Kòbèy satisfies culinary cravings and strengthens cultural connections—each the App interface and the corporate’s site current content material in Creole and English.
“The corporate presents small companies a real-time platform for visibility and to handle their presents,” Wêche mentioned.
Nesken Wêche turned tech expertise right into a device for cultural connection and culinary entry
On the coronary heart of Kòbèy’s rise is the imaginative and prescient of Nesken Wêche, a technologist whose journey blends public service, nonprofit work and digital innovation. Born and raised in Les Cayes, the capital of Haiti’s Southern Division, he later moved to the U.S., incomes a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration and administration from the Metropolis College of New York (CUNY) in 2014. He skilled as a software program developer by means of a coding bootcamp in 2019, constructing the technical basis to launch Kòbèy.
Wêche’s profession features a position as a legislative assistant to former U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, in addition to founding Younger Haitian Students, Inc. in 2014 to advertise instructional entry for Haitian youth. The nonprofit has supplied after-school tutorial help, distributed studying supplies, and supplied coaching for educators.
In 2017, he expanded his work into the humanities with Inovason Studio, a recording area created to nurture younger Haitian musical expertise. The studio has hosted a number of well-known Haitian artists and producers.
That very same mindset led to the creation of Kòbèy. The app runs on a hybrid mannequin with distant tech positions based mostly in Haiti, giving native builders a direct position within the rising digital financial system.
Wêche stays centered on a twin mission: technological innovation and cultural development. His background in tech, coverage, and the humanities fuels Kòbèy’s broader objectives—reconnecting Haitian Individuals with their roots and showcasing Haiti’s wealthy culinary panorama to wider audiences.
Whether or not mentoring coders or supporting small enterprise homeowners, Wêche represents a brand new era of Haitian American entrepreneurs reshaping how their communities are seen—and served.
As Kòbèy expands, Wêche hopes it may be a mannequin for diaspora-led innovation. “We’re constructing greater than an app—we’re constructing an ecosystem rooted in satisfaction, language and self-determination,” he mentioned.