Home Cook informed its users on May 31st that services would be suspended soon and urged them to apply for refunds by June 1st. The mobile app was introduced during the hype of sharing economy, whose emergence was then a fad together with other rental services for cars, bikes and offices. It was built to connect home cooks with local users looking to purchase homemade dishes. However, its popularity has subsided since the food delivery service boomed, and the attendant food security also sparked public concerns. The COVID-19 lockdown enforced earlier this year in China was the last push to the company’s shutdown.
