Home kitchens will be like ‘restaurant kitchens’

Esra-Melis Sarıhan sisters, graduates of Izmir University of Economics (IUE), developed an application called ‘Yedir’ that will bring home cooks and food lovers together with ‘one click’. People, who become a free member of the app, which can be used over the internet or by downloading it to their smartphones, will be able to order delicious home-cooked meals and ask for the food they want to be prepared. While Yedir will give its registered users the opportunity to become a cook, it will also provide opportunities for those who want to earn income by turning their home kitchen into a restaurant kitchen. The application, whose software was developed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaya Oğuz, Head of IUE Department of Computer Engineering, is expected to be put into use in January. The app is currently taking pre-registrations at ‘yedir.app’ address.

Esra Sarıhan (34), a graduate of IUE Department of Industrial Systems Engineering, and Melis Sarıhan (30), a graduate of Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, set sail for a new project after the success they achieved by establishing the e-commerce site ‘baskasindarama.com’ in 2016.  Seeing that the demand for home-cooked food has intensified, especially with the increase in awareness about healthy nutrition, Sarıhan sisters took action to bring producers and consumers together.

SOFTWARE HAS BEEN REGISTERED

Deciding to develop an application that can be easily used on smartphones or the internet, the sisters, received support from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaya Oğuz, Head of IUE Department of Computer Engineering. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaya Oğuz completed the software of the application called ‘Yedir’ and made it ready for use after about 3 months of work. The software was registered as ‘software copyright’ at the General Directorate of Copyrights under the rightful ownership of IUE and was protected.

EVERY DETAIL CONSIDERED

A person who is a free member of the application will be able to see the products ready for sale by finding the home cooks closest to their location. In addition, they will be able to make special orders for the meals they want to be made through the application. Consumers will be able to access information about which products are used while cooking, and they will also be able to see the calories of each meal. At the same time, information such as the suitability of the dishes for vegan diets and whether they contain gluten will also be included. Warnings about allergens in meals will also be shared with users on the system. Consumers will also be able to make detailed comments about the people they order food from. The delivery of the meals to the customers will be provided by the transportation network established within the body of the app.

NEW EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Esra-Melis Sarıhan, who stated that they aim to open the ‘Yedir’ application for use in January, said, “This project will provide employment opportunities for many people. A housewife will be able to turn her culinary skills into a commercial journey by taking an order through the app. We will also provide a new opportunity for people who are trained in the field of gastronomy or those who have to wait because they do not have enough capital to open a restaurant. We wanted this project to have an academic side as well. Also, our university, gave us great support in this sense. Professor Kaya has completed the software process completely. We thank him very much for his support. Especially after the pandemic period, awareness about healthy eating has increased, and people have been questioning the products they consume more. At this point, we think that Yedir will attract a lot of attention.”

AN EXEMPLARY PROJECT

Stating that the project developed is also of great importance for the university, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaya Oğuz, Head of IUE Department of Computer Engineering, said, “One of the most important tasks in the development of the knowledge economy in our country falls on universities. Universities should contribute to the development of the knowledge economy by transforming their technologies into benefits. In this project, we have implemented a good example of this. The software I developed for the application, in other words, this technology based on university-industry cooperation, was first protected by copyright and then transferred to the company. This collaboration, which I believe to be very valuable, emerged. It was a pleasure for us to do this with Esra and Melis Sarıhan, who are also IUE graduates. Yedir is a well thought out and good project. At the software point, we completed the whole process without any problems. I believe that the project will be very successful in a short time.” 

WE ARE COOPERATING WITH COMPANIES

Onur Kanyılmaz, Coordinator, IUE Project Development and Technology Transfer Office, said, “Today, besides the transboundary nature of capital, goods and services, there is rapid progress in software, communication and information technologies. We, as the Project Development and Technology Transfer Office, provide cooperation between the University and companies. In this way, we create time and safe space for academics to work. By ensuring the commercialization of academic studies, we are laying the groundwork for the research outputs of the University to turn into the highest benefit.”