Foodie Shares' Chef Shawn Dobbin Will Participate in the "Farmers Market Cal Fresh Challenge" at the May 9th Santa Monica Festival

(Santa Monica, CA) – Santa-Monica based Foodie Shares announces that Chef Shawn Dobbin will represent Foodie Shares in the “Farmers Market Cal Fresh Challenge” taking place at the May 9th Santa Monica Festival. Dobbin is the new Head of Chef Relations at Foodie Shares, a membership-based food marketplace that connects home chefs with hungry eaters looking for a home-cooked meal.

“We’re really proud to have Chef Shawn Dobbin join our team and represent us at this important community event,” says George Mathew, CEO & Co-Founder of Foodie Shares, which is also a sponsor of this year’s Santa Monica Festival. “Dobbin possesses tremendous culinary talents, as evidenced by the high quality of dishes and range of cuisines he prepares.” Dobbin was previously Sous Chef/Manager at Katsuya by Stark.

For this “Farmers Market Cal Fresh Challenge,” Dobbin will compete against one other chef to prepare a delicious and nutritious vegetarian meal on a Cal Fresh budget utilizing seasonal produce from the Santa Monica Farmers Market. All chef participants are from Santa Monica-based businesses to promote the City’s Buy Local Santa Monica initiative.

The 24th Annual Santa Monica Festival takes place May 9, 2015 from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Clover Park located at 2600 Ocean Park Blvd. in Santa Monica. This free, family-friendly festival honors the City’s vibrant creative community and commitment to sustainability and wellbeing through a wide range of activities and performances, including an eclectic musical lineup, healthy culinary demonstrations, heart-pounding fitness activities, crafts, games, food trucks and more. Parking bike valet, and Big Blue Bus rides on Route 8 are free.

How to Access the Foodie Shares Marketplace

After downloading the Foodie Shares iOS app (http://appstore.com/foodieshares) and accepting the terms of membership, which is free, users in the Los Angeles area can interact with the community and order dishes. Users search chefs by their usernames, specialties, cities or relative distances, and see unedited, chef-provided pictures, bios and descriptions. They can see ratings for quality, service and value on each chef’s profile, in addition to individual reviews of dishes posted by other members.

Members can reserve or pre-order dishes for their “foodie basket” and send private messages to the chef via the app. They can also follow specific chefs and get notified when their newest dishes post. In the case of pre-orders, the chef must accept the member’s request before a credit card transaction ensues. Chefs determine whether food can be picked up by members or delivered. With delivery, they can choose to deliver it themselves or use the app’s delivery partner.

Foodie Shares, Inc. is co-founded by George Mathew, Ryan Hoffman, Noa Rodriguez and Ryan Oehm. The Santa Monica, California-based company expects the Android version of the app to be available in Fall 2015. For more information, visit www.foodieshares.com or e-mail info@foodieshares.com.