Press & Awards
As Seen In
Featured in The New York Times, NPR, KQED, CBS, ABC7, Hulu, Eater LA, and cited in Penguin Random House's World Eaters by Catherine Bracy.
It’s not the gig-economy model, where you can clock in and clock out. This is a lifetime battle that doesn’t operate at the speed of venture capital.The New York Times — Headway, 2024
The New York Times — Headway
“It’s not the gig-economy model, where you can clock in and clock out. This is a lifetime battle that doesn’t operate at the speed of venture capital.” — Meet the new home kitchen business, by Meghan McCarron, Oct 2024.
ABC Localish — My Home Restaurant: BaoHouse
Highlight of my first home restaurant in the Bay Area — we expanded to 36 other home restaurants from there.
KRON LIVE
Live TV interview spotlighting the Bay Area’s first legal home restaurant.
Home Restaurant — Short Documentary
Directed by Eda Benjakul. Distributed via KVCR (PBS member station). Subject: Akshay Prabhu and the AB-626 home restaurant movement.
Awards: 2020 Telly Award (Directing) · 2020 Telly Award (Social Impact) · Winner, California International Shorts Film Festival · Official Selection, AmDocs 2020 (Oscar-qualifying).
2019 in Review
A press recap montage from the year California became the first state to legalize home kitchen businesses — CapRadio, KQED, ABC10, United Plates of America, Davis Farmers Market.
United Plates of America
A tour of Riverside home restaurants and the stories that drive them — international television debut.
ABC 7
Feature on the Foodnome movement in Riverside — we saw a 250% MoM growth in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Good Morning Sacramento
My first live TV interview when Foodnome was just getting started.
Awards & Recognition
Books & Publications
- World Eaters: How Venture Capital Is Cannibalizing the Economy — Catherine Bracy (Dutton / Penguin Random House, 2025). Foodnome cited as case study.
- Frontiers in Neuroscience — Soni et al. (2024), "Intracranial recordings reveal high-frequency activity in the human temporal-parietal cortex supporting non-literal language processing." Co-author.
Selected Press — Major Outlets
- The New York Times — Meet the new home kitchen business (Meghan McCarron, Headway, 2024)
- NPR / The Salt — Selling Food From Your Kitchen Is Legal In California, But There’s A Catch (2019)
- KPCC AirTalk (NPR LA) — Can You Smell What Your Neighbor Is Cookin’? (Larry Mantle)
- KQED — Chefs and Venture Capitalists Hope to Make Money on Home-Cooked Food (Sam Harnett, 2021)
- CBS San Francisco — Berkeley Chef Gets Alameda County’s 1st Home Restaurant Permit (2021)
- ABC7 — Foodnome feature, Riverside
- ABC7 — ‘Foodnome’ shows home cooks how to start businesses (KABC LA)
- Eater LA — Inside Riverside, the Only California County Where Home Restaurants Are Legal (2020)
- HNGRY — a16z-Backed Shef Plays Fast And Loose Against Food Safety Regulations (2021)
Selected Press — Bay Area & Sacramento
- Local News Matters / Bay City News — Contra Costa County expands opportunities for home-based cooks (Andres Jimenez Larios, May 2026)
- Berkeleyside — Why aren’t MEHKOs legal in Berkeley yet? (2021)
- East Bay Times — Alameda County is legalizing home kitchen restaurants (2021)
- SFist — Bao House opens in Berkeley (2021)
- KTVU FOX 2 — Berkeley chef opens Alameda County’s first home restaurant (2021)
- Edible East Bay — Dumplings in the Steamer and a Singer on the Roof (2021)
- Oakland North — Oakland’s at-home restaurants (2021)
- The Daily Californian — Bao House opens its doors (2021)
- The California Aggie — UC Davis alumnus opens first home-based restaurant (2021)
- CapRadio — From tikka masala to Mexican BBQ (2019)
- ABC10 — Home chefs awaiting go-ahead on law (Sacramento)
- Davis Vanguard — Micro-Based Home Cooked Meals Could Democratize the Food Service Industry Locally (2019)
- Davis Enterprise — Comings & Goings (2019)
- Press Enterprise — Riverside County’s home cooks (2020)
Selected Press — Industry & Trade
- Comstock’s Magazine — Startup of the Month: Foodnome (2019)
- Comstock’s Magazine — Status Check: Home Kitchens
- Restaurant Business Online — Inside the emerging world of home-based restaurants
- PYMNTS — Foodnome: Chefs Open ‘Home Restaurants’ With Marketplaces (2019)
- The Counter — Thousands of California home cooks have no idea they’re breaking the law every day (2018)
- Food Funded — Speaker page (2019)
- PR Newswire / Yahoo Finance — First Home Restaurant In The United States Gets Permit (2019)