Mob is on a mission to get folks cooking
We speak to the media brand’s founder, Ben Lebus, about how its no frills approach to food is inspiring a new generation to get in the kitchen
Like many of the most successful business ideas, Mob’s founding story is one born out of pure frustration. Ben Lebus grew up surrounded by food on a daily basis – from seeing his dad run an independent Italian restaurant, to avidly watching celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson on TV. When he got to university though, he was surprised to find that his fellow students didn’t share his love of the culinary world. In fact, most of them were barely able to pull together an even half decent meal.
In his final year at uni, Lebus began to notice a spate of #foodporn-inspired video channels, among them Buzzfeed’s Tasty, that were going viral on social platforms like Facebook. Armed with nothing but a camera and some recipe ideas, he started shooting his own overhead videos from his kitchen, and decided to name his channel Mob Kitchen. “I wanted to create quick-form, social-first videos but with recipes people would actually use – not deep fried pizza in a brownie, or whatever,” he tells CR.
Mob’s latest cookbook