Her group is 260-strong today and is now something of a neighbourhood support network, with members sharing about their day and getting help from one another.
"When my dad suffered a sudden heart attack in March and had to be transferred to a more specialised hospital, they were the ones who reached out to their doctor friends and helped me get different medical opinions based on the diagnosis," Ms Chen recalled.
One diner even drove to the hospital to assist with the transfer when she could not secure an ambulance.
"It was very gratifying, these were just strangers that I had cooked for, but now they have become friends I can depend on."
ADDRESSING TRUST, LEGAL ISSUES
While Home Cook boasts 23,000 home chefs and two million registered users, the firm said one of its most enduring challenges is to ensure food safety.
Indeed, many start-ups are still trying to see how to make the sharing economy work, as are governments.
All Home Cook chefs undergo a course on kitchen sanitation and food hygiene, and may be subject to surprise checks. Each order is also insured against any food poisoning incidents, said Mr Ma Xiaolong, Home Cook's head of chef management.
But the firm still operates in a legal grey area as China's laws have not kept up with the sector's innovations. For instance, applications by home kitchen operators for food business licences are mostly rejected as they are held to the standard of commercial restaurants.
However, things are changing. This month, Shanghai started a pilot scheme to manage and license small food and beverage operators, effectively legalising them for the first time. This is in line with Beijing's directive last month to boost support for sharing-economy firms.
Earlier this month, China's top economic planner issued new guidelines aimed largely at removing barriers to markets for new sharing businesses. Premier Li Keqiang is also a keen supporter, describing sharing firms as "a reinvigorating force" in China's economy.
The support of the central government may explain the optimism permeating China's sharing economy.
Home Cook, for example, is expanding into its seventh city, Changsha, capital of central Hunan province, later this year.
"We saw with Didi and the bike-share companies that the government is actually quite open- minded in how it deals with novel sharing-economy businesses," said Mr Ma.
"And new laws, such as the one for food safety that Shanghai just introduced, show that city governments are also starting to take a more enlightened approach towards unconventional ideas."