Business Idea: Create a Website and a smartphone app that provides a visual guide to great food and where to find it. Instead of reviewing restaurants, users will share where to find their favorite dishes and see what dishes other people have liked at the restaurants they visit.
Pitch: Foodspotting began in 2009 when its cofounders realized that while there were many restaurant review Web sites and apps, there was no easy way to find or rate specific dishes. As a result, if a person craved grilled salmon there was no way to discover the restaurant in their area that customers concluded served the best-grilled salmon. Similarly, if a person visited a particular restaurant, there was no way to know what dishes the restaurant served that were its patrons’ favorites.
Foodspotting was founded to fill these gaps. Here’s how it works. The site includes two groups of people: food spotters and food seekers. Foodspotters share where to find specific foods they like, such as grilled salmon or crab cakes, by taking photos of the dishes as they’re delivered to their table and then uploading them to Foodspotting’s Website. The photos are tagged with the restaurant name, dish name, location, and more so others can find it. Foodspotters can also “nom” (or nominate) their favorite dishes to give them extra visibility and attention. In exchange for their efforts, food spotters earn badges and virtual tips, and can also become dish experts by spotting five or more foods of the same type. Foodseekers are the opposite and do one of two things. They either look up a restaurant to find what the best dishes are (as reported by the Foodspotters), or search for a specific dish they’re craving, like barbecue ribs, to see where the best barbecue rib dishes are being served in their area. Once a dish is posted on Foodspotting’s Website, users vote on the dish. The dishes are listed, by geographic area, in an attractive scrolling interface.
Foodspotting’s service is free and is available on its Web site and iPhone app. The format doesn’t provide restaurant reviews—only reviews of dishes. Every review comes with a picture of the food being reviewed. To make finding great food easier, Foodspotting recommends that Foodspotters should upload only pictures of food they like. It’s more of a recommendation app than a review app. As of early 2011, Foodspotting reported that its iPhone app had been downloaded more than 600,000 times. Apps for Android and BlackBerry smartphones are expected to be released soon.
Foodspotting will make money in two ways with the first being through its collaborations with brands like the Travel Channel for the purpose of creating local food guides. The second way the firm intends to generate income is by partnering with local restaurants to alert nearby Foodspotters to specials and discounts.
Acquisition by OpenTable
Online reservation giant OpenTable acquired food discovery app Foodspotting for $10 million in January 2013.
Reference: Entrepreneurship