Restaurant/Food Discovery App

Is it only me that think that Food platforms feels so behind the curve? The kids have all the fancy toys. Snapchat, AR, etc. But we are still stuck with Yelp or Zomato. Visuals are generally atrocious on either of them compared to say, what’s on Instagram. Not to mention there’s always some doubt whether Yelp listings are paid off to begin with. Lots of food photos on Instagram. But they are really purely just food porn. Not searchable when you need it the most. And usually only a single photo that doesn’t tell me much about the ambiance, or other dishes, etc…

I did search on say, the Apple app store. There are a ton of food/restaurant apps but none of them takes off. Is looking for a good eat largely an over-solved problem, hence the lack of demand for a better solution? Am I the only person that feels that existing solutions doesn’t seem to be all that adequate?

*Disclosure - In the middle of developing a food/restaurant discovery app. But the more I delve into this, the more I don’t understand it…

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For me, I’m perfectly happy with the resources I have. FTC is a gem. Posters contribute a wealth of knowledge (on restaurants, dishes, cuisines, regions, etc.) and perspective that an app is unlikely to rival. For quick hits and local recs (I’m currently living in a FTC deadzone), Yelp and word of mouth work for food discovery. And I try to stay up-to-date with recs, trends, openings/closures through food journalism, popular media, and (more recently) podcasts.

That said, if you’re out to make a better app, go for it! I’m not a very “cutting edge” app user. And I’m definitely not on Snapchat.

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Look up “network externalities.” Yelp sucks in many ways, but they still own their niche.

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