Startup files: the foodie’s IMDB

For people who want to eat out, two young entrepreneurs may have solved the problem of “where do we go eat tonight?”

Freelancers and fresh graduates Abu Turab and Qasim worked with tech incubator Plan 9 and their university professors to develop an interactive restaurant recommendation app.

“When you’re a student,” Abu Turab explained, “you get sick of getting cooped up in your dorm or your room. Delivery services are fun for only so long. But going out is a hassle too – where will you go? How do you get everyone to agree on which place to go to? What will you have? – you end up wasting a lot of time.”

The “where will you go” seemed obvious enough – it’s the age of the smart phone. Opening Google Maps on your phone and checking for restaurants in your location shouldn’t be that big of an issue.

“But when you’re eating with a crowd,” Abu Turab explained, “you need to cater to everyone’s tastes. And unless you’ve eaten at all of the restaurants in your locality, there’s no way you know which one can cater to your group’s needs.”

And that’s where Foodible comes in. Working with their interns, the two Co-Founders worked to create the interactive side of the app – the user based pool of recommendations. After all, who better to vouch for a restaurant’s best menu items than fellow foodies themselves?

The way the app works is simple. Users turn on their location settings and the app configures its settings to give a list of restaurants users can swipe through. Once the user’s found something worth looking at, he or she can ‘view’ further options which include the restaurant’s location, user based ratings, the timings and the “foodible pasandeeda” i.e.: the best menu item according to previous visitor’s recommendations.

“Google maps will tell you where someplace is,” Abu Turab said, “but it won’t tell you the best thing about it – why to go there. Foodible does that.” He laughed, adding “It’s the foodie’s IMDB!”

With only two days of testing, the app’s developers met with an overwhelming response. “People said ‘this is brilliant!’ It really was perfect for students in particular, who had limited resources and little time.”

The app officially launched on the 22nd of August and can be accessed on the Play Store and the App Store.