Foodspotting: A Foodie-Powered Field Guide

When I first visited Japan a year ago, I discovered dishes I’d never heard of before, from Okonomiyaki to Tonkatsu. Upon returning to San Francisco, I mined sites like Yelp and Chowhound in search of these dishes, only to find the local guides too broad and the discussion boards too unstructured. As I shared my frustration, I quickly found I was not alone.

To satisfy the cravings of a growing class of food lovers who value good food over service, cost and ambience, Foodspotting will be a visual local guide that lets you find and rate dishes, not just restaurants. To create this rich collection of foods and where to find them, Foodspotting will harness foodspotters’ desires to collect, compete and be good at something. As a multi-channel platform that spans web, mobile and real life, Foodspotting integrates seamlessly with existing behaviors while adding a game-like dimension to them.

• Foodspotters can show off their sightings across social networks, participate in food scavenger hunts, earn and award blue ribbons to dishes they love and become dish “champions.”
• Restaurants can just as easily post specials, menu updates and communications to the public “foodstream” by paying a small fee.
• Foodseekers can find whatever they’re craving and see what’s good at any restaurant. They can find and follow dishes, restaurants and trusted foodspotters to stay on top of the latest sightings and specials.

While the Foodspotting beta is still in development, the pitch, prototype and team of UX-minded cofounders have already generated excitement. The Foodspotting iPhone app prototype won Best Social App at iPhoneDevCamp and the pitch attracted $5k of on-the-spot seed funding at Startup Weekend from Dan Martell and a feature story in VentureBeat.

We look forward to launching our beta by November and seeing this dish-centric dining guide bring foodspotters, foodseekers and restaurants together around the dishes they love.