iOS developer and serial entrepreneur Jide Opeola started his latest tech venture to tackle a problem many Atlantans face: There are just too many good new restaurants to try around town.
Between “best of” listicles, OpenTable reviews, and friend recommendations, there are plenty of places to search for new dinner spots. But those are difficult to navigate and lack an easy way to save information for later reservations.
Curest App is Opeola’s solution to jotting down restaurant recommendations in your phone’s notes app or scrolling through Instagram profiles to find a place to brunch. The goal is to give foodies an easier way to “track, share, and discover” new restaurants and provide food bloggers with a better platform to highlight their work, Opeola told Hypepotamus.
The app differentiates itself from the “Yelps and Googles of the world,” Opeola added, by acting more like a personalized search engine than just a database of restaurants.
This personalized platform can also help food bloggers and restaurant owners more easily reach potential guests.
Food bloggers typically rely on the grid view of Instagram to share posts and sponsored content. Curest allows for the creation of more specialized lists — be it a list of spots with vegan burgers on the menu or a snapshot of the best Jamaican restaurants in town. Bloggers can also more easily track analytics and highlight their sponsored posts. Restaurants will ultimately be able to advertise, list menu items, and access key data points about what users are searching for in each city.
The app is free for users today, with plans to scale via ads and key partnerships with restaurants and delivery services.
The app is strategically launching in Atlanta first before rolling out geographic expansion plans. The team celebrated the only way a Food-focused app should; with a happy hour party at Condesa Coffee for the local food blogger and tech communities.
The FoodTech scene has been growing as restaurateurs look to innovate how they hire staff, serve food, and keep the doors open in our post-pandemic world.
While this is Opeola’s first time in the restaurant-focused scene, he is no stranger to the Atlanta entrepreneurial game. Opeola previously launched a crypto-focused greeting card startup and has built up his developer resume at various corporations over the years.
