I love food. As I prepare for a career in the food industry, I am fascinated by the internet’s influence on the eating experience. So naturally, a fair number of my blog posts this semester will revolve around culinary internet entrepreneurship.
Earlier this month, TechCrunch published this article about Foodspotting, which now aims to become “The
Pandora of Food”. According to Crunch Base: “Foodspotting is an angel-funded startup that enables people to stumble
upon good things in the world around them. The Foodspotting website and mobile apps make it easy to find and share food recommendations: Instead of reading and writing restaurant reviews, you can share photos of specific foods you
recommend and see what’s good around you wherever you.”
I created a Foodspotting account today, to see what the fuss was about. The site asked me questions about my favorite dishes and restaurants, and I spent a few minutes looking through restaurants in my home town. A few of my favorite “business lunch” spots had a dish or two reviewed, but the listings were far from extensive. Thinking that touristy locations might have more coverage, I investigated some of my favorite restaurants on Cape Cod.
As a food-entrepreneur-to-be, I think Foodspotting is a prime example of how the web transforms eating. Today, we all go to a restaurant, pore over the menu, and stress out over whether our selection will be “good” or not. Foodspotting is the simple, mobile-based solution. Recommendations from friends and other authorities can help guide users to restaurants and dishes they will love.
The main lesson I take from Foodspotting?
The Power of Discovery…Foodspotting enables consumers to find new things. This is clearly a huge trend in our world, from Pinterest to Pandora and beyond. The incredible increase in “foodie blogging” is also part of this
discovery trend.
Perhaps the future of food innovation won’t be in products or services, but in smart, new ways to discover them.
One Response to “Pandora…for Food”
We are a different class of college students every Spring. Together we explore what it means to do business in a "Web 2.0" world. Technology, new businesses, cutting-edge trends, we cover them all! 
As a fellow food-entrepreneur-to-be, I found your article very interesting. I believe that people’s outlook on food has been changing. Pinterest has had a big effect, as well as Foodspotting. These types of websites and apps have reformed how people look at food. Instead of the long articles and reviews discussing the dishes, we instead are faced with pictures of tasty looking dishes. More emphasis has been put on the aesthetics of food rather than the actual reviews, and I think this is definitely shown in the Foodspotting app.