To eat or not to eat has never been the question, has it? For us, it’s always been ‘aj kya khana hai?’ No offence to homemakers who are experts in this field, but it seems like the problem get on the nerves of office-going people more than it did them.
Help me to help myself
To eat or not to eat has never been the question, has it? For us, it’s always been ‘aj kya khana hai?’ No offence to homemakers who are experts in this field, but it seems like the problem get on the nerves of office-going people more than it did them. Especially, when it comes to the youth. A reunion of sorts, a lunch break, a family party, and you see this group of more or less four or five people asking ‘ab kya khana hai?’ What’s more interesting, this is almost always followed by ‘abhi kahan ja kar khana hai?’
Foodible to the rescue
One such incident led a group of friends from Lahore to create an app as a solution. They named their brainchild “Foodible”. Speaking exclusively to Us, Abu Turab, co-founder of Foodible, said profusely, ‘The cycle is simple. You begin by suggesting restaurants to one another - restaurants which are closest, which are popular, which serve the desired cuisine, which has the best service, which is in your range in no particular order. It’s not unlikely, though, that you suffer from a short term memory loss at the exact moment. How would you feel sitting there, lost, thinking what was the nearest place or one where your taste buds enjoy excellent food at a relatively cheap cost? With Foodible, simply put, you don’t. It’s the IMDB for food lovers.’
Foodible 101
Lahoris can continue checking out different restaurants until everybody in the faction settle on one of the names. The app will then show them the approximate distance to the said destination. The estimated price range for the restaurant appears on their homescreen next. And that’s not it. Foodible even tells you the operational timings of the particular restaurant and what’s special on its menu. You can browse through the user ratings to see how popular it is among the locals. Cherry on the top: Foodible’s use of restaurant’s pictures to give you a good enough idea of their ambiance is, in every way, unique and innovative in this landscape.
Who benefits from Foodible?
At present, it’s just the people living in Lahore who can benefit from this application. But should that stop you from downloading it? Absolutely not! A visit to Lahore is long due and, as a food lover, you should have a reliable guide of what/where to eat in the city than a source you are not sure of. Want to know who has the best pizza in Lahore, want to know where it is located; all you need is Foodible in your smartphone and viola! Your cravings and dinner problems will be taken care of.
Points to remember about Foodible
Go about your shenanigans without a worry about ‘aj khanay mein kya hai?’ The app is free and compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows phones. Also important to note is that Foodible is devoid of delivery option unlike other food-related apps. Its purpose is to help customers seeking a fine dining experience in town, going out and exploring it for themselves. There are almost 500-600 restaurants included currently; the number will naturally expand once the owners gauge the enthusiasm of individual consumer.
All this makes us hope they plan it for other major cities like Karachi and Islamabad, too!
Foodible - behind the scenes
We’ve all heard countless stories of kids these days wasting their time with technology. These guys are out to prove such accusations all wrong! The founders are fresh graduates. Surprisingly - or not, I guess - their choice of subjects were not exactly aligned with the field of entrepreneurship. So, how exactly did they end up with Foodible?
To quote Abu Turab, ‘it’s all because of experience of how you come across a problem and how you try to solve it. The apprehensions we faced were not an issue as such. The way that we were making money for this entire project was through freelancing, like graphic designing or app development. We invested all the revenue generated from our work into this startup. In the end, it turned out to be a very good decision.’
Of parental support and guidance: At home, they share the same confidence we have when it comes to explaining this sort of stuff to our not-so-tech-savvy parents. As much as we love our ol’ folks, there are times we wonder how hard it is to help them learn. This product would be a surprise for their parents.
Of ABCs of developing application: When you are working to impress people familiar with technology and who can go out and eat, when you are trying to give them a way to decide faster and make them go to different places and have food, you can’t ignore or sidestep any technical processes.
Foodible has been market validated when it was in its infancy. A good response from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Lahore School of Economics (LSE) did not stop them from testing the app further and ensuring it was indeed free of bugs and glitches.
Of being inspired and inspiring others: If there’s one takeaway from Foodible it’s “creativity is intelligence having fun.” If I were to tell you the name was derived from a pack of “noodles”, would you believe me? Or that the idea to create Foodible struck when hunger pangs and a desire to try something other than burgers and pizzas was met by lack of suggestions for the same? Probably not. But that is what happened. Except that Foodible was just “Foodle”.
Are you still afraid of “silly” ideas? Do you still worry about failing instead of actually doing? Do you still want to build others’ dreams when you can utilise the time chasing your own? Today more than ever, I feel plenty of positive vibes and energy coming my way via Foodible; do you?
‘We think a lot, but once we’ve taken a decision, we focus on [it] then.’
