Culinary Compass (currently in Beta in Toronto) curates menu suggestions and restaurant recommendations that align with your individual tastes — from cozy local eateries to world-renowned restaurants.
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Feedback wanted on our beta!
I’m a friend in the group who enjoys discovering new restaurants and trying new dishes. I consider everyone's preferences and the overall ambiance of the restaurant. 99% of the time people (this includes dates) are satisfied with my choice.
I read reviews and view photos on Google, Yelp, and OpenTable, and browse Instagram or TikTok to get influencer suggestions. 5 different platforms, where I hope to find cross-references. Anyways…this takes me 30 minutes — 1 hour…
My friend's restaurant recommendations should be the most trusted approach to trying new restaurants. But then…I get there and I don't know what dish to try or, the dish they suggested is not something I like.
Although I enjoy the process of planning dates, as of recently my time/energy is put towards other day-day tasks.
Also, I’ve been to many restaurants where the dishes on the menu are foreign to me. After asking a waiter, I tend to get suggested the popular choice or a promotion. All this, and I'm unsatisfied with my dish and I'm likely not going back to that restaurant.
Well, the hypothesis is that good food is conditional on an individual's taste preference at a given moment. There could be many reasons why a person finds a dish satisfying or unsatisfying. Some people often find themselves saying, the dish just didn't have enough salt. In which, I may take a liking to the “limited” amount of salt...
Anyways…Culinary Compass is a web application that acts as an AI waiter and curates a list of restaurant suggestions and menu options based on a user’s personal preferences. It uses advanced AI technology to connect people to the best local eateries based on their standards. For consumers, it is a digital concierge, for restaurants, it is a strategic partner.
👉 You can try the beta out at beta.culinarycompass.app
Features (current)
- Personalized Restaurant suggestion
- Personalized Menu options
Where are we today?
Today my team and I, don't know if this is a practical solution to supporting small business restaurants, and helping them remain competitive in light of larger chains obtaining larger shares in the market.
I also wonder, if such an app is too niche.
It could be that it would be most effective to help
- Tourists
- People planning dates
- Social group gatherings
- Catering
- Customer service / Hospitality
A lot of uncertainty, but I can't wait to find out.
Thanks for your comments and feedback!
Hi Korede, thanks for sharing Culinary Compass with the Travel Massive community.
I was in Toronto a few weeks ago, it would have been a fun app to try!
Are you building your own AI model / recommendation engine, or using a tool like ChatGPT as the backend? If it's the latter then I feel that it might be more difficult to defend as anyone else could generate a similar project.
In terms of business model, I like the B2B use-cases you listed such as group gathering (e.g. business dinners), catering, or customer service. Companies like to save time, and will pay for it. On the other hand, individuals are less likely to pay to save time for recreational / discretionary activities. Some people even enjoy searching / researching restaurants.
Hope this is helpful feedback, and keep us posted here on your progress!