GoodFood Review: Easy, Simple Knowledge of Where to Eat

“Twitter for reviews” is how CEO and co-founder Mihir Shah describes his companies latest application in a conversation we had about his iphone app: GoodFood.  The former Yahoo!  Senior Product Manager for Web and Mobile Search says current review sites are not effective for on-the-go users.  His product gives you a Twitter-ish 160 characters to rate a restaurant and in this review I’ll point out what I flat-out loved and what you need to watch out for.

The concept.

The concept is to make it easy not only to find somewhere decent to eat, but to also make it easy for diners to recommend places.  “People want simple solutions, ” says Shah, “they don’t want the drama.”  The GoodFood app is the second iPhone app from the company and the first to focus solely on eateries.  The original Goodrec app allows user ratings on movies, businesses, food and lots more.

The app.

The app is simple.  Upon opening, it locates the user and creates a map impregnated with pins representing eating establishments.  The pins, instead of being  just the red ones we are used to in Google Maps, are color coded to match the majority of recommendations: green for positive, yellow for a “mixed bag” and presumably red for more negative reviews, white for no reviews.

Why “presumably”?  I couldn’t find a joint I should steer clear of based on the pin system.  I even tried New York City where they hate everything.  Not a red pin could I find.  Perhaps red pin places just go belly up?

The position fix is fast.   My test runs found location fixes faster than Google Maps.  Users can scroll through the local restaurants simply by using the arrows on the bottom which displays the establishment’s name, colored bar representing the overall rating and the number of ratings.     Users can also tap on pins on the map to bring up info or even scroll the map.  The map can also be pinched and zoomed.  The interface is very slick.

Maybe a map is just not your thing.  No worries, simply tap the upper right corner button for a list view.  The screen flips to reveal a scrollable list with ratings, distance from your location fix and photo if available.

Selecting a restaurant from either of the two options above will bring you to the business’ page where you can read the 160 character ratings plus the simple thumbs up/thumbs down ratings.  From the bottom of this screen, users can also submit a review by selecting “I Recommend it; It’s a Mixed  Bag; or I Don’t Recommend it”.

Adding your review is as simple as that.

Finding your place to eat

When I spoke with Shah, one of his statements that struck me most was his vision for the company, “to enable people to make confident decisions at the moment of inspiration.”  This simple statement shows his focus is mobile and sets the stage for this app.

To follow your inspiration, you can search via the map or filter it down.  You can filter based on types of cuisine or price (broken into 4 price brackets).  Or better yet, why rely on strangers when you’ve got friends?

By filtering reviews from just friends, users can get more trusted reviews (I am making an assumption about your friends here).   If you’ve a big social network, this could be a serious plus.

Need more input

This app is growing like wildfire.  Since its debut in February of this year, it is adding about 20,000 recommendations per month.  The latest known figure for Yelp, a competing review app had about 60,000 reviews coming in.

According to Shah, only 1-3% of registered users at a review site submit reviews.  40% of Goodrec users submit reviews and of those, 60% come from the mobile app.  That speaks well about the simplicity of his app design.

Still, in surburbia I was pressed to find many places with more than one recommendation.  I was able to find somewhere new to eat, but had to base that on just one person’s opinion.  Luckily for me, it worked out.

App Highlights

This app is fast, really fast.  The app is built on top of Google Maps but had to build their own panning and zooming.  The result is very slick, fast updating.  Shah says I wasn’t the only one to ask about the apps speed.

Beside being fast, it is simple.  The GUI is obvious, easy to navigate and the filters worked well.  I found this app to be my fav among review apps and visit it first.  It just works that well.

In fact, the company is also entertaining requests from other companies who want a hand building a sleek application.  Shah says, “other companies coming to them wishing to partner to make new apps.  Our core mobile tech platform that our apps are built on, feature search with auto suggest, smart filtering and map integration and do it really well.” He is exploring other companies that could leverage their offering.

Shah mentioned an update to their GoodFood app was imminent and aimed to beef up the social function.  While Shah was shy to reveal was coming, if I had to guess, I would venture a guess that it rhymes with BaseFook.

I also asked about a revenue model.  Shah expects to incorporate to be advertising supported at some point in the future.

Sum up

Really the genius of this app, and the whole Goodrec system is the limit of 160 characters.  Skip the drama, get the info you need and move on.  No one needs to read complaints about a neighboring diners cologne or something similar.  Get the app, get the info, move on with life.  Give this app sometime to build some steam and it will be great, though for now, it is just good.

Available via iTunes.

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