I built ChopSpot to help people discover local food vendors instead of relying on WhatsApp and word of mouth

Hey everyone 👋

I'm Mickey, an indie developer from Ghana.

For the past few months, I've been building ChopSpot, a mobile app that helps people discover nearby local food vendors and helps vendors get discovered by customers around them.

The problem
Where I live (and in many other places), discovering great local food is still surprisingly difficult.

People usually rely on:
WhatsApp Status
Instagram or TikTok
Asking friends
Walking around hoping to find something good

The funny thing is...
Some of the best food vendors don't have websites, don't advertise, and often don't even appear on Google Maps.

At the same time, many of these vendors cook amazing food every day but struggle to reach nearby customers.

That disconnect is what inspired ChopSpot.
What ChopSpot does
Instead of focusing on food delivery, ChopSpot focuses on food discovery.

Users can:
✅ Discover nearby local food vendors
✅ Browse food updates and specials
✅ Read reviews
✅ Get directions
✅ Save favorite vendors

For vendors, ChopSpot provides a simple way to be discovered by people who are already nearby and looking for food.

Why I didn't build another delivery app

Every time I mentioned the idea, people assumed I was building another Uber Eats or Bolt Food.

I'm not.
Delivery is already crowded.

The discovery problem hasn't really been solved—especially for independent vendors and street food sellers.

I believe helping people find great food is a different challenge from helping them order it.

Building the MVP

The stack has been:
React Native
TypeScript
Node.js
MongoDB
Redis
Firebase
Google Maps APIs

The focus has been shipping an MVP before adding more complex features.

Some features currently include:

Nearby discovery
Vendor profiles
Reviews
Food updates
Vendor verification
Deep links
iOS & Android apps
Early milestone 🎉

One exciting moment was launching on the App Store, where ChopSpot reached #8 in the rankings within the first 24 hours.

It's still very early, but it was encouraging to see real users trying the product.

What I'm trying to learn now

I'm currently focused less on features and more on distribution.

Some questions I'm exploring:

How do you get people to open a food discovery app every day?
How do you encourage vendors to actively post updates?
What creates enough value that vendors keep coming back?
I'd love your feedback

If you've built a marketplace, local discovery app, or consumer product, I'd love to hear what worked for you.

Website:
https://chopspot.app

App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chopspot/id6776731825

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions about the build, tech stack, or the journey so far.