Hello all,
GR8 EATS is a new platform where we use crowdsource location data to determine if a food truck is both present and open for business.
We are currently on the following platforms:
iOS, Android, and the web
Apps (visit on mobile device): https://gre8eats.com/download/
Web: https://gre8eats.com
One of the problems we have in our area is that our city does not require trucks to be at a specific spot and there is not an easy place to go to find out where these trucks are. We also have a large military base nearby and trucks that are approved can come onto base and sell their products however even on post service members do not know where the trucks are.
This is where we come in. We use a gamification technique to reward users with Hot Dog Points and a leaderboard positional rank.
Currently, we have been to food truck festivals and passed out flyers that listed all the trucks at the festival along with a visual menu for each truck (if we had data on the truck) but find that our application isn't sticky. We also maintain the list of trucks ourselves using a combination of manual Facebook page scraping (for info like menu offerings and photos) or physically going to the truck ourselves and talking with the owners.
What sets us apart from the apps similar to ours? Glad you asked! In larger cities like Atlanta, they have designated spots where food trucks must park. This makes finding them fairly simple although in Atlanta's case it is a lottery system that rotates. Although users do know where the food trucks gather, it's unclear which trucks might be there from day to day. The data is sometimes very outdated or the truck no longer exists. The apps do not offer any incentives to the users to connect with or even validate the data. Some apps require the food truck owner to interact with the application. 'Surprisingly' (not really) food truck owners simply do not have time to manage their social media presence and asking them to add yet another app to their daily grind isn't feasible either.
So... long winded post, we are asking our fellow hackers and business owners for some feedback. We are open for suggestions regarding stickiness, website / app implementation, or just plain old "why don't you like this app" answers. Any feedback is welcomed!