by Angela Guess
Danielle Gould of Forbes recently discussed how Food Genius is using Big Data. She writes, “Food Genius entered the crowded market of dish recommendation apps last year, using big data to revolutionize the way people discover restaurants and dishes. At the time, the startup’s focus was on getting (scraping) as much menu-level data as possible, which they parsed by ingredients, preparation methods, spices and other aspects of a dish, and combining it with a user’s personal preferences and reviews shared on other websites. The company was still exploring business models, but knew that collecting and combining data about what, when and where their users were eating could offer invaluable insights to anyone from consumer packaged goods companies (CPG) to mom-and-pop restaurants, CEO Justin Massa told me in an interview last year. And now, they’re releasing their first related product for businesses.”
She continues, “Last week, Food Genius announced it has raised $1.2 million to launch Food Genius Reports, a restaurant trends dashboard for the food industry. Hyde Park Venture Partners and Hyde Park Angels led the round, which also includes investments from New World Ventures, the I2A Fund, Amicus Capital and IDEO. In addition to the investment, Food Genius also announced data partnerships with GrubHub, an online food delivery platform, and CHD Expert, a provider of data for foodservice sales and marketing.”
photo credit: Food Genius
