You have a group of friends that you want to go out to eat with but deciding where to go often takes significantly more time and energy than the actual dining experience. Munch is a dining discovery app that makes this process more seamless for groups to enjoy dining together. The app features a Tinderesque experience that allows a group of would-be group diners to swipe on restaurants that they would be interested in going to and comes up with matches that accommodate everyone in the group, taking into account cuisine preferences, location, and dietary restrictions. For restaurants, the app’s B2B platform serves as a data collection resource to understand their customers, develop customer segments, and also provides a promotion tool with advertising and offers capabilities built-in.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Chris DeSantis to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the state of the hospitality industry through lockdowns and the pandemic, the company’s future plans, and much, much more…
Tell us about the product or service that Munch offers.
Munch is a dining decision-making app created for groups to remove the back and forth discussion that keeps you from your food. The options for where to go or order from in major cities can be mind-boggling. Planning a dinner/happy hour/birthday party of any size is a large task due to options alone. People’s dietary restrictions and taste preferences are more varied now than ever, so trying to please everyone can be nearly impossible. This often results in people settling for convenience’s sake and not getting to experience the full extent of what the local dining landscape has to offer. We want to break these barriers down to enable everyone to explore new cuisines and dishes while accommodating their whole group.
Create a group, invite friends, set preferences, and swipe on restaurants/bars to decide on a place and get Munch’n! With a unique preference system and gesture-driven interface, Munch automates the decision-making process and helps you and your friends find that perfect spot quicker and easier than ever before.
Additionally, we are building a B2B web portal that will allow restaurants and bars to leverage the Munch platform for customer acquisition. Businesses will be able to customize their in-app profile, access analytics on their business performance and user demographic, boost their visibility on the platform, and offer promos/discounts directly to users.
How is it different?
All major food apps are either deliver/takeout tools, reservation platforms, or directories. Munch will integrate all of these services in one platform, with group-focused restaurant/bar discovery being our cornerstone. Current discovery tools present you with endless lists, or “listicles”, but do nothing to help you choose from those options. This is before even considering your group’s diverse tastes and dietary restrictions. This information overload makes the process even more arduous.
Munch allows the tastes and dietary restrictions of each individual in the group to be accommodated automatically. We have also eliminated the “listicles” by adopting the familiar swiping interface from dating apps, where each option is evaluated individually by each user. This results in a fun, quick decision with minimal need to communicate directly.
Our B2B offering gives restaurants and bars access to their most valuable audience – people who want to spend money and are actively deciding where. Since the app is made for groups, restaurants’ customer acquisition cost (CAC) will be lower, as dollars spent to promote via Munch will go much further.
What market does Munch target and how big is it?
Munch users are primarily people living in cities, or anywhere with a large volume of dining options, typically in the age range of 20-40. However, anyone who uses their phone to discover new places and coordinate brunch/dinner/happy hour/etc. with friends can use Munch. The over 224m people find restaurants on their phones.
That market is projected to spend a total of over $1b on apps annually (up 13% from the last year).
On the B2B side, the 2020 sales projection for restaurants and bars in the US was over $640b, making the expected spend on marketing (typically a function of sales) approx $13b – which can be drilled down further to the expected spend on new marketing channels of nearly $4b (based on a 70/20/10 model). While that overall sales figure is likely now overstated due to the pandemic, we still consider these numbers to be a good macroeconomic measure for the industry. Like many others, we expect hospitality to come back stronger than ever. The new wave of restaurants and bars that will be conceived in the wake of the pandemic will be looking for the most cutting edge ways to reach customers and increase their visibility. Businesses that are weathering the storm will need to continue adapting to survive which will include exploring new methods for attracting customers.
What is the business model?
Our business model has 3 key revenue streams: (1) Businesses (2) Users (3) Ads. Users are the key driver of Munch’s value and will underpin the business model. The app will be free to use and the restaurants and bars are already on the platform, at no cost to them.
Munch’s primary revenue stream will be from the B2B portal’s paid packages which offer the features described earlier. Based on surveying local NYC restaurants during the height of the pandemic (October-November), 80% of these establishments considered investing in new technology to grow their business a current priority.
The user revenue stream is the most versatile. Firstly, users will have the option to pay for an ad free experience. Following that will be premium features and experiences to create additional value for users – examples of these can include accelerated loyalty rewards, exclusive in-app functionality, and access to exclusive events.
Ad revenue is the final stream and is the most common consideration for free-to-use app monetization. We plan on having our ads incorporated naturally into the interface of the app to not hinder user experience.
What inspired the start of Munch?
Munch was born at the onset of the pandemic. I learned my contract at UBS was not going to be renewed due to emergency cost-cutting measures resulting from COVID-19. As I was reassessing my career trajectory, my best friend (and now CTO) Aleks Azen was moving to an apartment in Chelsea. He was overwhelmed with the dining options in his new neighborhood, and often was asking for recommendations. He was disappointed by the lack of tools food apps offered to decide from his options. Aleks is the type to create solutions rather than wait for them, so after some thought and research, he came to me with his idea about a “tinder for food”. I immediately wanted to be involved and the idea developed from there.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
The hospitality industry is suffering tremendously, and creating new technology for people to enjoy eating together at this time is particularly challenging. People are not so interested in doing things in groups of more than 2 right now, and even if they were, their options are incredibly limited. We are trying to create a resource for people to support the dining industry, but with lockdowns and the constant changes these business owners need to make to survive, we are limited in the circumstantial data we are able to provide for people to make decisions (outdoor setup data, indoor capacity, sanitary procedures in place).
However, Covid-19 has also given us a unique opportunity. While our ability to gain traction and generate buzz has been stifled, we have been receiving a lot of positive feedback and excitement from our early users. This soft launch period allows us to push out improvements and changes at low stakes. As such, we are able to quietly poise ourselves for greater success once the world comes to a turning point.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Our high-level milestones in the crosshairs are to release V2 of the app, secure investor funding, launch our MVP Business Portal, hit 10k active app users, and onboard our first customer. Feature-wise, we plan to implement a loyalty system and social functions that will distinguish the app as the only meaningful social platform for people who appreciate good food. Lastly, we have spec’d out a unique payment feature that improves the dining experience for our users and makes restaurants more money per transaction. Our vision for Munch is to reimagine the end-to-end dining experience, from restaurant discovery to splitting the bill.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Don’t waste too much time worrying about doing things the “right way” because your way could be better.
You can drive yourself crazy reading every article and piece of advice on how to do something properly. Use that information to shape your own perspective and forge your own path. Just because others have found success one way, does not mean it’s the only way.
Don’t waste too much time worrying about doing things the “right way” because your way could be better.
You can drive yourself crazy reading every article and piece of advice on how to do something properly. Use that information to shape your own perspective and forge your own path. Just because others have found success one way, does not mean it’s the only way.
I am still very much in the thick of learning things I was never taught, so I expect my response to be more profound in a few more months.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
I would be elated to be put in touch with David Chang. Not only is he responsible for some of my favorite restaurants in NYC (and beyond), I have an immense amount of respect for his accomplishments and unapologetically authentic perspective. Aside from meeting an idol of mine, I believe he would be an invaluable Munch partner/advisor/investor/beneficiary. I also follow him on Instagram, have applied his cooking methods in the kitchen, and adore his young son Hugo.
Why did you launch in New York?
New York is my home and favorite city on the planet. The diversity and vastness of NYC’s dining scene are unrivaled, and New Yorkers are some of the most discerning people you will find. While New York is where our most quintessential target market lives, the app can be used in most major cities around the world.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
One of my favorite meals of 2020 was from The Tyger, an incredible new Pan-Asian spot by Eddy Buckingham and Executive Chef Paul Donnelly. The food and drinks were exciting, flavorful, and executed perfectly. On top of that, Eddy became the first recipient of a Munch t-shirt. I noticed that they recently made a major update to their outdoor setup and it looks great – I plan on making a visit very soon. The Tyger is a great example of a new restaurant born into this chaos, learning to survive in this reality.
