The End of Search (at least for restaurants)
Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) December 08, 2014 -- Every couple of years, a single simple idea affects an entire spectrum of the population, forever ingrained in the public consciousness. Mina Dillard-Gits, has done just that, with the help of her family.
While traveling abroad, she had a couple of bad eating experiences that changed her and will change the way you look at restaurants forever. She came up with an app called iDined that mobile users simply point their phone at any restaurant to view/leave a review, no search required, signaling the 'End of Search'.
She is not a ‘foodie’, a tech wizard, or overly mobile savvy by any means; she is a LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) graduate, classically trained actress, artist and budding director. When she is traveling, she enjoys eating out.
The problems she faced were not unique, she says, "doing an Internet search for a restaurant that you are standing next to is ‘completely useless, don’t waste your time’. If you get any results at all, it either provides:
• Outdated reviews,
• Or you are re-directed to the restaurant’s web page. (Been there, done that.)
Your last and final filter is to vet it by having a keen eye:
• How does the restaurant look?
• Is it crowded?
• Read the menu."
These instincts are the same ones that tripped Mina up when traveling abroad. "Most people just take it and say, better luck next time. If they really are empowered, they might try to talk to the manager and end up creating an uncomfortable scene. This becomes more difficult if you don't speak the native language", she exclaimed. Not Mina, she wanted payback.
“I just wanted to put out a big, giant sign, 'Don't Eat Here: The Food Is HORRIBLE' and pay it forward for the next unsuspecting hungry customers", promised Mina. This simple idea will fundamentally change how mobile users look at restaurants going forward.
Mina has several reasons to be so bold, her husband, Peter Gits, is an Internet Tech inventor with over 15 patents and 30 pending. He spent the last 8 years working on mobile app development products. When they discussed this concept, Peter said, “I had been working on some related technologies for my current app, (which is now freely available in the App store), and we decided we could parlay that technology and bring Mina’s idea forward in an app called ‘iDined'". As part of the family business, Grace their 11-year-old daughter, budding actress/artist crafted the iDined icon.
How does it work? Just point your iPhone at any restaurant, click on the iDined hovering icon positioned near the front door to view/leave a review for that restaurant. No search required. The experience is precisely how Mina imagined it should be.
Mina and Peter chose Kickstarter as the platform to raise awareness, gather support and funding to really pay this app forward. Part of the Kickstarter process is providing rewards where sponsors can participate in the creation and construction of Mina’s simple, yet compelling idea.
To make sure there is something behind the iDined icon when the app goes live, listed below are a few of the Kickstarter rewards that backers receive:
o ‘Author Author’: be the first to publish a review for any restaurant, backer's choice.
o ‘Vanity Plates’: I discovered this restaurant; backers name/business logo appears as a splash screen for that restaurant.
o ‘Test Pilots’: become part of the pre-release (bleeding edge) early adopters, exclusive group, limited to only 1000 beta testers.
iDined has a total of 25 days left to gather the funding needed to reach its goal, keeping this app free of popup ads and extra clutter is mandatory to aligning the experience to remain true to Mina’s vision. Join the grassroots effort by clicking on the https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idined/idined project link and promote this idea forward. Unable to give financial backing to the project, assistance can also come by way of clicking on the ‘share this project’ button and sharing it with your social network.
Never look at a restaurant the same way again.
Peter Michael Gits, [email protected], https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idined/idined, +1 630 209 7542, [email protected]
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