Have you ever stopped to think about what influences you to place an order from someplace, or go somewhere on a date, or have a family meal?

Are you influenced by recommendations from friends and family, or do you browse listings on aggregator applications, or spend your time typing search queries on Google? Seemingly simple questions play an integral role in the functioning of our ecosystem.

Food discovery as a concept is pretty self explanatory. It entails how you come to the conclusion of where you want to eat. Several factors influence our choices, and recently, since there is a duopoly in the online food ordering space - aka, aggregator applications, it may seem like the easiest avenue to tap into to make a decision. But it’s not that simple!

It is difficult to determine what is missing in the food discovery space as it is subjective and constantly evolving. However, there’s always room for improvement! Let’s take a deep dive into how food discovery can be improved overall, to make the process seamless for consumers, and profitable for restaurant owners.

1. Personalization: Some users might want more tailored recommendations based on their individual tastes, dietary restrictions, and preferences in general.
2. Social & humanised experience: Today’s algorithmic experience may seem impersonal to most consumers. Innately, food discovery is social, and people-driven. Integrating this inclusion within the existing ordering experience could pose better results.
3. Integration with other services: Some users may look for an all-inclusive seamless experience that integrates with other food-related services, such as reservations, pre-orders, and takeaways aside from deliveries as well.
4. Improved user experience: Some users might want a more immersive and interactive experience, such as virtual tours of restaurants or 360-degree views of dishes. At Thrive, we’re experimenting with videos for items on the menu, giving users a real picture of an item before they place an order.
5. Food waste reduction: With increasing concerns about food waste, there might be room for food discovery platforms to play a role in reducing waste by connecting surplus food with those who need it.
6. Health and wellness: Food discovery platforms that focus on healthy and wellness-oriented options, with information about nutritional content and ingredient sourcing could be the next big thing for individuals who are stringent about what they consume. Restaurants that disclose this information can be marked as ‘healthy’ options so people know what tags to look for.

Overall, the food discovery space is constantly evolving, and it is up to individual platforms to determine which areas they want to focus on to best meet the needs and preferences of their users and restaurants alike.

Even though the space of food discovery may be manipulated by heavy discounting, upselling, and more, the innate way to discover food still remains social at its core, i.e., through friends and family. Is that necessarily missing from today’s discovery process? Maybe. We’re working on changing that.

With Thrive’s application, we’re looking at finding the missing aspects of the food discovery puzzle, and fitting the pieces together on one platform. Want to join our journey? Sign up today!

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