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Foodio54 is a Google Maps mashup that allows users to find restaurants in places of interest. You enter the type of food that you are looking for as well as the city, state or zip code that you would like to search in and Foodio54 shows you all the restaurants that fit your criteria.

Thus, if you wanted to find BBQ in Boise, you would just type in the parameters and Foodio will tell you all about the Mongolian BBQ on 1808 Broadway Avenue. Whether you like it or hate it, you can then leave a review for the next connoisseur to enjoy.

Andrew Glass, the co-founder of this product, gives us a closer look at Foodio54’s development.

Andrew Glass

Foodio54 was created by Andrew Glass and Mike Van Heyde. Andrew Glass a current student at Hiram College, works primarily as Foodio54’s graphical and UI designer. Mike Van Heyde, currently enrolled at Kent State Universities computer science graduate program, works primarily as Foodio54’s programmer.

Foodio54

How did you come up with the idea for developing a search engine for food? Is there a story behind the idea?

Foodio54 was imagined in October of 2006. We were both sitting around trying to think of what industry could really benefit from collaborative filtering after entertaining the Netflix prize.

At that point we knew that we were on to something. How great would it be to be able to apply the same type of technology that Netflix and Amazon are using to restaurants? You could rate restaurants and then using collaborative filtering predict what other restaurants you would like based on how you rated restaurants that you had been to.

Product Promotion

How are you getting the word out about this product? With so many different attention sinks out there, how are you attempting to get yourselves known?

Right now we’re talking to anybody who will listen. We’re contacting bloggers in technical, restaurant, and internet related fields to let them know who we are and what we are working to accomplish. We were recently contacted by Michael DeAloia, Cleveland, Ohio’s Tech Czar, about possibly moving to Cleveland’s eTech Hatchery which is a tech incubator for start-up
companies.

Monetization

Do you have any plans to monetize Foodio54? If so, how?

Eventually we will use geographically targeted ads to monetize Foodio54.

The Burning Question

I try to ask all of the entrepreneurs that I interview this. As entrepreneurs, do you have any advice for people who have an idea but just don’t know where to start or how to get it off the ground?

Mike and I have worked on several projects together now and the one thing that comes to my mind is that you have to envision what you want your business to be and then realize that someone else is planning on doing the exact same thing that you are. Then you have to buckle down and work like there’s no tomorrow.

Most people are just like us…they have full time jobs and the only way they’re going to be able to make their idea develop into a reality is to make sacrifices. What little time and money you have after work and bills has to go into that idea you have. You have to stay focused and prioritize everything. Mike and I use a whiteboard in our apartment to write down what needs to be done and rank each thing by priority and difficulty. This allows us to keep a running tally of the things that we need to do every time we step out of our rooms.

Web 2.0 Roundup

Next time you’re ready to explore the culinary delights of your city, take a look at Foodio54. If you want to know more about the product, or get into contact with the developers — here is all the information you will need.

Andrew Glass
Foodio54
Email: Andrew@foodio54.com
Snail mail: 18645 Detroit Ave. #201, Lakewood, OH 44107

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