

Ask HN: Feedback for the idea - rukshn

Hi guys, I was thinking about making an app that will allow people to order food online from the restaurants that don&#x27;t allow online ordering and don&#x27;t have websites<p>But there are some roadblocks I&#x27;ve met.<p>First I can&#x27;t deliver the food. So if the buyer and seller will meet then they can bypass the money they will be paying us and take food at a lower price.<p>If I take a delivery service then it will increase the price of the food where it will be easier to buy it from places closer to them.<p>Finally I don&#x27;t think delivery services will deliver all kind of food. And the margin of profit will be low or negative if we&#x27;re to deliver food by using a delivery service at a price closer to the price the restaurants original sell.<p>Do you guys have any idea in how I can tackle these problems?<p>Thanks
======
valarauca1
I like this a lot, and I would use it a ton. I order a lot of take out because
I hate cooking.

One thing you could do is make it subscription based, instead of transaction
based. While it will lower your income, it will make sales slightly easier, as
most people just like a simple flat rate (makes mental books easier telling
people 1% of sales makes them do math).

Offer a printer, and cheap-o computer. Printer prints off the orders. cheap-o
computer is attached to the printer and connected to your service. $300 set
up, $30 a month.

Also this removes the need of invoicing, delivery, local laws, etc. You offer
web/app based advertising, and extra business.

They get an order, they make the order, you get paid at the start of every
month regardless of volume. Lets you push the advertising arm a bit more.

:.:.:

The real difficulty will be order customization I think, you could just
include a "NOTES" field which each item, while sloppy it would work to get an
MVP out the door.

~~~
rukshn
I was thinking of a way more of providing a standered list of food and like
you said a note if they wan't additional customisation.

The problem of subscription based thing is people in the country I live in
doesn't like to take subscription based services.

Although the number of places that doesn't allow online ordering is high the
delivery and if the buyer and seller meeting bypassing my app.

~~~
valarauca1
Automatically putting restrictions on the business you are attempting to help
is a failing business model. The goal is to empower, not limit.

If you want to limit cross interaction (customer/store). Do the charge via the
app/website. Then pay the restaurant.

~~~
rukshn
Well I was thinking of charging via the app and then pay the restaurant
because the advantage that they will get is reaching a large audience.

But the problem is what stops the people from directly contacting the store
that they've discovered using the app next time they want to make an order?
Like through a phone call

\--

Since we can't guarantee a large increase in orders at the start of the
service will businesses be willing to pay a subscription fee?

~~~
valarauca1
The subscription model makes it easier to sell as advertisement. Like paying
monthly for an online billboard, you get to be on the App + Website (or custom
domain paulsresturant.startup.com). User can immediately go home and see their
webpage (idfk), but they get something tangible for the money.

>Since we can't guarantee a large increase in orders at the start of the
service will businesses be willing to pay a subscription fee?

Depends. If you could dig up the change and a few restaurants willing. You
could do a pilot program with say 10-15 restaurants, even nation wide (thanks
to the internet).

Then use this as "market research". To help increase the strength of the
pitch/see if the idea is viable. Then you can pitch to VC/customers with
actual solid world tests marketing figures.

------
simkus9
Hi, take a look at justeat.com

~~~
rukshn
So what prevents people from not calling the restaurant next time that they've
discovered using the app?

