Should I Build It Should I Build It
03 Jun 2025
Productivity

an app that has retaurants sign up to list their menus and deals ...

...and/or happy hours

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea for an app listing restaurant menus, deals, and happy hours falls into a crowded space, categorized as a 'Swamp' where many similar solutions already exist, but none have truly broken through. Our analysis found 4 similar products, indicating moderate competition. Engagement appears low, with an average of only 1 comment per product. The absence of positive or negative use/buy signals suggests a general lack of strong user interest in existing solutions. To succeed, you'll need a significantly differentiated approach, something that current apps aren't offering. Given the existing landscape, it's crucial to understand why these apps haven't resonated with users before investing heavily in development.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with in-depth market research to understand why existing restaurant listing apps haven't succeeded. Don't just analyze features; delve into user reviews, identify pain points, and understand unmet needs. This crucial step informs your differentiation strategy.
  2. Instead of targeting all restaurants, identify a specific niche or underserved segment. This could be restaurants with a specific cuisine, those in a particular geographic area, or those catering to a particular dietary need (e.g., vegan, gluten-free). Focusing on a niche allows for more targeted marketing and a better user experience.
  3. Consider focusing on a very specific problem, such as menu translation for tourists or helping restaurants optimize their online presence. By hyper-focusing, you can create a truly valuable tool.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the restaurant industry that might be more promising. This could involve developing solutions for online ordering, table reservations, or customer loyalty programs. Often, these interconnected areas offer greater opportunities for innovation and profitability.
  5. Given the competitive landscape and low engagement with existing solutions, prioritize validating your core assumptions before investing significant time and resources. Conduct user interviews, build a prototype, or run a small-scale test to gauge interest and gather feedback. Don't be afraid to pivot or abandon the idea if the data doesn't support it.

Questions

  1. What specific, unique value proposition can you offer restaurants that existing platforms like Yelp, OpenTable, or Google Maps don't already provide? How will you ensure restaurants actively maintain and update their menus and deals on your platform, preventing outdated information?
  2. Considering the low engagement with similar apps, how will you create a compelling user experience that drives repeat usage and differentiates your platform from the competition? What specific marketing strategies will you employ to reach both restaurants and potential users, and how will you measure their effectiveness?
  3. How will you ensure data accuracy and reliability, particularly regarding menu items, pricing, and happy hour details? What mechanisms will you implement to address inaccuracies or discrepancies reported by users or restaurants?

Your are here

Your idea for an app listing restaurant menus, deals, and happy hours falls into a crowded space, categorized as a 'Swamp' where many similar solutions already exist, but none have truly broken through. Our analysis found 4 similar products, indicating moderate competition. Engagement appears low, with an average of only 1 comment per product. The absence of positive or negative use/buy signals suggests a general lack of strong user interest in existing solutions. To succeed, you'll need a significantly differentiated approach, something that current apps aren't offering. Given the existing landscape, it's crucial to understand why these apps haven't resonated with users before investing heavily in development.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with in-depth market research to understand why existing restaurant listing apps haven't succeeded. Don't just analyze features; delve into user reviews, identify pain points, and understand unmet needs. This crucial step informs your differentiation strategy.
  2. Instead of targeting all restaurants, identify a specific niche or underserved segment. This could be restaurants with a specific cuisine, those in a particular geographic area, or those catering to a particular dietary need (e.g., vegan, gluten-free). Focusing on a niche allows for more targeted marketing and a better user experience.
  3. Consider focusing on a very specific problem, such as menu translation for tourists or helping restaurants optimize their online presence. By hyper-focusing, you can create a truly valuable tool.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the restaurant industry that might be more promising. This could involve developing solutions for online ordering, table reservations, or customer loyalty programs. Often, these interconnected areas offer greater opportunities for innovation and profitability.
  5. Given the competitive landscape and low engagement with existing solutions, prioritize validating your core assumptions before investing significant time and resources. Conduct user interviews, build a prototype, or run a small-scale test to gauge interest and gather feedback. Don't be afraid to pivot or abandon the idea if the data doesn't support it.

Questions

  1. What specific, unique value proposition can you offer restaurants that existing platforms like Yelp, OpenTable, or Google Maps don't already provide? How will you ensure restaurants actively maintain and update their menus and deals on your platform, preventing outdated information?
  2. Considering the low engagement with similar apps, how will you create a compelling user experience that drives repeat usage and differentiates your platform from the competition? What specific marketing strategies will you employ to reach both restaurants and potential users, and how will you measure their effectiveness?
  3. How will you ensure data accuracy and reliability, particularly regarding menu items, pricing, and happy hour details? What mechanisms will you implement to address inaccuracies or discrepancies reported by users or restaurants?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 4
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 1
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

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Restaurant/Grocery Menu and Ordering API for 1.1M Stores (US and CA)

27 Apr 2024 E-Commerce Food & Drink

We spent the past 5 years developing technology to pull real-time menus/grocery store inventory and submit orders. We first made a consumer app that helped you to find the best online ordering deal, and we would link you out of the app (Like KAYAK). Then, we decided we needed to have ordering on our app, so we built the tech to get menus/inventory and send in orders (Like Expedia). We grew our app to 1,210,200 users and decided to pivot B2B and offer other companies the ability to pull menus/inventory and send in orders. We now have dozens of companies such as TripAdvisor using our API. Here are a few live examples:Restaurant-- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g30196-d873164... (click "Order Online")Grocery-- https://myallen.jupiter.shop/recipe/b48d9a29-9f60-4866-9fdf-... (Entire inventory and add checkout feature is powered by MealMe)

Offering demo keys for feedback.

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App to Decode Restaurant Menu

23 Aug 2023 Food & Drink

Hi, I have created a simple app that allows you to take a quick picture of the menu and provides a history and explanation of complex ingredients. It also provides wine and dessert pairings!I would appreciate any feedback.

Created app for menu photos, ingredient info, pairings.

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