The Idea
Because mobile technology has significantly changed the way consumers plan their day, expense their business trips, check stock reports, find the cheapest gas, share statuses and photos, and communicate across the globe.
The restaurant industry is one of the most searched industries on mobile platforms. Consumers search for restaurants, search for specials deals, search for unique dining experiences and search for specific types of food. Even the giants in technology like Google, Facebook and Yahoo are spending billions to position themselves are having unique platforms and faster ways to help consumers discover new dining alternatives.
Since 2010, Appgaggle has been developing a platform that allows any restaurant to create and manage their very own smart phone apps in real time. In late 2012, Appgaggle launched MobChow™.
The Platform
The MobChow™ platform was developed specifically for the restaurant in mind. The greatest challenge of any restaurant, according to Sysco, is marketing dollars and how to get more “butts in the seats”.
This unique platform takes any restaurant through a unique step-by-step process for creating their very own smart phone apps. The “interview” asks questions like:
What’s the name of your restaurant?
What’s the address?
What’s the phone number?
What’s your website address?
Do you take reservations?
What’s on your menu?
After a few short minutes, and upon completion of this “interview”, a restaurant’s smart phone app is complete. The information is compiled by MobChow™ programmers and sent to iTunes and Google Play app stores for approval. Once each app store approves their info, the restaurant’s new smart phone app is ready to distribute.
ALSO, the information collected is immediately live on the MobChow™ Restaurant Guide app. This gives every restaurants two (2) platforms to be discovered. MobChow™ introduces real-time menus, specials and other important information to current patrons and to new patrons.
Unique (USP)
What make MobChow™ unique is its ability to allow any restaurant to communicate in real-time through their own smart phone app AND through the MobChow™ Restaurant Guide app. Never before has any restaurant had this opportunity with a marketing tool that is so powerful and instantaneous.
MobChow™ has made it so easy and inexpensive for every restaurant, that it is a “no-brainer” when it comes to a comprehensive mobile marketing tools.
Offer
The MobChow™ model is to disrupt the restaurant marketing industry by providing this tool for FREE (Premium subscription options starting at $49/month). There are other companies that offer self-building apps, but NONE are inexpensive and NONE have a “mother ship” app that helps them target new business.
Competition
Yelp is an American company that operates a local search website founded by Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons in 2004. The website was re-launched in February 2005 with a focus on user reviews. Between 2005 and 2010, Yelp received $130 million in funding, and became a publicly traded company on the US stock market in 2012. The company generates revenues from business advertising on its website and its Internet rating system for business listings has been the subject of both controversy and litigation.
Pros:
Global
Available for iPhone, Android, iPad and Tablets
Strong brand
Searchable information
Cons:
Restaurants have limited to no control over content
Negative feedback cannot be removed
Controversy surrounding bullying tactics
Menus/specials cannot be managed
Information is usually out dated and some info is not correct
Paid feedback .... therefore; trust issues
Individual restaurants can’t be found in ANY app store
TripAdvisor is a travel app that assists customers in gathering travel information, posting reviews and opinions of travel-related content and engaging in interactive travel forums. Trip Advisor was an early adopter of user-generated content. The services are free to users, who provide most of the content, and the website is supported by an advertising business model.
Pros:
Global
Available for iPhone, Android, iPad and Tablets
Strong brand
Cons:
Difficult to submit raw material
Negative feedback cannot be removed
Controversy surrounding bullying tactics
Menus/specials cannot be managed
Individual restaurants can’t be found in ANY app store
OpenTable is an American public company that offers online real-time restaurant-reservation service It was founded by Chuck Templeton in San Francisco, California, in 1998. Reservations are free to end users; the company charges restaurants monthly and per-reservation fees for their use of the system. In 1999, the website began operations serving a limited selection of restaurants in San Francisco. It has since expanded to cover 25,000 restaurants in most U.S. states as well as in several major international cities. Reservations can be made online through its website.
Pros:
Global
Available for iPhone, Android, iPad and Tablets
Strong brand
Cons:
Difficult to submit raw material
Majority do not prefer online reservations still
Restaurants think negatively because of costs
Individual restaurants can’t be found in ANY app store
Strategic Partnerships
Sysco Corporation is involved in marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hotels and inns, and other food service and hospitality businesses. The company is headquartered in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas.
Sysco, an acronym for Systems and Services Company, is the world’s largest broadline food distributor; it has more than 400,000 clients in a wide array of fields. Management consulting is also an integral part of their services. The company operates over 170 facilities throughout the United States and Canada. Most recently, Sysco expanded its operation into Ireland with the purchase of a local food distribution firm.
The company was founded by Herbert Irving and John F. Baugh in 1969. The company became public on March 3, 1970. On July 20, 2009, Fortune magazine ranked Sysco #204 in the annual Fortune 500 companies in world based on sales volume. On May 3, 2010, Fortune Magazine ranked Sysco as the 7th largest Fortune 500 Company in Texas and 55th largest in the US by total revenue.
MobChow™ has favor with the local Sysco of Hampton Roads and is currently in the application process becoming an official iCare Partner for Sysco Corporate in Houston. Sysco iCare provides restaurateurs with connections to business partners that help them stay competitive and focused on what they do best. iCare offers a suite of value-added resources specifically designed to help the restaurant operator boost sales, hire and retain the industry’s best employees, streamline and protect business operations, and much more.
MobChow™ is also in the process of becoming a strategic partner with OpenMenu. OpenMenu is one of the fastest online menu companies in the US. With over 11,000 current clients, OpenMenu provides a platform to put a restaurant’s menu content in any online platform as well as provide analytics, coupons, social integration, and global translation.
MobChow™ is currently developing code that will allow any OpenMenu client to easily transfer their menu to their smart phone app built by MobChow™. OpenMenu has also agreed to sell MobChow™ subscriptions on their website as a part of their complete package for all online restaurant marketing.
MobChow™ has also made contact and is developing relationships with other food service distribution companies like Reinhart Food Service.
Reinhart Food Services, t/a Reyes Holdings, LLC is an American food service wholesaler and distributor. Its divisions include McDonald’s distributor Martin-Brower, food service company Reinhart Food Service, and beer distributor Reyes Beverage Group. In 2010 it was the 20th-largest private
MobChow Board of Directors
LEGAL Frank Rawls, Partner, Ferguson Rawls & Raines, PC — Frank M. Rawls’ primary areas of practice is business and commercial. Graduate from the University of Virginia in 1977. Undergraduate degree, a B.A. in History, from Hampden-Sydney College. Member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Virginia State Bar and the Suffolk Bar Association (former President), and the Christian Legal Society.
TECHNOLOGY Tom Walker, President, DroneUp/WebTeks — Tom is passionate about transforming the way business is done. With a unique combination of strategic thinking, creativity and technological expertise, he spearheads the design and development of powerful and meaningful custom Internet solutions.
ACCOUNTING Wayne Scott, CPA — Wayne Scott is partner in the firm of Scott, Bradshaw & Rawls, PC. Wayne has been in the Public Accounting field for over thirty years with concentrations in business and individual tax as well as financial reporting. Wayne has his BS in Accounting from Radford University(1982). He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Tidewater Chapter of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a past president of the Rotary Club of Suffolk and is active in his Church.
MARKETING Tom Powell, President, The Addison Group — Founder and 100% owner of MobChow and parent company Appgaggle. Tom has been in marketing for over 25 and has made a living from creating brands that develop leads and sales. In 2018, Tom partnered with Brian Forrester, former AG Marketing Director, to form Genie Jar Digital, a fast-growing marketing firm that has created a unique platform that helps a small to mid sized business discover Target Audience, Brand Personality, Lead Magnets, Bullseye Products, Customer Journey, and Step-by-step Buyer’s Guide… a powerful digital tool for generating leads and sales.