TWO entrepreneurs hope their new mobile phone app will help them take-away a slice of the lucrative online food-ordering market.
Feast Express is a mobile-only takeaway and restaurant booking service - the brainchild of Croydon businessmen Mathew Gomes and Hurshkumar Donde.
They believe the app can compete in a hugely competitive market because it offers something different from websites like Just-Eat and Hungryhouse.
"It's a crowded market but we're providing something that's really unique," Mr Gomes told the Advertiser. "Businesses like Hungryhouse and Just-Eat started in the dot-com era. They are more focused on their websites while we are mobile-only.
"That means you can load up the app and order food or find a restaurant on the go and all in one place."
Mr Gomes, 49, of Park Hill, Croydon, also believes Feast Express sets itself apart because it makes the ordering and booking process a "social" experience. The app synchronises with the contacts list on your smartphone so you can see how friends rated nearby eateries.
It also features joint ordering, meaning one person can complete part of an order on their way home from work while someone at home adds in what they want.
"When people look for somewhere to eat they depend on reviews, most of which have been written by someone they don't know," said Mr Gomes.
"Feast Express takes the process of calling a friend and asking them for a recommendation and puts it into a mobile phone app. It looks at your friends who have also used the app and you can see what they thought of the place you are thinking of going to or ordering from. It's more personal."
As well as providing customers with a new way of dining out or in, the restaurants signed up to Feast Express have direct access to the system, allowing them to manage menus, prices and promotions.
"It's great because it means you don't have those moments where you order something that's no longer on the menu," said Mr Gomes.
Although it launched on Android and Apple smartphones last month, for now, listings on Feast Express are confined to the Croydon area, with a national launch planned when the business grows.
"We chose Croydon for the pilot initially because we live here but, when I looked into it, I realised the borough has around 800 to 900 takeaways and restaurants," he said.
"We thought about other areas of London but then we realised that Croydon was the perfect place."
So far, 400 people have downloaded the Feast Express app and ten restaurants have signed up to the ordering system.
The businessmen will make their money through commission.
"The problem at the moment is chicken and egg – businesses want to know how many users we have and users want to know how many restaurants there are," said Mr Gomes.
"So these things do take some time to get going, but once they do they spread quickly. I can see it really taking off."
