Cheaper Dining Coming to Philadelphia With New App
Are you stuck in the rut of choosing the same places to eat every time you dine out, and you’re looking for someplace new to try? Are you sick of chains and hoping to support more local businesses? Do you want to be able to go out to eat at a tidy discount? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then the Spotluck app is just for you. The app, which started in Bethesda, Maryland and has since expanded to Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, connects customers with restaurants having a “slow” moment and offers discounts to diners. It’s easily one of the coolest ideas I have heard of in a while!
Spotluck connects diners with local restaurants at fluctuating discounts.
June will mark the official rollout of Spotluck in Philadelphia. So far, 80 local restaurants have signed up to be part of the launch. Creators Cherian Thomas and Brad Sayler say that the app is a win-win for restaurants and diners – restaurants get more business during slow times than they normally would, and diners get discounts of up to 35%. How it works: the app uses your GPS coordinates to locate participating restaurants in your area, then spins a virtual roulette wheel to choose a random restaurant and offers you a discount to that restaurant. You get one spin per day per neighborhood, with the option to choose from other participating restaurants at a lesser discount. The idea is to encourage users to travel to other parts of the city. In Philadelphia, current participating neighborhoods will be Center City, South Street, Old City, East Passyunk, Manayunk, Graduate Hospital and Rittenhouse Square. Northern Liberties, Fishtown, University City and more will eventually join.
Thomas compares the structure of Spotluck to products like Uber, which have different pricing tiers based on demand. Why, he reasons, should you pay as much for a meal on a slow Tuesday afternoon as on a busy Friday night? That’s the premise behind Spotluck.
Restaurant owners benefit from Spotluck in a host of ways, not the least of which is increased foot traffic: according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, “Spotluck shares data with [participating restaurants], including their popularity score; how well they’re doing compared to other restaurants; how many diners Spotluck brought to the restaurant; the average age of customers; and the number of people that landed on that particular restaurant for the highest discount but chose to go to another restaurant at a lower discount.” The data helps Spotluck hit the target discount that is both the lowest for the restaurant and the highest for the diner.
Spotluck Philadelphia can be downloaded on both iOS and Android. New users can join the pre-launch beta group by using the promo code “BETA” when signing up.
