Food from the locals ( uber for food )

[freakabhi]

All,

I am working on mobile application to allow people to order cheap food from the neighbourhood families. which can offer good , tasty and homely food.This is
pretty much Uber for food..

I am trying to asses the plan and also trying to understand legal issues .

Can you please put your thoughtss?

Thanks
Abhijeet

[vangogh]

It's not likely anyone here will know the legal issues. You're going to have to check with government regulations wherever you plan on doing this. In Uber's case they have to deal with regulations in every city they enter. My guess is you would have to do the same and you'd probably have to meet regulations at the federal level as well.

I have a questions for you. Beyond wanting to do Uber for food, have you thought about how this would work and how you would make money? Five years ago every other question here was about how someone could build the next Facebook. Now it's the next Uber. Do you honestly have a business plan or this just a case of thinking Uber + anything = success.

When a person needs a ride, they can open an app, press a button or two, and someone comes to pick them up. That system probably doesn't work with food, because with food people usually want to know what kind of food they'll be ordering. Ordering food is more complex than calling a cab. I wouldn't think people would order food without knowing what that food would be, meaning you have to supply a menu to customers. That gets more complex as all the people who work for you will probably cook different meals.

You should also understand that people don't order food because it's cheaper. It's never cheaper than to make it yourself. People order food because they don't want to cook, not because they think it will cost less.

Are there solutions to these issues? Maybe. Possibly. I don't really know. I mention them, because I suspect you haven't thought about these issues either. Before worrying about the legal issues, do have a plan for how this would work? Is there an actual plan beyond Uber with food? Maybe you have thought about this more than I'm assuming and if that's case, I apologize. However, I suspect you haven't, i which case I think you're putting the cart before the horse worrying about legal issues.

[freakabhi]

Yes, I have just started and still working on it, but I wanted to understand possible legal issues to decide to continue pursuing this idea.

UBER for Food (BMF – BringMeFood.com )
Most of the Working professional want to avoid preparing food and order instead. UBER for Food will allow people order food from the local to give them feel of homely food and reasonable cost.
Sellers / Food suppliers will publish menu of the food they are offering with the photos. When any User will start searching, he will be provider all the local option available nearby and he can choose from them. If quality of the food is not good, then user can deny taking food or will be refunded fully.
Advantage of this App :
Local people will get chance to earn some money, especially in the areas when restaurant food is expensive or not many options available. BMF will help Users to find more variety of food for cheap.

Business Plan :
BMF will make money by charging $1 or so per order made through the mobile app.
BMF can offer food from its own local food supply ( BMF Fresh restaurant for delivery only ) to individual users and office locations.

[LogansWalk]

I know that most cities here in America it would be nearly impossible as there are strict regulations in each municipality on selling prepared food and home kitchens wouldn't be authorized to do so, so it depends mainly on where you'd be basing this service.

[billbenson]

In Florida, where I live, there are a lot of underground cooks in the Latin community. But it's kind of like selling Amway products. People with low salaries can make a few extra bucks. There aren't really a lot of authentic Latino restaurants. And if there were, most of the Latino community here couldn't afford it.

Many of the dishes are time consuming to make; mole's, tamale's, chili relleno's, etc.

But these are word of mouth advertising. They certainly aren't legal restaurants. The food is often good though. The bad food is weeded out by supply and demand.

As I see this, as a third party you may not have as many legal issues as others have suggested. But I don't see much money in it either. It's kind of like a food truck referral service?

[vangogh]

Most of the Working professional want to avoid preparing food and order instead

Most people may not want to prepare their own dinner after working all day, but they do, because it's expensive to always order out and you have less control over what you eat when someone else makes it. I'm not saying what you want to do can't work. I honestly don't know. I think it's going to be harder than you might think to make the idea work.

Again, as far as the legal issues are concerned you're going to have to check with local, state, and country governments wherever you want to make this work. Because food is involved there probably will be a lot of regulations. It's possible that everyone who wants to serve food through you will need to have their kitchens meet the same standards restaurants have to meet. I have a feeling it will be a lot.

[MyITGuy]

There aren't really a lot of authentic Latino restaurants.

I take it you haven't been to Miami lately ;)


Most of the Working professional want to avoid preparing food and order instead.

I'm one of those people and am finding tons of services out there to accommodate my needs, what do you envision will set you apart from the established industry? As an example, one that I've been looking at is Healthy Meal Delivery | Prepared Meal Delivery Service (http://www.deliverlean.com/) that will deliver meals 3x a week (Most I've found will only deliver 1-2 times a week, so its not as fresh).

[billbenson]

I take it you haven't been to Miami lately ;)


).

Latino food is very regional. Even within Mexico. Miami has a lot of Cuban food, but there was only one restaurant that served Pupas (a traditional stuffed trotilla from El Salvador) in the early 2000's.

[freakabhi]

Thanks All.. all your suggestion are really helpful..I really need to work my idea to hash out issues to make it solid, but with the lot of legal issues, it might be impossible to implement unless I change plan. I will rework on it and get back .. thanks a ton

[LogansWalk]

Latino food is very regional. Even within Mexico. Miami has a lot of Cuban food, but there was only one restaurant that served Pupas (a traditional stuffed trotilla from El Salvador) in the early 2000's.

Pupusas...great stuff! There is a restaurant near my house, El Pupusodromo, which specializes in pupusas.

[billbenson]

Pupusas...great stuff! There is a restaurant near my house, El Pupusodromo, which specializes in pupusas.

That's wild. But in Texas I can see that. There is a wide variety of Latin cultures there. California would be similar. I actually have grown to prefer Tex Mex to authentic Mexican food. Mostly because my wife is always coming home with authentic Mexican food and I'm tired of it... I used to love it.

Pupusas are great. I don't want them every day either though. And my wife is constantly making them. Damn, I think I'm going to go out and have some sushi tonight :)