According to a late Thursday SEC filing the New York City startup behind Flavorize.com, FlavorMetrics Corp., is seeking a $1 million investment to build a “Pandora for food.” The company’s web and mobile app is now in private beta.
Currently, Flavorize.com allows users in New York City or San Francisco to enter a few key attributes of meals that they enjoyed before — including ingredients, a restaurant where they got something delicious before, a specific dish, or a flavor — to generate suggestions, based on the wisdom (and palate) of the crowds, as to what they might try next and where to get it.
The startup — co-founded by chief executive Eunice Chou and engineering lead Franco Yuvienco — will compete for users and dollars against a huge number of search and recommendation tools that already help people find recipes and restaurants online today.
Just yesterday, Google offered specialized recipe search capabilities, following in Bing’s footsteps.
Meanwhile, funded startups like Yumm, Foodily, Cookstr and Foodspotting make a case that there’s always room for more creativity in food search where investors are concerned.
Good old Yelp, GrubHub and Epicurious are still thriving, too.
Given the competition, the market and the company’s concept, would you fund Flavorize.com?