Launch HN: Simmer (YC W19) – Reviews for Delivery Dishes

Totally understand. What market are you from? Unfortunately, we are only in SF, NY and Chicago so far.

By the way, you can review a dish from any arbitrary restaurant. You can search your restaurant and press the "Review a Dish" button. When we get enough of those in any city, we consider launching there next :)

We are currently working with a few delivery platforms to get affiliate fee. Just to give you some numbers, delivery platforms typically get ~20% of the order value and ~15% of the courier fees. At the beginning, we expect to only get a tiny percentage of their net revenue, but we anticipate us getting more negotiating power over time. Totally agree with your point that users might not like it if we a series of dishes or restaurants disappear.

Honestly, I used to order delivery all the time from Grubhub, and occasionally the other services. I hate it when my order arrives late or incorrectly, and Grubhub was the most reliable out of the bunch. A big concern for me while ordering from Simmer would be the accuracy of my order and completion!

When it comes to delivering food, I like the process to be as swift and clear as possible- probably because I can't see the food or the place making it. I usually choose my dish/restaurant based on what I already know is good/craving. When I create group orders, which is more often than not, lots of recommendations are being exchanged because I'm definitely quite indecisive.

Because it's delivery and I'm limited to what's open/within a price range, I'm not very adventurous to avoid "risking it". I prefer to have a great meal than an adventurous one on busy days/days in.

Hopefully, with Simmer I can explore some new options confidently!

The biggest obstacle for me that you could help me solve is seeing crowdsourced photos of every dish because often I want to know quantities of things and visuals are one of the best ways to get that info.

Seamless and Uber Eats often have text descriptions of dishes here (NYC) but pictures are less common, restaurants don't seem to care enough to put in the effort.

The other big win would be to be able to see highest ranked or most liked dishes in a neighborhood (irrespective of the particular restaurant). You can often see highest rated restaurants in an area, or highest rated dishes at a particular restaurant, but it would be interesting to see a view of best dishes from all over my area.

Finally, might be neat to be able to browse by 'value' as opposed to just 'quality'.

> * What’s your fav delivery service and why? DoorDash because best selection and best app. But I don't use it hardly at all because it's expensive. I usually do take-out.

> * How do you decide what to order when you’re ordering delivery? Usually I order something I already know is good, or something on the menu that seems similar to what I already know is good.

>* How could our feed make this easier for you? My number one use case for this app would be to check for the best dishes at the restaurant I'm at. Or when I'm about to order take out.

The app feels like React-Native. I'm probably extra picky (I'm an iOS dev) but I think it makes a difference to go true native.

That's exactly right. Most delivery platforms have affiliate revenue, where we get a small percentage of the overall transaction (and courier fee). We don't plan on taking a significant cut early on but may be able to renegotiate with greater traction. We see delivery platforms in a turf war, basically commoditizing themselves and competing on logistics. We think there is room for an aggregator here.

That's exactly right! We just do reviews for individual dishes and cut the noise that comes with bad service or dirty toilets :)

Appreciate the feedback, thanks!