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What's for Dinner? Ask These 7 Start-ups
02/08/2012
These hot new companies are looking to change the way we eat, and are bringing in lots of dough from investors.
Cookbooks are passé, delivery menus are boring, and even Yelp reviews are starting to look a little ragged these days. A new wave of apps and start-up websites want to improve your everyday dining experiences by bringing intuitive searching, trusted recommendations, and even home-cooked options from neighbors into your kitchen. Here are some of our favorites.
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Chicago startup gDine snags $500K angel investment
08/17/2011
We wrote about Chicago startup gDine back in March, and it looks like the self-described "dining concierge" service is gaining some attention:
Launched earlier this year, gDine has attracted a new angel investor, Lakshmi Capital. The Chicago-based private-equity firm has invested $500,000 in the group-dining startup with an option to invest an additional $500,000 in three months, according to a statement from gDine.
GDine works with local restaurant owners to create exclusive dining menus and special pricing for groups ranging from two to 200.
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Wall Street Journal - Group Discount Dining Site Helps Split the Bill
04/25/2011
The machinations that ensue when the bill arrives can cast a pall over the most convivial of dinners. Dividing the group restaurant check can be so complex that comic science fiction writer Douglas Adams, best known for the “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” coined a word for this special branch of arithmetic: bistromathics.
The most civilized way of handling the bill—splitting the check evenly—can leave lingering resentments among friends when some parties have drunk merrily and ordered porterhouse steaks while others at the table are teetotalling vegetarians.
A new restaurant-focused group discount site, gDine.com, started earlier this year by two Indian-Americans, promises to remove the most tedious bit of dining out with friends.
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Chicago Sun Times - Sandra Guy:GrubHub, gDine ride wave of online appetites for deals
04/09/2011
Two Chicago-based companies that run Web-based services for restaurateurs are doubling in size, demonstrating how bargain hunters are using social networking to find deals both for delivery and fine-dining outings.
The newest company, six-week-old gDine, has started garnering exclusive deals based on the demographics of its users, who go on the site to find group-dining options at pre-negotiated rates. The free service lists hundreds of restaurants, and intends to grow this year beyond Chicago to Los Angeles, Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
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Chicago Tribune Phil Vettel: Online dining-discount service gDine launches today
03/01/2011
gDine.com launched in the Chicago market today with about 20 participating restaurants, and owner Rakeesh Thakkar says he'll have 100 restaurants within two months.
"It's Opentable meets Orbitz meets Restaurant Week," Thakkar says.
Positioned as an alternative to couponing, the site lists restaurants and their deals, generally a set menu (with choices) for a given price. Diners select a day and time, pay up front and arrive to dine with the big unknown -- the check -- already paid.
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