Dylan Steiner, a 20-year-old student at the University of Cape Town, has developed a food app called Bites to help users compare restaurant prices and find affordable options. Steiner was frustrated with the high cost of eating out in Cape Town and decided to teach himself to code to create the app. Bites allows users to compare prices, find cheaper restaurants, and share their orders. The app currently carries information for between 300 and 400 Cape Town restaurants.
Steiner personally visited over 400 restaurants to capture menus and prices before launching the platform. He spent about five hours a day over two months developing Bites, which was funded using his own savings and money earned from debating coaching and working in the United States. The total development cost was between R2,000 and R4,000. Steiner's goal is to create a community of food lovers while helping consumers find better value.
The idea for Bites was born from Steiner's own experiences as a student trying to find affordable places to eat in Cape Town. He and his friends would regularly search for reasonably priced meals, but finding those hidden gems was not always easy. Steiner became frustrated with paying large amounts for food that did not necessarily justify the price. He wanted a way of knowing what a meal would cost before spending the money.
One of the biggest price differences Steiner encountered involved a meal that helped inspire the concept. He paid R130 for half a chicken and rice at Nando's before discovering that Crispy King, a restaurant across the same street, was selling a similar meal for R79. Steiner said the cheaper meal came with a larger portion, leaving him questioning why consumers would automatically choose the more expensive option.
Bites allows users to upload food photographs and prices, while an algorithm identifies unusual prices and calculates average prices for particular meals. Prices can be marked as verified when Steiner or a restaurant uploads a menu. Users are warned when information may be outdated, and Steiner hopes the platform will eventually become largely self-sufficient as more people contribute price information.
The app also goes beyond simply comparing prices, with features such as a social feed called Snacking, which allows users to see what people nearby are eating. A budget function allows users to track how much they spend on eating out, and users can create plans with friends, organise food outings, keep a food diary, and earn points and badges for contributing to the platform.
Steiner hopes to expand Bites from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Pretoria, and other major South African cities before eventually taking the concept overseas. Despite the app only recently launching, Steiner said the early response has exceeded his expectations, with two of his TikTok videos going viral and helping drive downloads.
Key points
- The app was created by a 20-year-old University of Cape Town student who was frustrated with the high cost of eating out in Cape Town.
- Bites allows users to compare restaurant prices, find cheaper options, and share their orders.
- The app currently carries information for between 300 and 400 Cape Town restaurants and is free to use.
