This week we look at Menu Spring, who provides an amazing service to Restaurateurs and the public alike by providing a comprehensive list of thousands of restaurants where you can explore their menus, as well as rate their food. As Ali Meruani of Menu Spring explains, they have created a wonderful match of food and data.
What was your main motivation for starting up Menu Spring
MenuSpring was started with the idea of bringing restaurants, consumers and publishers together. When I moved to London I felt the current website did not do restaurants in London justice. There are far more restaurants in London than those covered by these websites and I wanted to make it easier for these amazing small restaurants to be discovered and get the word out.
You say on your website that you are not a Social Media site or a menu aggregator, what would be the best description of your services?
At our core we are data Company that is passionate about food, it is what we do with that data, that’s what makes us amazing. MenuSpring helps restaurants get the word out, while helping users find the perfect meal every time.
You give reviews on practically any food location or restaurant from the humble hole in the wall to lavish top tier restaurants, what has been the most memorable review and why?
We cover all restaurants in London but the site itself site does not do any reviews. We actually do not allow any of our users to write reviews. As a user you can rate a restaurant and like a dish, our focus through and through has been on food.
Is there a particular menu that seems to hit all the right spots with your subscribers?
With such a huge database, we have over half a million dishes in our system, it is hard to pick out one menu that we say hits the spot.
What would be a common theme amongst your subscribers with regards to the positive attributes of your services?
Our subscriber look at us to provide them with the most amount of information about the restaurant in the shortest amount of time possible. We want to be able to tell you more about a restaurant in 1 min that will take you 30 mins on any other site.
What’s the most bizarre restaurant/food location to visit?
In terms of the experience I would have to say Khyber Pass. It is a tiny little restaurant with only 9 dishes on the menu, you sit on the floor and have your food. It is a hike to get to, so the overall experience is worth it. It reminds me of being at a dhaba (roadside restaurant) in Pakistan.
In terms of bizarre locations I would have to pick places from my travels, sadly I have not been to any bizarre food location in London yet. But if someone is willing to share a secret location I will be more than willing to check it out.
Thanks to Ali for sharing information about their services which provides a great benefit to all foodies! If you want to check out their site go to www.menuspring.com or follow them via Twitter @MenuSpring
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