Honeycomb is a new website which provides a list of diet-friendly restaurants and menu dishes in different cities. Its mission is to help anyone, anywhere in the world find suitable dishes to eat, taking into consideration their diet and allergy.
Health junkies will be happy to hear that it’s been rigorously tested, and approved by the Canadian Celiac Association, as well as countless vegan and keto groups across the US and Canada. In just the past year, over 100,000 diners have enjoyed suitable meals with Honeycomb.
Interestingly enough, more than 30% of the population has an allergy or follow a diet, and encounter frustration having to sift through many menus and restaurants to find a suitable meal. This website is also very time-relevant as a response to increased demand for takeout and delivery due to people staying indoors.
One of the features that stands out to me is its use of very specific diet filters such as vegan, low FODMAP, paleo and various ingredient restrictions. The feature also allows users to combine multiple dietary restrictions. This distinguishing feature which takes into consideration its consumers’ dietary restrictions, as well as the verified dietary information for restaurants and dishes, will appeal to the increasingly educated and sophisticated consumer who wants to make more informed and mindful decisions about the food they consume. Also, the verified restaurant partners have made sure to provide you with accurate information right from the source.
The focus of the app is to help anyone with any type of diet find food, as they make positive changes to routine eating behaviors, and continue to create a sense of awareness around your every day eating decisions. Over time, the objective of the app is to reconnect those with dietary restrictions to dining out, and provide them with a more knowledgeable experience.
Another engaging feature is that the website is always open to iterations and customer feedback.
I had the opportunity to have a virtual conversation with Tamir Barzilai, the CEO of the brand.
1. Tell us the story behind the founders of the brand, and how the company came to be.
Honeycomb was established in April of 2016. After being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, I had to completely change my diet. I found myself in downtown Vancouver, desperately looking for suitable food to eat that wasn’t a salad or basic sandwich. I realized that there were so many restaurants around me, but there was no way for me to know if they had any suitable items for me to eat. With that in mind, I wished there was an app or service that knew my exact dietary profile and could match me up with suitable dishes in my near vicinity. After discussing this idea with a good friend (who happened to be a software engineer), Honeycomb was born.
It turns out that accommodating every dietary need and matching those preferences with suitable menu items at scale is not such a trivial task. There’s are a reason why it’s never been done before. Enter our AI (artificial intelligence). Getting restaurants to buy into something like this is a massive undertaking. We realized early on that restaurants don’t have the time to manually enter their ingredient and allergen information for each dish on their menu. So what we did was spend years of research developing artificial intelligence that can predict allergens and ingredients to a very high degree of accuracy.
2. I think the idea behind the brand is very curated and unique, and stands out in an over-saturated market of food delivery apps! I would appreciate it if you could elaborate more on your brand mission.
Our mission has always been to help people find suitable food to eat no matter their dietary needs or where they are in the world. Open an app that knows your preferences inside out and instantly discover food you can trust in your vicinity. What makes Honeycomb particularly unique is that we are not simply a “vegan food finder” or “keto food finder” - we are able to accommodate nearly every major diet and allergen (and every combination) in one interface and deliver a seamless experience from start to finish. Ultimately, we’re aiming to be the portal between people with dietary needs and how they choose restaurants to visit or order from online.
3. Tell us more about your target market (a.k.a. personality profile and demographics of your typical consumer / whether targets are being met, whether you plan to expand beyond your reach etc).
Honeycomb’s target market is anyone with a dietary restriction, including those with allergies, lifestyle based diets or even just picky eaters. The range of those with dietary restrictions is vast; some choose their diet based on ethical or religious reasons, while others are forced to have restrictions due to health issues. This means that we target all social and economic demographics, and focus on an age range of 18 - 40.
Our typical user is someone who enjoys dining out regularly (or ordering since covid times) and is always in search of new food options. Our users’ main pain point is finding restaurant food suitable to their dietary needs - they spend too long going over menu pages and calling restaurants, and are tired of the same-old options. People with dietary restrictions have to be very cautious about what they eat, so they are knowledgeable and tech savvy, which leads them to have high expectations for the products or services they use.
4. What are some collaborations or things that you want current or prospective customers to know?
The sky's the limit as far as collaborations go. Recently we’ve been spending more time and energy on getting our name out there to show the world what we’ve been up to. Our aim is to become a household name for people with dietary needs and to be the gold standard in the market for food discovery. To do that, we are actively working with organizations such as the Canadian Celiac Association, as well as dietitians, physicians, restaurant owners, restaurant service providers, and other stakeholders to create a future of a sustainable, diet-friendly world. We’ve spent years listening closely to our customers in order to understand where our R&D efforts should be focused on. Given our team’s deep technological skill-set, we are working tirelessly to develop a solution that will move the needle for patrons in the market with dietary needs and the restaurants that serve them.
5. What are your forecasted plans for company growth in the next few years (collaborations, contests, global expansion)?
Honeycomb just released a web application that allows users to filter through hundreds of local restaurant menus and recommends options for nine major diets and dozens of allergies, such as Vegan, Keto, and Dairy-Free. The site is the first of its kind, as it shows suitability for each dish, rather than just suitable restaurants. It also includes multiple dietary restrictions, so users can refine results to their needs. The web app is available in Canada and across the U.S. and Australia. We’re especially excited as this is our first expansion into the international market. A major mobile app release for iOS and Android will be released shortly across those regions as well. An early iOS version can be viewed for Vancouver, Canada only.
Whether you are an avid homecook looking for an occasional restaurant meal or someone who eats out frequently and is looking for healthier options, Honeycomb is definitely the place for you to comb through restaurants for food that fits your dietary needs. Honeycomb is now available in Vancouver, with plans to add more restaurants in the near future. To discover food for dine-in, delivery, or pickup within your diet or allergies, visit https://honeycomb.ai/food/restaurants/ca/vancouver.