Fooala tries to bridge the gap between online food ordering and local restaurants. When I first heard their idea at last year’s AlphaLab demo day, I was like “Wow that’s a great idea”! A lot of small restaurants do not have the time or the money to launch a platform to take orders online. Even if they did, trying to promote the fact that they could take orders that way would also be costly and time consuming.
Fooala provides an open online ordering system to restaurants as a Software as a Service. This means there is no hardware or software the restaurant needs to install. Fooala ties in to what the restaurant already does to take orders by phone and fax. They take it another step to help the restaurant integrate the system on an existing website.
Now here is where Fooala get interesting, the restaurant can also tie into a network of high quality websites and applications to engage and attract new customers. A great example of this is CollegeBite.com and the Facebook game Bite Bandit.
Fooala created College Bite to provide online ordering for delivery and pickup from local restaurants. Right now it’s only in Pittsburgh but they plan to launch in other cities soon. I could take the time to explain how the site works, but if you just go to it, it’s self explanatory. Think of it as an interactive menu section of a phonebook (if anyone still uses one of those giant wastes of paper anymore).
Another great example, Bite Bandit creates an interactive food ordering experience. The recently launched Facebook game gives away valuable coupons for orders from CollegeBite.com. They tell me the game has reached thousands of people and has given away thousands of dollars since they launched it a few weeks ago.
The game is setup like a slot machine and with each spin you can win up to $10 off your net order from College Bite. You only get 5 credits a day but you can score you self some more by promoting the game and your winnings.
Fooala is making it easy for small restaurants to reach an audience they would have never been able to reach themselves. I’m really looking forward to watching what this local startup will do next.
They wouldn’t give me details but they tell me they are working on a few major deals with publishers to use their system. I am thinking it’s going to be some kind of widget that the publisher could tie in with their food section. If this is true, then this would give restaurants another great way to reach customers.
Alpha Lab would is now accepting applications for the Winter/Spring cycle. I recently did a post about this cycles companies and I plan to harass them for interviews ASAP. But this post is not about them, it’s about everyone reading this that is sitting on the next big idea.
If you think your idea has what it takes to be an Alpha Lab graduate, then head to their website and start the review process. It’s really painless. Last cycle, I put myself thought it so see what it was like.
All you really need to do is outline your idea, if you have a full business plan that’s great but you don’t really need it. The Alpha Labs application asks you all the right questions so it kind of develops one for you on the fly. Then you wait a few weeks/months and then they let you know if you make it to the next step.
I think everyone that has an idea, no matter how big or small, should at least apply. The application deadline is October 20th and the program begins on January 5th.
If you want to learn more about the program, a good time to do that is at Open Coffee Club. The next one is on October 1st starting at 9 am at Alpha Lab. If you’re on Facebook you can check out the group and event page there.
I make it a point to try and go to every Open Coffee Club so I hope to see you there.
If you read this blog you will know we always have a lot of fun with the Startups that come out of Alpha lab. This summer’s batch of companies looks exciting! We will be meeting and interviewing these companies in the coming weeks.
Here is a list of the companies with descriptions from the Alpha Lab website:
Fooala
Fooala enables online ordering capabilities for restaurants through their own websites and a network of partner applications. Restaurants can join Fooala with no upfront costs or equipment purchase requirement.
CloudFab
GearHeadz LLC is working to create CloudFab, which connects job shops with spare capacity to customers seeking their services. They are an online marketplace that provides lower costs, automated quoting, integrated payment & escrow, and an arbitration system.
LeftRight Studios
LeftRight Studios is a mobile application development company. We are currently developing unique mobile games exclusively for the iPhone. Our first title, smackBOTS (available through the iTunes and iPhone Appstore) is an arcade style robot fighting game in a single player version with robot customization. Our upcoming multi-player version of smackBots will feature in-app purchasing of downloadable content packs for more robot customization including weapons, armors and robot heads.
Vivo
Vivo is a web-based video broadcasting service that provides users a private, customizable environment for sharing events.
NavPrescience
NavPrescience is developing advanced methods for learning drivers’ routing preferences and destinations by observing their frequent driving routes. This technology enables navigation solutions that automatically adapt to each driver’s navigation preferences and provide relevant information (such as traffic reports) to the driver based on the future roadways and destinations he or she will visit.
Zipano
Zipano aspires to empower users of social networking sites and other information sharing services (including location sharing applications) to better control and manage who they share their personal information with. Their unique platform offers the user better ways to express his privacy preferences and enables the user to monitor with whom his information is shared. This functionality has been shown to result in higher levels of user comfort and willingness to selectively share information. We demonstrate the capabilities of our platform with Locaccino, a fully functional location sharing application, developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
For the fourth part of our ongoing AlphaLabinterviewseries, we are pleased to present three interviews with the team behind the recently launched iTwixie.
iTwixie is developing the ultimate online hangout for ‘tween’ girls. Today’s parents, educators and caregivers worry about how marketers approach their 8-14 year-old girls. iTwixie will inspire and unite ‘tween girls on a site that’s safe, age-appropriate and fun.
In this first team interview, Jia talks with iTwixie developer, Cynthia Closkey about how they developed their social network, why it’s like delicious and nutritious cereal, and the support AlphaLab provided them. Stay tuned more iTwixie interviews soon!
For the third part of our ongoing AlphaLabinterviewseries, we present a long free-form interview with the founders of InnomiNet about their recently launched BitBlinder network.
Marketers, corporations, criminals, and governments all monitor your online activities. Some even use filters to completely block your access to information. BitBlinder is software that gives you back your online freedom. BitBlinder aims to preserve your privacy and keep your IP address safe from them. It also allows you to avoid most restrictions and filters on you Internet access. BitBlinder supports both BitTorrent and normal web traffic. Go download it for free right now at bitblinder.com!
Fooala tries to bridge the gap between online food ordering and local restaurants. When I first heard their idea at last year’s AlphaLab demo day, I was like “Wow that’s a great idea”! A lot of small restaurants do not have the time or the money to launch a platform to take orders online. Even if they did, trying to promote the fact that they could take orders that way would also be costly and time consuming. 
