I made an app to find great food trucks near you | Hacker News Reader

I made an app to find great food trucks near you

sizzzle.app

77 pointsnate_rw59 comments

This looks great!

Could you make it a web app? I don't want to install apps on my phone for security/privacy reasons.

Since your domain has an extra (and a little hard-to-see) Z in it, you have to find some way to make people very aware of that. Perhaps you could make your logo that makes the middle z capitalized and in a contrasting color (I had to do italics here instead):

sizzzle.app vs sizZzle.app vs sizZzle.app

Or just pick a different name if you're not already all-in on this one, especially since it's not a .com.. for example, zizzle.app seems to be available, but always check USPTO's TESS to make sure you're not stepping on a federally registered trademark, too.

Here was a quickie logo I made using https://www.adobe.com/express/create/logo: https://www.imgpaste.net/image/KvJX64

Thanks for the comment! I have a web version in production, and I expect to release it shortly after the mobile app.

I'll admit that the extra z is a challenge for users; branding is something that I'll need to evaluate.

Maybe pronounce it Sizzizzle or make the lazy sleeping snoring ‘zzz’ sound in Sizzzle?

Or just sizzleapp.com and im usually the last person to suggest a .com is relevant

I’ve built high revenue moderate traffic businesses on any tld

But I can recognize that its not 2012 anymore and mispelled startup names are not in vogue, while normal names + app suffixes are

I think someone already got that domain...

foodtrucks.xyz

.xyz TLD has been blocked for me seemingly randomly depending on what WiFi hotspot I'm connected to. Not sure why (assuming porn or spammers grabbed em up early), so I can't say it's a bad idea, but might be worth a quick search for similar troubles.

Tried to use the app but the only thing I see is a Google form. So cannot give my opinion on it.

I went through the FAQ and could not find aanything about where this will be available available. Is it US only?

Thanks for your comment; Sizzzle has not yet been released to the public. Interested users can join our beta and provide feedback on the app - hence the Google form.

I just updated the website, so now supported locations are on our FAQ.

How would you say your app will stand out from Street Food Finder?

https://streetfoodfinder.com/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.streetfood...

Great question! My goal with Sizzzle is to build a more social, user-friendly platform, rather than simply a tool to find food trucks. Sizzzle will ask users to review food trucks, and unlike Street Food Finder and other alternatives, Sizzzle will present vendors from an algorithm, rather than an arbitrary ranking. The app will also provide users with personalized recommendations.

> Sizzzle will present vendors from an algorithm, rather than an arbitrary ranking.

How will you distinguish this for your users and allow their input to affect the algorithm? I have a hard time distinguishing between “arbitrary ranking” and “algorith”m because I have no control over them in almost every case.

Right, I totally understand that. Users will be able to set their preferences (Mexican, Acai, etc) and show interest in vendors by saving their profiles and writing positive reviews. Recommendations will mostly be based on these data points - specified preferences and demonstrated interest. In most cases, the algorithm will be similarity-based (comparing trends between users).

In searches, users will be able to choose the method through which vendors are sorted (location, rating, etc), and there will be a separate section on the homepage for food trucks recommended by our algorithm.

I will note as well that we do not look at nor share any information regarding individual users or even trends, aside from simple view/visit metrics.

I'd definitely use this if it were live. Don't know that I'd download an app for the service though, I'd much prefer a web interface.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm working on building a web interface, and I expect to release it soon after the app.

I might not be the target audience because I don’t know under what circumstances one would search for a food truck rather than food in general. If I want, say, a burrito, I don’t care if it comes from a truck or a takeout window or traditional restaurant, etc. I just want a good burrito! I’m curious - do food trucks have (real or perceived) association with quality or speed or cost or something else that makes people think “I’m not sure what I want to eat, let me see what food trucks are nearby”?

That's an interesting point. There are many people who feel more inclined to eat at food trucks than traditional restaurants, and here are a few reasons why:

- Price: Food trucks are cheaper (startup costs are much cheaper than for B&M).

- Convenience: Food trucks are often faster. In areas where there are fewer restaurants, and in food deserts, mobile businesses are sometimes the only good ones around.

- Pop Culture: In the past few years, food trucks have become more and more ingrained in our culture, and they have developed dedicated followings of repeat customers. It's cool to eat at food trucks, especially in areas where there are many! There are people who have specific food trucks they love - it's the same idea as having a favorite restaurant - except they want to know where their favorite trucks will be next. There are people who prefer specific food trucks over local restaurants.

So yes, there are a lot of perceived benefits. This article has more reasons: https://prestigefoodtrucks.com/2016/01/8-reasons-why-food-tr...

I don't feel that food trucks are often cheaper than B&M. In fact, my biggest reason for not going to them is that are often as expensive, but without the ability to sit down at table. And the food is frequently worse.

I mean, yeah it's better than Burger King.

Food trucks can plausibly provide healthier options for food than in convenience stores, which often only sell junk food, according to a research paper that is a literature review [0]. This is especially true for low-income areas where there are fewer supermarkets (which sell fruits and vegetables) as due to the "risk of crime and theft, and [lack of] land for parking." However, the author writes that this hypothesis is not yet conclusive due to a lack of published studies.

Anecdotally, on university campuses, food trucks were the main option for food due to a lack of supermarkets and restaurants nearby. An app specialized for food trucks could also fix the problem where the availability and opening hours of food trucks are less known, especially for certain trucks that occasionally switch locations, are absent on certain days, or change their hours (making them hard to track via an entry on Google Maps).

In short, food trucks could plausibly be seen as a step up for finding fresh food instead of defaulting to a convenience store that may typically just serve junk food, in areas where there are no restaurants or supermarkets.

[0] Journal of Public Health Policy, 2021: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7874560/

What would be really useful to me is the ability to sort by if the food truck accepts cash. Over the last handful of years I've noticed that many food trucks have stopped even taking orders unless you can prove a corporation will pay for you by swiping/etc a payment card.

You really want that? I love that every tiny operation accepts credit cards and apple pay now.

> unless you can prove a corporation will pay for you by swiping your payment card

and I don't want the state’s unsanitary and cocaine-laced notes for payment. see we can frame all options any way we want

Oh, sure. Accepting credit cards is great. But only accepting credit cards is literal evil and against the law in the USA. To get around this they make you swipe the card to be able to order. That way there is no debt you can chose to pay in cash. It's obviously a loophole in the current laws. Some large cities have local regulations to prevent this evil.

They started doing this long before the pandemic. It's not about that.

Retailer payment method acceptance is regulated at the municipal and state level. There is no federal or constitutional requirement to take cash or retain the option of cash payment.

So for the loophole experience, I would need you to show if thats a viable loophole in the areas where cash payment is mandated

If you want to not appear unhinged, I recommend avoiding calling obviously innocuous things evil unless you've already given your reasons for doing so.

There are very real risks a food truck faces in accepting cash: fomite diseases, counterfits, armed robbery. I'm guessing you're fine enforcing the truck owners bear these risks.

> There are very real risks a food truck faces in accepting cash: fomite diseases, counterfits, armed robbery

For balance we all know that there are [other] risks associated in accepting card payments.

We should also note that the card payment system is not "free", not available to everyone, and does not operate without collateral damage, not least that it excludes vulnerable groups in society.

> I'm guessing you're fine enforcing the truck owners bear these risks

Enforcing following the rules (particular not wriggling around them using legal loopholes) should - one might think - be a fairly mainstream view?

I agree that "evil" is maybe a step too far, but "innocuous" is too short, imo. I don't think it's fair or reasonable to block sections of society — people without a credit card — from making purchases like this.

Is your position that it should be mandated by law or just the right thing for a business to do at their discretion?

I grew up in an area where Canadian currency often made it into the money supply and most vendors would just accept Canadian quarters at the US rate without a fuss. I remember the weird looks I got the first time I tried to do the same in a state further south. I feel like both are reasonable approaches but I would hesitate to legally mandate one approach because they are context dependent.

It is evil. This is a food business that literally won't sell to human persons. It will only sell to corporate persons. That's evil and has serious damaging consequences to society.

>only accepting credit cards is literal evil and against the law in the USA.

"There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise"[1]

[1]https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm

That's correct. But if you already have a debt to a business or human person they must accept currency as payment for that debt. I think you missed the whole point of my comment.

The long standing way food trucks work is you order, wait, receive food, then pay. Now, to get around this law, food trucks have switched to pay, order, wait, receive food.

Ah, ok, I'm tracking you now. I think the confusion is that is not been my experience. Every food truck I've went to go order, pay, wait, receive food.

I don't think your central premise holds, however. You may be reading too much between the lines or giving too much credence to a colloquial (and perhaps incorrect) interpretation.

"when a debt has been incurred by one party to another, and the parties have agreed that cash is to be the medium of exchange, then legal tender must be accepted if it is proffered in satisfaction of that debt. However, otherwise the selling party may set the medium of exchange to be anything they choose: dollars, bananas, precious gems, feathers, whiskey, etc. They may also choose to accept cash payment only via alternative forms (e.g., credit/debit card, check, money order) rather than currency itself."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/legal-tender-payment/

That's convenient, but I'd rather not have my eating habits data mined for use against me later. (Especially not food truck food)

yeah….. that’s going to happen though

that ship has long sailed

we’re at the bottom of the slippery slope

try to enjoy yourself

How is that going to happen if I pay cash?

The same way you get ad recommendations

Your social network and everything else you look up and do

Even if you’re a ghost, the ghost profile is accurate enough

People get ads? That sounds sad.

Yeah, there are probably fairly accurate ghost profiles on me. But they aren't going to figure out when I spend cash at a food truck. At least I really don't see how. Like, how would they know which food truck, or that I went anywhere. It's not like they know how much cash I have in my wallet.

I often pay with credit cards at food trucks and restaurants that accept either cash or credit cards. But if they don't take cash, then I won't give them either. If they refuse cash, I refuse to do business with them at all. Refusing to accept cash is antisocial behavior and I will not reward it.

I agree with you and others that it is easy to fall outside the system, and that it is considerate to try to make a point to businesses that dont accept cash at all.

> I love that every tiny operation accepts credit cards and apple pay now.

At least in NYC, it's standard for street vendors and smaller businesses (like delis) to take only cash (or to have a purchase minimum for a credit charge, usually $10 or higher).

I've heard lots of reasons for this, all of which I find plausible: it's more profitable (credit processing fees are effectively a regressive tax), it allows vendors to pass on savings to their customers (my local coffee shop gives me a discount if I pay in cash), and it allows them to dodge their local sales tax.

whenever you want you can always throw the credit card merchant agreement at any of those vendors just because you feel mildly inconvenienced.

it is against the merchant agreement to have any purchase minimum and vendors have absolutely no leverage on this reality (as this is per payment network, this can change per network at any time, but my understanding is that merchants can't have card minimums - this also applies to bars where much higher card purchase minimums are also commonplace)

of course, the sympathetic approach is to realize that its more profitable for the credit card network to have no mininum. but as you don't really experience this concept of card minimums outside of NYC, there's no reason to follow along with those merchant's rationale just because they told you why and you feel sowwy for them.

when I think about every thing that threatens low margin businesses, I just notice that a different one will take their place and a few owners will have to do something else to exchange time for food and shelter just like everyone else, so no need to keep them on life support

> whenever you want you can always throw the credit card merchant agreement at any of those vendors just because you feel mildly inconvenienced.

This is a recurring misconception: merchants have been allowed to set a credit card minimum of up to $10 since Dodd-Frank[1]. Even before that, entire industries have had merchant exemptions (utility and rent collection come to mind).

The rest of this response is bizarrely cynical: I don’t feel “sowwy” for them; I like saving money on my coffee and I’m happy knowing that my payment method is more sustainable, since it means I don’t have to worry about changing my routine.

[1]: http://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/new-rules-ele...

Thanks Thats very helpful!

Yes very cynical

You left out the reason there is a minimum - there is a cost to run the card that is fee(purchase) = A * purchase + B. The minimum is to ensure that B doesn't dig too much into their profit margins (which is also a percent).

And while they may think it's worthwhile to sell you a fountain drink for $1 on the card, it's too complex to break it up like that.

> You left out the reason there is a minimum - there is a cost to run the card that is fee(purchase) = A * purchase + B. The minimum is to ensure that B doesn't dig too much into their profit margins (which is also a percent).

The reason there's a minimum is that the Federal government forbade credit card companies from mandating acceptance for all charges. That was done in the consumers' interests, but it came from the top down, not the beneficence of Mastercard and Visa (who, prior, were more than happy to take 2-3c on every $1 card purchase.)

The conversation got derailed, but whether you want all businesses to only accept cash, to only accept card, or to accept both, put that aside for a minute — surely the option to filter based on that criteria is harmless? That's all OP was asking for.

I like the idea.

> Remember when you're sharing the domain that there are three Zs!

Oh man, that’s going to be some trouble I think…

Thanks for the comment, and that's a good point! Branding is something I might have to do some experimenting with...

If it's US-only (as I presume it is) then it's be worth mentioning that a bit more prominently. Us Brits are used to disappointment but it's mildly annoying to have to install something to find out what countries it's usable in.

That's a good point, and I will clarify our locations on the website. While Sizzzle is based in the US and most of our food trucks are in North America, my goal is to grow our selection so people from anywhere can see vendors near them. If you live in London, there are over 60 vendors on Sizzzle, and I'm working hard to expand across the UK.

Agreed. I frequently get burned by that, so it's now the first thing I try to find out. And I would definitely expect it to be answered by the FAQ.

Just updated the website. You can now find supported locations on our FAQ!

A friend’s similar project using crowd-sourced information for Bangalore: https://karthikb351.github.io/notonzomato.in/

Very cool!

I’d like a food truck app with only one feature: average service time. I dont care what the food tastes like, I just want it in 5 minutes or less.

FT’s just do not scale.

Congrats on launching! What was your tech stack? From app development to getting food truck data, what did you find difficult?

Great questions! My tech stack is a bit unconventional. For example, my primary db is Baserow - basically an open-source Airtable. The app was written with a combination of Swift and Objective-C, so iOS native, though I also plan to release an Android version. For the UI, I prototyped in Figma and storyboarded it (not a huge fan of writing interfaces).

Probably one of the biggest challenges has been collecting enough data so that users in most locations can log on and see food trucks near them.

Interesting! Haven't heard of Baserow, but will check it out.

Yeah, can't imagine how you'd bootstrap data like this. Definitely sounds like it'll be the core competency that will set you defensible against late followers. Good luck!

Doesn't work for me here in Fukui, Japan.

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