(1) Describe your startup.
Gravi Train Technologies Inc. is a food tech AI company that’s making it fast and convenient for people to enjoy eating without violating the boundaries of their diet. Our first product, FastFoodCravings.com personalizes the menu viewing experience by allowing people to filter menus by any combination of dietary restrictions. Stop struggling within menus flooking or things you’re able to eat. Quickly find restaurants that have the most options for your unique diet (gluten-free halal pizza, vegan keto sesame-free dessert, etc.).
(2) What inspired the creation of the startup?
Dating and eating socially was challenging with my unique combination of dietary restrictions. It would take hours to find a restaurant that I could dine at. I’d have to call restaurants before a date to understand my ordering and substitute options or I’d be stuck sitting at the table having awkward conversations with waitstaff. When Covid struck and takeout was the only option with one restaurant phone through which all customer orders were being funneled through, it was tough to be able to talk to waitstaff over the phone. Food ordering apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, etc. unfortunately, don’t provide enough ingredient information. I’ve ordered food that I thought I could eat only for it to arrive with a garnish that violates my dietary restrictions.
(3) What differentiates your startup from the competition?
You’ve seen those icon legends on menus to signify that certain foods are gluten-free, vegetarian, a certain spice level, etc. Finding those icons is like playing Where’s Waldo and they’re limited to only a handful of dietary restrictions. My start-up takes those caveman era menus and brings them into present day while and serves a MUCH larger and more diverse market. The beauty is that people with dietary restrictions will start walking into those restaurants where they know there’s something for them to order rather than walking into a restaurant and hoping there might be a substitution available for a dish or ingredient they can’t eat. This will also lower ingredient costs for restaurants.
(4) Who is the target market?
Initially, it’s people with food allergies/sensitivities, lifestyle, and religious diets who are too busy to cook. Example of lifestyle diets include keto, paleo, being pregnant, etc. Busy people include working professionals, parents, students. Eventually, once I have data on the types of cuisine x dietary restrictions that are most commonly being searched for in particular geographies, my product will evolve to an advertising platform that provides data and marketing services to restaurants in an effort to help inform the menu creation process.
(5) How did you grow your presence in your target market?
FastFoodCravings.com is a recently launched marketplace so I have to focus on getting users and restaurants on the platform. I’m working on this piece and my initial strategy involves approaching food allergy-specific interest groups, including non-profits, charities, lobbyists, and regional/national restaurant associations.
(6) What stage are you at?
FastFoodCravings.com is an MVP and the underlying ingredient classification AI software has multiple use cases. I’m working on confirming product market fit currently.
(7) What are some of the biggest challenges that your startup have had to overcome?
Data classification has been the biggest challenge to date. I’ve managed to work past that, but it has taken 2+ years to do so as a bootstrapped founder. Current challenges include marketing and adoption.
(8) What is next for the startup?
Scaling the product roadmap to take the MVP to a platform and building out some of the additional use cases for the underlying AI software.
(9) Where would you like to be in the next 5 years?
I’d like Gravi Train Technologies Inc. to be a valued partner by the restaurant industry. I’d like my data to be involved in menu curation with restaurants caring about catering to diverse dietary needs and hopefully opening themselves up to larger markets without having to change their physical location. I’d like people to be able to easily make more informed dining decisions and I’d like my products to be the go-to solution, like Google for food.
(10) If you had to give one piece of advice to an up and coming startup what would it be?
Don’t create a start-up based on fads or temporary trends. Cast a wide net when solving a problem. A lot of start-up advice suggests getting very niche, but the big homerun type of success lies in finding a one-size fits most solution for common (not identical) niches. This makes it easier to pivot if you have to and you can always launch small, then scale.
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