food

News Byte

New Bravo Food Show Partners Up With Gilt Taste

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 8 at 8:48 am PT

Bravo Media’s new cooking competition, “Around the World in 80 Plates,” is teaming up with Gilt Taste, an online food marketplace, where fans will be able to purchase products and ingredients featured in each episode. Since Gilt Taste is part of the megaretailer’s flash-sales kingdom, be prepared to sign up in order to visit the special site.

News Byte

Order Takeout “Seamlessly” on iPad

Lauren Goode in News on February 28 at 7:00 am PT

Seamless, the popular Web site for placing food takeout and delivery orders, has launched an iPad app after seeing mobile sales increase to more than 25 percent of all transactions, up from 1 percent just two years ago. The free app features slider tabs instead of drop-down menus for selecting cuisines, the option to rate restaurants, and more prominent photos of venues and food items than are currently on the Web site. Seamless operates in 12 U.S. metro areas, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Austin; following its acquisition of Menupages, it claims 40,000 restaurant menus in its database. Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky says the company plans to launch an Android version of the tablet app sometime this year.

News Byte

Dueling Acquisitions Heat Up the Food Delivery Market

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on September 26, 2011 at 7:00 am PT

Seamless, a New York company focused on bringing delivery and takeout services to the Web, has acquired MenuPages for its database of 35,000 menus. Seamless, which made the acquisition from New York Media for an undisclosed amount, said the combined companies have 240 employees and are expected to book $400 million in orders this year. Last week, Seamless’s competitor, GrubHub of Chicago, raised $50 million and acquired Dotmenu and Allmenus. Terms were not disclosed. GrubHub projects that order revenues will total $225 million.

News Byte

Lot18 Uncorks Investment From Diapers.com Founders

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on August 24, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

Lot18, which offers rare or discounted wine and food items online, has closed a partial round of funding from the founders of Diapers.com, which was acquired by Amazon through its purchase of Quidsi in November. Lot18, which has 400,000 members and 80 employees, will use the funding to support growth and to launch new verticals. The amount raised was less than $1 million; in total, it has now raised $13 million.

News Byte

BiteHunter Raises $250,000 to Seek Out Nearby Dining Deals

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 18, 2011 at 8:17 am PT

New York-based BiteHunter has raised $250,000 in seed funding to aggregate discounts for dining based on location. The investor was Eyal Chomski, head of ad agency Grey Global Group Israel. Visitors to the site can search by food category, location, special events, delivery availability and other parameters. The site has launched in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, but has plans to launch nationwide as well as to come out with a mobile application soon.