Chow

Inspiration

As a college student, I have experienced the inconvenience and costliness of food delivery first hand. My peers and I often complain about how expensive food delivery is and we practically pay double the price of the food just to get it delivered.

Students are always coming from our college town back to our dorms and there’s no app to connect those students. Chow provides a solution to a problem that my peers and I personally face which is why I know people need what I am making, especially because of three reasons: food delivery apps will keep raising fees, college students will always be “broke”, and local college restaurants have suffered from COVID-19 related campus closures.

What it does

Chow is a food delivery app that introduces a new DFD (Delivery For Delivery) system. With our app, college students can order and also deliver food from local college restaurants in exchange for a Chow Coin, a form of virtual currency that grants them free delivery on their next order. This leads to less money leaving students' pockets, saving money. Our users will be our contractors. There are several other unique features to Chow. We have a rewards program where students can earn and gift Chow Coins. Furthermore, we have a random order generator which uses an AI-based algorithm based on past orders to generate orders from affiliate restaurants

College students are the perfect demographic for Chow because every college town has numerous restaurants in one area and many students live in close proximity in dorms, with frequent traffic between the two locations. Students who are in the college town can conveniently deliver meals on the way back to their dorms and get free delivery on their next order, saving money while still allowing Chow to maintain margins similar to other food delivery apps through service and restaurant fees. College students want to save money and Chow also creates a network effect with a rewards system, appealing to the target demographic.

How I built it

We built the prototype for Chow on Framer.

Challenges I ran into

I ran into several challenges while thinking of and developing Chow. There were clear questions in the business model that I needed to iron out with my teammates. It was also difficult to conceptualize the app beyond the idea stage. The biggest challenge that I ran into was simply the consideration of the competition in a massive industry.

This space has major competitors such as Doordash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates, Caviar, and other food delivery apps. There are also food delivery apps on college campuses such as GoodUncle and other campus-specific apps that work with the school’s dining systems. Many of these apps are successful only based on the fact that they will deliver straight to the student’s door rather than to the lobby, something that is just one of the many features of Chow. Joyrun has the most similar system to Chow where anyone can deliver for others in exchange for rewards. Snackpass also has worked on college campuses but is involved with ordering food for pick up rather than outright delivery.

We fear the big delivery apps the most. They have developed a brand name and are the go-to. Introducing Chow will require students to download another app which is a challenge and they will also have to physically deliver in order to get delivery, which may be the biggest challenge we face.

It is important to note that this idea may not become accepted at first because of the bigger food delivery apps, but once it is, I believe that it will become rapidly popular because of the network effect Chow creates.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud of Chow as an idea and I have high hopes for where we can take it in the future. The prototype is clean, well-built, and thought out. Chow itself has many differentiators from traditional food delivery apps. I am proud that when I discuss the idea with others, there are clear differentiators that I can dictate from other food delivery apps: the first differentiator is that users can both order and deliver on the same app (our users will be our contractors). We can bypass the general security concerns of bigger apps because the college admissions process is like a background check. The second differentiator is that users pay for delivery fees with virtual currency which leads to a significantly lower overall bill. The third key differentiator is that we are focusing strictly on college campuses which are a niche demographic. The fourth differentiator is that we have lower restaurant fees than the other apps because we don't need to spend as much to operate and expand to other cities and the general suburbs -- only college campuses. The fifth differentiator is that we have a rewards program that creates a network effect.

What I learned

I learned a lot about the food delivery space and consumer behavior while I know I still have a lot to learn.

What's next for Chow

Up next, I want to fully build Chow and make it into an actual business. I feel it has unique market potential and I believe it can scale quickly. Network effects catch like wildfires around college campuses and the concept of using virtual currency in food delivery has not been done before. I can't wait to introduce Chow to my campus and hopefully to many more campuses around the country.

Built With

• framer