In this Q&A, we talk with Daishin Sugano, a co-founder of startup GrubWithUs.
1. How would you describe grubwithus?
Grubwithus gets people offline to socialize in the real world over
food. It sounds odd to use the word “real,” but these days there are
so many ways to “socialize” online. It’s important to keep “real”
human interactions alive — we need to keep it real.
Behind the scenes, we are working with the best restaurants to create
unique tasting menus and developing a site that transfers all the
hassle of eating out from the user’s hands to ours.
2. How do you recommend someone use grubwithus?
There are several ways you can use Grubwithus and that’s why it’s so
special. The use cases are endless — you can use the platform to meet
new people when you move to a new city, meet someone special, network
with people with a similar interest, or even plan a hassle-free meal
for a group. We recommend to use Grubwithus whenever you think of
eating out with people, whether it be with friends or interesting
strangers that you’d like to get to know.
3. Do you love food? Are you a foodie?
I do love food, but don’t consider myself a foodie. I’m a huge fan of
trying new spots that I hear are good, but oftentimes can’t because
it’s so hard to gather a group together. Just another use case for
Grubwithus — I can now try places that I’ve always wanted to try and
not have to wait for friends. Although, eating alone is totally
acceptable, eating with others to share in the experience is
exponentially better.
4. Do you have any favorite foodie blogs?
I have a lot of favorite tech blogs, but not foodie. I appreciate good
food when I have the opportunity to try amazing places, but these days
with my schedule, eating needs to be out of convenience. I literally
choose the best place that is closest to where I am and just eat
there.
In the future, Grubwithus’ iPhone app will allow me to see all of the
meals taking place near me and who I can be eating with. Choosing a
restaurant won’t just be based on reviews and ratings anymore.
5. Are you making money or how do you plan on making money?
Grubwithus makes money by negotiating better prices with the
restaurants, then charging a small fee, so that users pay something at
or less than what they would pay if they went in on their own. We’ve
designed it this way to ensure the restaurant makes money, while also
keeping Grubbers happy.
6. What is your favorite food and how do you like to eat it? Is there a
restaurant that makes it best?
I tend to eat a lot (and my metabolism is slowing down), so this is an
interesting question. I like super fatty foods, which my body is
telling me to get away from. For fatty foods (which my heart desires),
I love Italian beef sandwiches and am a big fan of Portillos in
Chicago. I can also go for a great taco from Don Antonios or Titos,
both in LA. For healthy food, I love anywhere that can prepare good
fish. For raw, I like Hide Sushi (LA) and for cooked, I like the
Original Fish Company (LA), but mainly because that’s where my parents
love to go.
7. What have you discovered through grubwithus?
I’ve discovered friends. Originally, we engineered Grubwithus to solve
our own problem: we were new to Chicago and had no friends.
Fast-forward a year and I’ve now grubbed with hundreds of people, many
of which I keep in touch with and hang out with occasionally. It’s an
awesome feeling.
8. Where do you see grubwithus in 5 years?
The vision we have for Grubwithus is huge, but we are concentrated on
taking things one step at a time. The simple answer is that we want
people to think of Grubwithus whenever they are thinking of what to
do. We want to be one of the choices for people when someone asks,
“What do you want to do tonight?”
9. What are you the most excited about?
I’m most excited about the people who are adopting our platform; it’s
amazing how awesome they are. These early adopters will be the key to
the success of Grubwithus and I am so grateful for them. I am also
excited about the space we are in. As technology gets better, human
interaction will be less and less “needed,” but it’s important to push
through and leverage these new technologies to make it actually easier
to interact face-to-face. We think we are headed in the right
direction and we think the response has been great.
