A New Food App That Actually Gets “Sustainable” Right
In a world of UberEats, GrubHub, DoorDash, MealPal, and Yelp24, it’s easy to write off a new food app as just another startup riding the food delivery wave.
A Fresh Seat at the Table
Right now, you may be thinking:
- Another food delivery startup? Or,
- Another startup claiming to be “sustainable” (and what does that even mean anymore)?
At least, that’s what I was thinking when Misheel first introduced me to Gebni and asked if I’d help launch their blog.
In an e-mail he sent me, he described the app as a “price-optimization food ordering platform” that brothers Mohamed and Sidi Ahmed Merzouk created to help price-sensitive individuals have greater access to food delivery, reduce food waste, and improve the health of the restaurant economy. Food & Wine magazine called it “reverse surge pricing” for restaurants. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
I thought so too. In fact, I thought it sounded so great that I was honestly surprised the idea hadn’t been done before and worried that its mission was too good to be true.
So I dug around a bit more to see if this was the real deal.
In a world of UberEats, GrubHub, DoorDash, MealPal, and Yelp24, it’s easy to write off a new food app as just another startup riding the food delivery wave. After downloading the app and reading reviews by Food Tank, Observer, and The Wall Street Journal, however, I began feeling more excited than skeptical. Everything about Gebni seemed “sustainable” — from business model to value proposition to mission to the team behind it all.
I e-mailed back later that day to accept the free-lance writing position.*
For those who know me as @littleappleeats on Instagram or The Little Apple on Wordpress, this new gig might not seem like such a surprise. I enjoy good food and good writing, plain and simple.
For everyone else: I’m a college student living in New York City. Put Gebni’s tagline — “cheaper than Seamless” — next to my (and many other college students’) dream meal: “anything cheap,” and my enthusiasm should instantly make sense.
How Gebni Actually Works: A Deep-Dish Dive
Using an algorithm that tracks real-time demand, Gebni adjusts food prices for its hundreds of partnering restaurants in and around New York City. By offering greater discounts during off-peak periods, the app boosts restaurant business while simultaneously providing greater food access for price-sensitive buyers.
And before you make the same initial assumptions I did: Yes, discounted meals are prepared with the same quality and quantity as if they were purchased full-price, and no, they aren’t just what restaurants are “trying to get rid of.” It’s simple supply-and-demand optimization — a win-win on both sides, no strings attached.
In terms of logistics, the app is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. You can filter for restaurants based on location and cuisine preference, with options ranging from “Japanese,” “Italian,” and “Mediterranean” to “vegan,” “burritos,” and “open late.” Before placing an order, you can also see the exact discount you’d be receiving.
As a customer, the maximum price you’d ever be paying is the original price itself, with discounts normally ranging from 10–40% depending on real-time traffic flow. If you order in advance, you’ll also receive an additional 2% off per day.
Over time, you’ll be able to see just much you’ve saved by checking your personal account tracker.
If you find yourself with a question, concern, or even a new restaurant recommendation as you’re scrolling through the app, you can talk to a Gebni member directly by tapping on the lower-right hand button. You’ll typically get a response in under five minutes —a claim I didn’t believe until I tried it myself by messaging co-founder Mohamed:
Why Gebni Deserves its Bite out of the Big Apple
As I’m writing this, I’m confident that there are ten, twenty, thirty other food startups trying to make it big in the Big Apple. Even so, I have reason to believe Gebni is one of the few that will actually revolutionize the food startup space. Three reasons, actually.
One. It makes financial sense.
It saves time and money for partnering restaurants; it saves time and money for associated producers and suppliers; and it saves time and money for you, the user.
A Chipotle-related couplet to illustrate my point:
Time and money are great, hooray —
Use Gebni thrice for free Chipotle!
Two. It makes environmental sense.
Gebni’s yield-management algorithm helps restaurants choose prices they’re happy to receive and consumers are willing to pay. That means more orders placed and thus less food wasted along every step of the supply chain — all without sacrificing the quality or quantity of food served.
The only thing that could be better at this point is if all food suppliers — restaurants, catering services, grocery stores, cafeterias — got on board.
Three. It makes personal common sense.
To be completely transparent, I hadn’t heard of Gebni until about three weeks ago, when Misheel reached out to me first to say hi.
But that’s exactly what makes Gebni stand out to me, personally— it’s the kind of startup that, on top of the daily operational chaos, takes the time to reach out to a self-proclaimed food enthusiast/blogger and say hi. Misheel and Mohamed are the kind of people who meet up with you at a Greenwich Village coffee shop to say, “We’ve read some of your writing and it’s great,” and ask, “If helping build a better future for the food industry sounds like something you’d want to do, we’d love to have you onboard.”
“We’re planning to launch a blog ourselves, on which we write about making the food world a better and more accessible place.”
Of course I’ll brave the food delivery wave if this is the ship I’m boarding. Sign me up.
Any Reservations?
Of course, “signing up” to be a blogger for Gebni doesn’t mean I’m 100% confident of the company’s long-term success. The team is still small, the idea is still new, and the company is still relatively inexperienced. In other words — there’s no guarantee that smooth sailing will last forever.
The looming questions I have right now are:
- How successful will Gebni be in acquiring recurring users given current market oversaturation?
- How will competitors respond to Gebni’s dynamic pricing — will they mimic its business model or adopt new strategies to negate its strongest selling point?
- Will Gebni consider expanding into cities beyond NYC, and if so, how and when? Will it have the resources and manpower to expand remotely?
- Mohamed and Misheel mentioned college campuses and grocery stores as the next step after restaurants. While I see incredible potential in these collaborations, how likely is it for these large institutions to readily adopt a new pricing model for their own food services? And even if they are receptive to the idea, how expensive and time-consuming will this project be?
These are all challenges to be gradually discussed and tackled, however. For now, I’m simply excited to experience first-hand what an app like Gebni hopes to provide for a community it aspires to grow.
I’m not a frequent user of food delivery/ordering apps, so I’ll be curious to see if Gebni becomes the first app leaving me hungry for more. When I return to New York City and use it for the first time, I’m hoping to navigate a platform that’s seamless (with a lowercase “s”), speak with restaurant workers who are efficient and kind, and eat a meal that makes me feel fulfilled, both as a hungry college student and as a food waste activist. Afterwards, I’ll be sure to write about the experience — candidly, of course — and see how the Gebni community responds to my observations.
Sustainable even without “Sustainability”
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know what companies mean when they call themselves “sustainable” nowadays because — let’s face it — too many startups that aren’t actually environmentally, socially, or otherwise “sustainable” use the term anyway. While Gebni doesn’t seem to fall into this millennial-pleasing, buzzword-using category, let’s give ourselves benefit of the doubt and completely disregard sustainability for a minute.
It’s worthy to note that, even completely stripped of its “sustainable” mission to revolutionize food accessibility and curb food waste, this startup would still be, for all the reasons mentioned above, worth it.
So give it a try!*
Next time you’re contemplating what to eat in NYC, open up the Gebni app and let it decide for you. Grab a full-size meal at a discounted price and see for yourself: Is it…
Cheaper than Seamless?
Faster than DoorDash?
More filling than MealPal?
I have a feeling it might be all three.
And if you want to toss “sustainability” back in the mix, just for kicks, Gebni might just be more fulfilling than all of its competitors combined, too.
Disclaimer: As a content contributor for the Gebni blog, I’ll have the creative freedom to write on food industry-related topics ranging from Gebni restaurant reviews to general observations on the food we eat, how we get it, and why we eat the way we do. I will always specify when articles involve Gebni-specific collaborations or external sponsorships. And, of course, I will make sure to keep tabs on U.S. food waste, an issue I’m personally passionate about ending. (If you want to read an article I published last spring regarding supermarkets’ — specifically Whole Foods’ — ability to curb U.S. food waste, click here.)
