“‘Where shall we go for dinner?’ is a question that comes up too often on my WhatsApp group conversations. How can it be easier to get a match on Tinder by swiping, than to decide where to catch up with friends for dinner?!”  I-Ding Wu

KtchUp was born as an idea by I-Ding Wu in the summer of 2016 , frustrated by the difficulties to organise eating-out plans with her friends. Her solution was to create a mobile application where friends can chat, swipe to express their restaurant preferences and click to book a table.

A former quant strategist, I-Ding started the KtchUp venture full time and was soon joined by entrepreneur Farid Khoury. The development of the KtchUp app for both iOS and Android started by the end of 2016 and the app was officially released in London in the summer of 2017. Lisbon was added to the KtchUp platform in October ahead of the team’s presence at Web Summit 2017.

“Where shall we eat?”
The familiar recurring question that haunts every group conversation on your mobile phone when you are trying to organise a catch-up dinner with your friends.

“How do you organise dining out with your friends? Raise your hand if you start with a group conversation on WhatsApp!”
No surprise if the room looks like a rave party with everyone’s hands up in the air. Then comes the killer question that you’ve probably typed so many times yourself: “Where shall we eat?” And the trek starts here:

• Use another app or platform to search for restaurant options…
• …and come back to the group chat to suggest them.
• Discover that the conversation has been flooded with suggestions?
• …and many irrelevant messages? No escaping from that.
• Check your messages at the end of a busy day? Now you must scroll tediously to find out what restaurants have been suggested, and argue about them.
• …or face the usual long silence after someone suggests an uninteresting restaurant that no one is rejecting?
• End up agreeing to meet for a meal at the same place as last time?

All of this happens too often. There must be a better way…

When you initiate an eating-out plan with your friends on KtchUp:

• You create a group conversation around a specific event, such as “Catch-up Dinner on Friday”;
• KtchUp suggests restaurants to the group, based on the area and price range set up by you, the event host;
• These restaurants are presented as “swiping cards” with multiple photos and hashtags, similar to Tinder profiles. Swipe left for no, swipe right for yes, in order to vote for restaurants you’d like to eat at… The fastest and simplest way to have your say!
• You can also suggest a specific restaurant to the group and add it to the voting.
• The meeting time, votes, and the final restaurant choice are always visible to the group. You do not have to dig through hundreds of messages to find out where you are eating at, what time you are meeting, and who is joining.
• You need directions and a peek at the menu? Tap on the restaurant’s card for all this information.
• You would like to make a table reservation? Do it with one tap on the booking link.

Not a big fan of public reviews and public ratings of restaurants? KtchUp also allows you to easily see restaurants that your friends “like”. Indeed that is usually a decisive element in your choice, rather than public reviews by people you don’t know, on public platforms.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 7^st December 2017

Olivia Philips
KtchUp
contact@onespade.com

KtchUp with friends while supporting Centrepoint this Christmas
£1 donated to charity Centrepoint for each new UK user in December

London, UK: Your festive catch-up with friends could help support homeless charity Centrepoint this Christmas after smartphone app KtchUp pledged a donation to the charity for new users in December.

As part of the promotion, KtchUp will donate £1 to Centrepoint for every UK user signing up during the month.

I-Ding Wu, founder of KtchUp, said: “We expect Christmas to be one of the busiest times of the year because of the mad rush and hectic nature of the season. During December, picking a restaurant can be tricky when organising a pre-Christmas dinner with friends, and the KtchUp app simplifies this process .”

The idea behind KtchUp is that everyone can have a say by voting and organisers can easily pick a restaurant that everyone likes and quickly book a table before it’s too late.

I-Ding Wu added: “Christmas is a time when people tend to think of the less fortunate, so we thought this promotion would be a great way for people to give back whilst also using a cool app to organise their busy eating-out plans.”

The app, which officially launched in London in the summer of 2017, suggests restaurants to your group based on your choice of area and price range. There are over 1,500 restaurants to choose from and the vote takes place by swiping pictures in a similar way to Tinder. Users can also suggest their own favourite restaurants.

To start KtchUp, I-Ding drew inspiration from her frustration when organising dining plans with her friends. She commented: “When trying to organise a catch-up with friends over dinner we often get lost in hundreds of messages and never actually make a final decision. On KtchUp, chatting and voting are separate, so while some people can message as much as they’d like others can quickly swipe to vote and have their say.”

For more information contact Olivia Philips, PR of KtchUp, on contact@onespade.com

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1^st November 2017

Olivia Philips
KtchUp
contact@onespade.com

KtchUp expands its platform to include Lisbon restaurants
Will be attending Web Summit 2017 in Lisbon 6^th – 9^th November

London, UK: Today, KtchUp, a London based start-up, announced the launch of the city of Lisbon on their platform, in addition to the existing London, ahead of their presence at Web Summit on 7^th November 2017 at Stand A923 in the Social Exhibition Area.

Starting now, foodies in Lisbon, as well as Lisbon visitors including Web Summit attendees, will be able to organize all their eating-out plans on KtchUp by voting where to eat along with their contacts, from a long list – curated by locals, of the best Lisbon restaurants.

Swipe to organize dinner! Created to solve the problem of making restaurant plans with multiple friends, KtchUp lets users initiate a group chat, receive restaurant recommendations based on what their friends like, vote where to eat at, and book. All on one platform.

KtchUp is an app to cut out the middle-men – in this case: using separate apps for each step of organizing dinner, such as an app for chatting, and another for finding a restaurant.

Gone is the stress of trying to please everyone when it comes to eating out, KtchUp allows friends to swipe to vote, chat and book in real time, together – like the Tinder of dining out. Only it’s a restaurants’ love affair!

On KtchUp’s launch of Lisbon, founder I-Ding Wu said, “Our goal is to grow our database, and our strategy to expand to new cities. I am excited the platform now includes Lisbon restaurants. I am looking forward to attending Web Summit next week and catching up with old and new contacts at top Lisbon restaurants, using the KtchUp app!”

With a growing database, KtchUp not only targets end users with a simple way to organize eating-out plans with friends or colleagues but the restaurants too, so they can adaptively reach their market with promotions.

About KtchUp: KtchUp is a London based start-up founded at the end of 2016 by two frequent diners trying to solve the problem of organizing eating out with their friends. KtchUp released their London app in August 2017. The KtchUp team will be present at Web Summit in Lisbon on 7^th November 2017 at Stand A923 in the Social Exhibition Area. To download the app on your smartphone, go to get.ktchup.com.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 24^th August 2017

Farid Khoury
KtchUp
contact@onespade.com

KtchUp will be adding Lisbon to their platform ahead of Web Summit 2017
Attendees will be able to organize eating-out in the city’s best restaurants

London, UK: Today, KtchUp, a London based start-up, announced that the city of Lisbon will be added to their platform, ahead of their presence at Web Summit in November 2017.

Swipe to organize dinner! Created to solve the problem of making restaurant plans with multiple friends, KtchUp lets users initiate a group chat, receive restaurant recommendations based on what their friends like, vote where to eat at, and book. All on one platform.

Like Uber and Airbnb, KtchUp is an app to cut out the middle-men – in this case: using separate apps for each step of organizing dinner, such as WhatsApp for chatting, or TripAdvisor for finding a restaurant – and to get your plan done faster, changing the way we consume en masse.

Gone is the stress of trying to please everyone when it comes to eating out, KtchUp is a handy smartphone app that allows friends to swipe to vote, chat and book in real time, together – like the Tinder of dining out. Only it’s a restaurants’ love affair!

From November, foodies in Lisbon will be able to do this too, as KtchUp has searched far and wide to feature Lisbon’s best restaurants in their next app release.

On KtchUp’s upcoming addition of Lisbon, founder I-Ding Wu said, “Everyone’s booked their flights and accommodation for Web Summit, but how about their eating out plans? Lisbon has wonderful restaurants, and KtchUp will make it easy for team members to vote on what restaurant they would like to eat at, and organize their dinner or lunch seamlessly on one single app. No time wasting on WhatsApp group conversations!”

KtchUp launched in London with a solid market as a backdrop. Indeed:

• In the UK itself, the eating out market is worth over £90bn and is predicted to grow 17% over the next 4 years (Cushman & Wakefield, May 2017).
• In London, single young professionals aged 25-34 dine out more than once a week (The Guardian Business, February 2017).

About KtchUp: KtchUp is a London based start-up founded at the end of 2016 by two frequent diners trying to solve the problem of organizing eating out with their friends. KtchUp released their London app in August 2017. The KtchUp team will be exhibiting at Web Summit in Lisbon 6th-9th November.

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