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Bento — Asian food delivered on-demand (SF only)
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@rrhoover Thanks Ryan! Huge fan of PH and really excited to finally have something to show! :)
While customization is definitely important, we think what will set us apart is our holistic approach to the entire experience. From an easy-to-use app, super fast delivery, being able to order exactly what you want, great value (only $12), gorgeous packaging, exciting experience opening your Bento and of course, delicious food. All of it is important and I don't think anyone has nailed the experience yet. We're going to try :).
I'm assuming you're thinking about going into different verticals or is your plan to expand to other cities first? I like the concept. Congrats @jasondemant!
@vivekmgeorge Thanks Vivek! The answer is both :). We'll start by expanding into additional cities. Long-term though we plan on expanding into additional ethnic foods as well. The system, processes & technology will work really well with other types of cuisines.
I've had Mattin's food plenty of times and it's delicious. Just can't wait til service area expands!
Love it! Food is delicious and delivery is speedy. I was one of the lucky few invited to access the beta and will be ordering Bento again. A lot.
Nice... I'm going to use this tomorrow. Already got banh mi for lunch... sounds good tho!
@chuckreynolds We'll have lunch available tomorrow as well :)
Come early, sold out pretty quick today!
I'm not in SF... based on the description and the fact that there are already on-demand food companies, I would have immediately thought the problem solved here was cuisine specific. That this works because it's targeting Asian food. And the question would be whether we will see a wave of cuisine specific food ordering apps... which makes some sense.
I can't tell from the comments thus far if that's what people like about it, or it's just a really well executed version of a food delivery concept?
@JeremyZ123 Our general thesis on the space is that companies will begin to differentiate based on food type...just like restaurants. So yes, I expect there will be cusine specific apps starting to pop-up more and more.
And to your last question -- hopefully both :).
Hey folks, massive congrats on launching yesterday! This was one of my favorites. Great presentation @ Launch and on bentonow.com. Dialing in on perfecting the experience around this will be big. Wish you all the best!
Personally, for my wife and I, we'd love to see more about the health side of the house. What/where/how are the ingredients sourced. Which options would be considered the healthiest given our preferences for the day, etc, etc.
I'd also like to see an area on the site that reveals where your current kitchens are & have an easy way to request that you take over the downtown of my city.
We're excited to be out of stealth mode after debuting at the LAUNCH Festival yesterday. If you're at the LAUNCH Festival today please come by our booth and grab some Bento lunch! Happy to answer questions about the product. Cheers!
Thanks David! We definitely plan on adding more information about the ingredients over time and will be as transparent as possible with everything. We agree this is important.
Can you explain more of what you mean by "take over the downtown of my city"? Are you saying to have a place to request we expand to your city?
@jasondemant Exactly. Right now I visit the website/app and it's not clear what areas you serve. Would be nice to throw my e-mail at you to notify me.
Loved the concept so much I invested. Live in Colorado now but every time I'm back in SF, I order a Bento and the food as been fantastic (fast, fresh, good variety). This would be on my weekly rotation if I still lived there.
@jason +1 $12 is a meal at some crappy fast food place. This doesn't exactly look like crappy fast food. Would absolutely favor having a portion size toggle for the leftover guy in me.
@cjl49 Thanks! We're serving lunch today & tomorrow at LAUNCH Festival and resume dinner service on Monday in SF.
@keywonc Yes we will certainly rotate Korean and Thai menu items. Thanks for the heads up on the non-US cell phone -- we'll get check this out.
I'm a huge fan of the modularity and an even bigger fan of the focus on Asian cuisine. Margins on Asian food are great. We'll probably start seeing more differentiation between these services based on food type if Bento is a success.
Love this idea! Really interesting play on food delivery with the modularity. Could be interesting to add some customization like if I wanted 3 portions-worth of one dish.
Are you creating meals themed around different cultures? I.E. a meal created out of Korean dishes vs Japanese dishes. I'm not particularly sensitive about this, but I can see how others could find it somewhat insensitive grouping all types of Asian food together, especially considering there's no Asian on the founding team. Just something I naturally thought of being an Asian American. Also could be a good way to encourage discovering new dishes!
Hope to try this some day! Good luck!
@evanczhou Thanks Evan! We'll be experimenting a lot with our menu and definitely will try different themed ideas.
We're big Asian food fans (and passionate about food in general) and we hope we can share that with a lot of other people. Our desire is to serve customizable meals, and so we looked to the bento box for that inspiration, along with how other cultures solve this problem.
Just saw these guys at Launch, very cool idea. I think someone had tried this in Paris about 3 years ago but the market wasn't ready yet. I thought it was a great idea and I'm happy to see it back!
@ashmotamedi Do you remember the company name? I'd be interested in checking them out. Thanks for kudos!
@jasondemant yeah let me check and see what it was called. I know the guy but don't think it exists any longer. They went on to start Feedly, so a pretty big pivot ;)
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