As a guest-facing hospitality company, we're committed to creating solutions that support independent restaurants and the diverse communities they serve. Our members are guests & customers, not "users".
A Great Recommendation is a Personalized Recommendation
Anyone who's ever worked in the restaurant business for a significant amount of time can tell you - the most common question we're asked by friends, colleagues, family members and neighbors is "What's your favorite restaurant in..." or "Could you recommend the best restaurant for me to take my husband/wife for their birthday?" .
I've always said that asking me to recommend "The Best restaurant" somewhere, or to tell you where to get a great meal is a lot like telling me you’re going out for ice cream and assuming I know the best flavor simply because I've worked in so many ice cream parlors and know a lot about ice cream. In other words, I've always believed that taste is very personal and that "The Best" is totally subjective.
So... in the interest of wanting everyone to enjoy their own dining experiences as much as possible, I've always tried to learn as much as I can about someone's personal likes and dislikes before making a recommendation for them.
I ask questions like:
“Where have you eaten before that you really liked and what did you like most about it?”
“Where have you been that you thought was over-rated... and what made it disappointing?”
“What are some of your other favorite places... and why?”
“Do you have any food allergies, dietary restrictions or have any foods that you simply don’t like or would never consider trying?”
“What do you consider 'good service'?"
etc...
The list goes on and on... and, while it may sound tedious, the more information I gather about someone - the more reliable (and appreciated) my recommendations tend to be.
So, while my own personal recommendations served as an "organic proof of concept" - the method wasn't scalable.
So a few friends and I built an app that automates the "getting to know you" part of the equation by building a PersonalTaste Profile for each individual based on their answers to fun food quizzes and private restaurant ratings. We then applied our own proprietary predictive analytics software to continually calculate the compatibility between their PersonalTatse Profile and restaurants everywhere.
In short, we ended up building the first truly personal AI recommendation engine for people who are serious about food and love to travel.
It's ironic - we found that the best way to remove bias from existing one-size-fits-all restaurant recommendation platforms, was to create a platform that essentially serves as a celebration of each person's own bias.
By listening to and acting on each person's opinions (instead of broadcasting them) we're able to put them to a more practical use: the most personalized restaurant recommendations available via a free app we call: Paire.
Paire also offers the most advanced restaurant & bar list making, sharing & following tool on the market.
Our Spotify-like list feature makes it easy for passionate food-lovers like you to keep track of:
• Restaurant Festival Participants • Hidden gems you stumble upon • Recommendations made by friends • Places & plates featured online & in print
After more than 3 decades in the ever-evolving food & beverage industry, I know there are a few constants that won't change over the next few decades:
1.Guest interest in paring down an overwhelming number of dining options. 2.Guest interest in personal attention and personalized service. 3.Guest interest in not wasting time or money on disappointing experiences.
We hope you'll be among our earliest supporters and join us on a journey into the future of restaurant recommendations with Paire.
- Josh Sapienza | Paire Appetit
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