Show HN: CheapFoodMap – A map of good meals under $10

Show HN: CheapFoodMap – A map of good meals under $10(cheapfoodmap.com)

58 points by jaep1 3 hours ago | 48 comments

I was recently laid off after 18 years, and gave myself 100 days to build soething useful in public. CheapFoodMap is a crowdsourced map of meal under $10, excluding franchises, local good eats only.

It's inspried by 거지맵 (Begger's Map) a Korean crowdsourced map students use to find cheap eats.

Ocverage is heaviest in Texas, since I live in Dallas, but have 1200 meals across 15 US cities. Seed data came from Google Review, 4.2 star or higher with at least 500 reviews, and verified price under $10 per menu item.

Things I would love feedback on : whether the price-freshness model makes sense, and what would make you trust the price on a site like this. How to encourage people to update prices, since inflation is making food price very frequent.

https://cheapfoodmap.com

Any and all suggestion will be super helpful. Thank you!

jawns 1 hour ago |

This feels like GasBuddy, but for food.

One of the reasons GasBuddy took off was that it wasn't just based on community reports; there was an incentive for gas stations themselves to accurately report their prices and keep them up to date.

It seems like you're trying to discourage businesses from participating (e.g. by not accepting sponsored placements), and that will have implications for your growth rate. I think you should look for ways to give businesses an active role, without eroding user trust in the recommendations, of course.

Think of the possibilities:

- Business can add coupons to its listing, making cheap food even cheaper

- Business can confirm a reported deal, adding to its credibility

- Business can provide full menu and a link to order takeout

I don't think any of those features would make users feel like the business is "buying" a listing it didn't earn.

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

Wow, thank you for this suggestion. This might be most sustainable way to update prices, as long as I set boundaries correctly. I will research how GasBuddy set up their data pipeline this week to see if we can benchmark.

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

Man.. I feel like I owe you lunch for making this suggestions. Noted and definitely taking this to heart

gffrd 53 minutes ago |

Could see this being useful for people who are on the road for a living, or regularly operating in areas where they’re not familiar with the offerings. Truck drivers, salespeople, etc.

That said, kneejerk after using it is: price is a challenging anchor, because food is not uniform. I’d be curious if users are more interested in “under $10, ignoring all else” or “a better deal than comparable” - though, there’s a lot of subjectivity in that.

Gasbuddy works because 1 gallon of gas = 1 gallon of gas, so price is a useful anchor.

$5 for sushi at one place could be a bad deal, while a great deal at another place.

An $8 steak would be cheap. An $8 hot dog would be a ripoff.

I’d be skeptical of restaurants luring people with a single cheap item, or about quality/portion changes.

All this said, Ikea is known for designing furniture _around_ the price their target customer thinks a table should cost. Restaurants are likely (hopefully!) aware of where these price thresholds are for their customers … and your site could be an interesting way of sending them a different type of customer than they’d historically targeted. Or, allow them to refine an offering to maximize profit at the $10 price point.

As others have said, engage restaurants and make them part of the equation. They’re not your adversary.

In short: cool! Do lots of experiments and research!

jaep1 47 minutes ago | |

Thank you so much gffrd.

You know, my dream is to have some kind of movement where people rally to fight inflation and tipflation. Last few years, we seen some crazy food price increases and it seems like its gonna get worse.

If enough people find value in affortable prices, and people go to those restaurants that offer good deals, either as lunch special or weekly promotion, more restaurant will try to offer these kind of deals. Win for customers, win for restuarant.

Might be getting a head of myself there.. but that's the vision. (If you check "About" page, I put another dream which is to make this website turn non-profit later down the road if we make money lol)

thrownaway561 3 minutes ago |

What about just linking their Google Business instead of filling out a submission and uploading photos? That actually helps the business rank more.

mft_ 2 hours ago |

I love the idea, but a quick glance (randomly at SF) reveals entries that aren't "meals" (IMO, anyway) but rather snacks - like two spring rolls for $8, or a slice of pizza for $5.53. Also, the days of a $1 slice may have (long) gone, but $5.33 for a slice seems median at best, not "cheap".

Have you thought about either some guidance, or even a filter, for meal size?

mkw5053 2 hours ago | |

Yeah a quick glance and none of the ones I saw around my office are meals. I'm honestly not sure a $10 meal exists in SF anymore...

jaep1 2 hours ago | | |

It is becoming harder to find them. Just few lunch specials and hidden gems.

I hope this app can help share these hidden gems.

Maybe I should just delete bad data and just put few legit places only?

foolinaround 1 hour ago | |

maybe, the calories for that item, and a lower limit that counts as a full meal?

xandrius 1 hour ago | | |

I can sell you a nice spoonful of old vegetable oil for less than $1 and topping the chart calorie-wise :D

jaep1 2 hours ago | |

thats really good point. I should put more guidance on the submission.

Basic rules were no franchise, actual meals only. I was filtering manually in DFW area for now, but should actually add more features and guidance in general.

This is actually critical point. Thank you for pointing that out.

chasd00 59 minutes ago |

At the bottom of the lists, after you've scrolled through and clicked on some restaurants, you should have a "I'll do it myself" button that uses some llm to create a $10 meal recipe using the restaurants you clicked as inspiration.

jaep1 56 minutes ago | |

Like you can create similar meal yourself? That might actually help get more engagement from users.. not sure how much it will cost me though, AI API costs a lot these days T-T

effnorwood 1 hour ago |

Define "good" and "meal"

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

Good question! Good : Google Review 4.2 with 500+ reviews Meal : Proper meal that can qualify as lunch or dinner

But honestly... not fulfilling all the requirement just yet >_<

effnorwood 35 minutes ago | | |

now do French Laundry and glyphosate

ge96 1 hour ago | |

Succulent... Chi... Meal?

jaep1 23 minutes ago | | |

What is the charge! Eating a meal?

chesscoachx 2 hours ago |

I like the idea. It would be nice a worldwide map. I mean, not only across the US.

jaep1 2 hours ago | |

Wow, I am surprised to see so many recommandation for global app. We will definitely work on this soon.

ye1le 1 hour ago | | |

+1 wanted to add some for Germany (would require additional currency)

Neff 2 hours ago |

I like that I can filter by a specific area, but I wonder if people would be better served to get down to regions instead of a city. Dallas is pretty big, and I don't want to drive from Love Field all the way to Lakeside for lunch...

It would be great to somehow either

- Get to the map from a city list

- refine the city to a neighborhood level

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

We have "Cities" section that support DFW area and divide it into more neighborhoods. https://cheapfoodmap.com/cities will this work?

fl4regun 2 hours ago |

Would love to see restaurants in Canada included

jaep1 2 hours ago | |

O man, I would love to expand to other countries! Once we polish the website, Canada will be the first global launch for sure!

OsrsNeedsf2P 56 minutes ago |

거지맵 meaning beggar is a generous translation of the word

jaep1 54 minutes ago | |

yes, beggar map, I thought about using beggarmap.com but didn't sound right in English. I plan to give that domain name back to Korean founder. (I sent him an email already offering free transfer)

BrandoElFollito 37 minutes ago |

When visiting the US, I lerned that a meal that costs 10$ is actually 10$ + some random tax + a tip = 20$

jaep1 30 minutes ago | |

Yes, tip use to be around 15%, but now default close to 20%. We call it tipflation.

We added tip + tax calculation on the page so you know what you are getting into as well =)

mandeepj 1 hour ago |

Do you filter out snacks/appetizers?

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

I do for Dallas area, which is our launch city. I will add filter to remove all the appentizers and snacks, and only post proper "meals" adding guidance as well. This community gave me so many good advices!

chasd00 52 minutes ago | | |

For places like Fuel City in Dallas you may want to add an icon for "don't go alone after dark" ;)

loco5niner 2 hours ago |

Dropped a couple spots in my area. I like seeing the deals in the community section.

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

Thank you! We are trying to share best deals on there =)

gghootch 2 hours ago |

I love it, but I want EU support!

jaep1 2 hours ago | |

YES! Would love to expand internationally! If you visit, look for good lunch on the map =)

the_real_cher 1 hour ago |

A lot of things aren't healthy like pizza and fried chicken.

They should add the cost of future open heart surgery to the cheap meal.

gffrd 49 minutes ago | |

Man cannot live on lettuce alone.

jaep1 19 minutes ago | | |

That's why God gave us friend chicken and bacons :)

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

LMAO, hey might be still worth it for $6.99 =D

stalfosknight 3 hours ago |

No results in my particular metro area, but I love the idea!

jaep1 3 hours ago | |

Thank you, which metro area? We need to expand

esafak 1 hour ago |

Why wouldn't you just use Google Maps with a single-$ price filter?

jaep1 1 hour ago | |

I guess we are trying to remove couple of steps. single $ sign mostly gives you fastfood chain restuarants. You wouldn't be able to find killer lunch special deals or local hidden gem menues. You can still find them, but it take efforts through trial and errors. I felt difficult finding killer deals, and having a website that shows these killer deals can bring value. But this is just me.. maybe this is my hopeful thinking?