If you’ve never heard of Eatsee, which also goes by its cute nickname in some media circles, ‘Tinder for food’, it won’t be long before you have. One Millennial is going to make damn sure of that.

Eatsee is the brainchild of young Aussie Millennial, Jessica Koncz who recently grabbed herself a cool $100,000 from a Silicon Valley investor to help launch her foodie app. Eatsee, an eye-watering, satiating gallery of local dishes––much like Tinder–– allows consumers to visually connect with the menus of their local restaurants via carefully curated flashcard foodporn before they even know where each dish is prepared.

Consumers these days are visual creatures. Guided by apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, be it food, clothes, experiences or relationships, we like to see what we’re getting before we invest. Millennials understand this desire more than anyone, they also understand eating out more than any other generation. And Koncz, who has a deep affiliation and respect for the hospitality industry, thought the two concepts would pair quite nicely. She wanted to give consumers an interactive and visual experience with local menus to enhance the whole experience of eating out––in the palm of their hand.

“I’ve done a lot of market research, and no one’s doing the same platform like us. Every other food platform is focused on delivery, and we’re trying to do the polar opposite.”

Jessica, who hopes to deliver more customers to her restaurant clients, told Smart Company
She sees the app as an opportunity for restaurant owners to take agency over their digital presence.

The 25-year-old, self-confessed foodie and Millen-trepreneur is not new to the scene. Jessica ran a thriving restaurant-based social media marketing business in her even-earlier-twenties promoting local haunts to her 50k-strong Instagram following. What she realised since working closely with the restaurant owners was there wasn’t a great representation of a restaurant’s dishes on social media platforms––at least, not any that aren’t controlled by the untrained public (which can often negatively impact a struggling business). Koncz analysed the pain points of the restaurant owners she was working with at the time, as well as her own very Millennial consumer,  wants and needs, and came up with her ‘Tinder for food’ app, Eatsee.

Just like Tinder, the Eatsee consumer is treated to a flashcard style gallery of well-put-together dishes. The user swipes left or right to either ignore or reveal the source of the dish, the restaurant. Not only does it give the consumer a visual connection to the menu, it gives the restaurant owners agency over what and how they’re being presented––Eatsee conducts professional photoshoots for each establishment offering the restaurants the chance to present themselves at their best––instead of relying on disgruntled Tripadvisor reviews and badly-lit, half eaten, amateur Insta-snaps of their proudly prepared plates.

From a simple idea, Koncz created her (short term) future. She knew her application to Sydney’s leg of the LAUNCH start-up pitch-fest could change her life, despite her humility holding her hopes at bay––humility she soon had to ditch for the pitch. Unsurprisingly, the 25-yr-old won that particular round, snagging herself a humble $100k to put toward the app and a trip to San Fran Cisco’s Silicon Valley where should join six other global start-ups in the LAUNCH program, allowing her to pitch to some of the most influential venture capitalists in the world.

Jessica admitted she had to leave her humility behind when approaching this next chapter. The US is not kind to those that don’t loudly back themselves, she knew she’d be lost among the big personalities floating around the Valley if she didn’t step up her ante.

Jessica told Smart Company,

“We have much more of a humble culture in Australia, so I’ve had to beat some humility out of myself.”

Humble or not, she went into the pitch-fest with quiet confidence and a solid, well-researched product. And, typically Millennial, Jessica is willing to put it all on the line for an idea she believes in.

“My goal is to expand globally, and we’re really looking to ramp up our team in the US and Australia,” she says.

And where will she be in ten years?

She told Dynamic Business back in April,

“In 10-years-time, when someone mentions the name Eatsee, I want it to make people smile because our company has a positive impact on the hospitality industry, not a negative one.”

And there are those invaluable Millennial ethical business values shining through. Go, Jess!