An online portal, which brings people with a passion for food together to share their dining out experiences, has been launched. iStarvin, a site that combines the convenience of a restaurant directory with in-depth content and eye-catching photos, connects individuals with an interest in food and dining, allowing them to follow each other’s activity or seek recommendations for a special occasion.
With a focus on eating out, the site will eventually feature a community of bloggers from across the UK – including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and Lincoln – giving visitors the option to either browse listings and read user reviews or to read the more detailed accounts of contributors whose dining experiences extend beyond settling their bill. These experiences will help other people make more informed decisions about where they eat, with people who are passionate about food – diners, bloggers and restaurant owners – all in one place.
The site breaks the mould of the increasingly popular clean, crisp and simple website designs and, instead, is “…as warm as a restaurant and as inviting as a menu,” according to iStarvin founder, David Knight. “Let’s be honest, you wouldn’t be choosing where to eat on a standard search engine, would you? It requires more than a quick keyword search, so we’ve ensured that a visit to this website will be a warm, inviting, enjoyable and media-rich experience,” he insists.
“We’re also confident that the quality of our content will encourage visitors to come back again and again – with detailed menu descriptions displayed just how you’d expect to find them in a restaurant, easily distinguishable icons for things like vegetarian and a-la-carte, as well as extensive imagery on the site,” says David, “Essentially, we’re bringing a community of people together, with food – a topic that gets everyone talking – as the central theme,” he adds.
To reflect the site’s community-focus, the integration of live Twitter feeds into business listings is also planned, so that diners can access real-time information about eating establishments and take advantage of exclusive offers. An additional Twitter-inspired feature of the site is that users can see the latest activity of their friends through an individual user newsfeed.
Acting on an observation that people like to be rewarded for their online contributions, the site’s developers have also incorporated a points system so that users that contribute more will be highlighted through a range of different rank titles and icons.
“While developing the site, I was asked why the community features such as profiles, followers and the ability to interact with other visitors had been included,” says David, “The simple answer is that food really does get people talking – it’s a topic that unites and divides opinion and is something that people like to discuss,” he adds. “People also appreciate recognition for their contributions, so the points system and ranking addresses this – we’ve set the platform for a community that shares honest evaluations of places to eat and we’re encouraging food lovers nationwide to join in,” David concludes.