Member Article

Silicon Valley Veterans Serve Up Allergy App in Birmingham

The three co-founders of an innovate new food app have chosen Birmingham as the UK launch location for their latest venture. Ingredifind – which was founded by Mark White, Nick White, and Hanna Ogburn – helps diners discover meals that meet their food allergy and dietary needs, and is now available in the city to empower restaurant operators and customers alike.

Launched in France and Germany earlier this year, Ingredifind makes eating out easier and more accessible for diners with food allergies and dietary requirements. It provides online filterable menus for cafes, restaurants, and hospitality venues so that people can identify what’s safe to eat in advance of visiting. Its personalised digital food allergy card also allows people to easily communicate their allergies to restaurant staff.

For venues, the app helps to empower employees with the most up-to-date allergen information, reducing the risk of misunderstandings and providing customers with a more streamlined experience. It can also reduce the decision-making time for those with dietary needs, making venues accessible to a wider variety of diners.

With an estimated two million people in the UK having a diagnosed food allergy, according to the Food Standards Agency, Ingredifind solves a critical challenge for the industry.

Ingredifind is the brainchild of Mark White, a Computer Science graduate from Boston University in America, who started writing the code for Ingredifind back in 2019. Mark saw the challenges that his partner and co-founder, Hanna Ogburn, faced when eating out due to her complex allergies, and he wanted to find a solution for diners who shared her needs. He comments:

“Hanna is one of Ingredifind’s co-founders and has been instrumental in us designing an app that’s fit-for-purpose for both diners and restaurant operators. Menu transparency is a real issue for people with food allergies, and Ingredifind provides a hassle-free way for customers to see what they can eat ahead of time.

“Once signed up, customers create their own unique dietary profile and can filter venues and menus at the touch of a button. This takes away the guessing game – and lengthy decision-making process – when dining, and also makes venues more accessible to a wider variety of people.”

Working alongside Mark and Hanna is Nick White, a veteran when it comes to tech start-ups, having spent his career working across the world – most notably in Silicon Valley. Nick was the Controller at NeXT, reporting to Steve Jobs as it transitioned from hardware to software. In addition, he helped build SpringSource from Series A to a $420M VMware sale, steered Talend through its “teenage” years between start-up and $1B~ public company, and was one of the key players in taking Elastic from pre-financed idea to a company with over 1,000 employees in 35 countries.

Speaking about this latest venture, Nick comments:

“Ingredifind represents a significant leap forward in food discovery and safety, combining cutting-edge technology with a passion for quality and transparency. By harnessing the power of Ingredifind, food enthusiasts and industry professionals will gain access to an extensive database of ingredients, recipes, sourcing options, and safety information, ensuring a seamless and trustworthy experience.

Having already launched in France and Germany, we’ve been excited to come to the UK, and Birmingham seemed like the perfect location to start. With a diverse culinary scene, we knew the city would provide us with an exciting array of restaurants to approach and start working with. The past week has been fantastic, and we’re excited to welcome our first UK restaurants onto the app over the coming weeks.“

Over the past week, Ingredifind’s three co-founders have hosted a roundtable dinner at Itihaas Restaurant, welcoming hospitality leaders to discuss food safety. They have delivered two seminars at The Grand Hotel covering technological trends and how to create personalised dining experiences. In addition to hosting the movers and shakers of the hospitality industry at a launch event held at Harvey Nichols Birmingham.

Ingredifind is free to join, for both diners and venues, and aims to build a community of like-minded people who care about menu transparency and providing access to great food. The app’s Birmingham launch serves as a catalyst for its national rollout, with plans to expand to other major cities across the UK over the coming months.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire Bryson .