Overview
Find. Eat. Drink. (F.E.D.) was founded with a passion for the food industry and a vision to create a social network where food lovers and professionals could discover expert recommendations. The platform was designed around a curated database of food professionals and their go-to spots—restaurants, bars, markets, and grocery stores. To bring this vision to life, the Caravan team was tasked with building a native iOS app from the ground up using Objective-C, integrating a scalable backend architecture, and ensuring an intuitive user experience in collaboration with Frank Collective for design.
Non-Technical Details
Find. Eat. Drink. had already established itself as a premier culinary website, distributing recommendations through PDF city guides. However, transitioning this concept into an interactive mobile app required thoughtful UX/UI design and technical execution. Key aspects of the project included:
- User-Centric Experience – Designed an app that allowed users to browse and search for food professional recommendations easily.
- Geolocation Features – Enabled users to find expert-endorsed restaurants, bars, and markets in any city they visited.
- Personalized City Guides – Users could curate and save recommendations, creating their own travel-friendly food guides.
- Distinct Aesthetic & Branding – Ensured the app reflected the unique identity of Find. Eat. Drink., leveraging the designs provided by Frank Collective.
Technical Details
Caravan developed the Find. Eat. Drink. iOS app from scratch, ensuring a seamless, high-performance experience for users. Our technical approach included:
- Native iOS Development – Built the app in Objective-C to optimize performance and maintain Apple's best practices.
- AWS-Powered Backend – Developed a cloud-hosted content management system and web services to serve dynamic recommendations and data.
- Scalable Architecture – Designed the backend to handle a growing database of food professionals and recommendations.
- Location-Based Search – Integrated geolocation features to enhance discovery and make the app useful for travelers.
- Iterative UI/UX Development – Implemented an intuitive, engaging interface to showcase the curated food content effectively.
Measuring Success
Find. Eat. Drink. successfully transformed from a static web-based platform into an indispensable mobile discovery guide. Key outcomes included:
- Increased User Engagement – Food lovers and professionals actively used the app to discover and share expert recommendations.
- Expanded Reach – The mobile experience broadened the accessibility of F.E.D.’s insider knowledge beyond static PDFs.
- Seamless Content Management – The cloud-based backend enabled continuous updates and content expansion.
About The Customer
Find. Eat. Drink. is a culinary discovery platform that connects food lovers with expert recommendations from top industry professionals. By bridging the gap between insider knowledge and digital accessibility, the platform has become a trusted resource for travelers, foodies, and industry insiders alike.