9 April 2022
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Turner’s Cross based startup Peckish.ie has developed a menu search engine that allows consumers with specific dietary requirements (vegans, vegetarians and coeliacs etc) to search and order online. It aggregates restaurant menus and the restaurant’s preferred delivery/ordering platforms (e.g. Flipdish, Deliveroo, JustEat, etc).
Ordering takeaway is about to get easier for Irish consumers with dietary requirements with the launch of a new online food search engine.
Cork-based start-up Peckish was created to make ordering delicious food easy, especially for consumers with dietary requirements such as coeliac, vegan and dairy-free.
Founded by Paul O’Shea, the company has launched a €150,000 fundraising campaign through equity crowdfunding platform Spark Crowdfunding to expand its reach.
The company’s menu search engine provides consumers with dietary requirements and personal preferences, with the easiest way to find exactly what they want to eat in under 3 clicks and 10 seconds.
Hungry meal-seekers can go to the Peckish website, enter their location and search by cuisine such as a gluten-free burger or a vegan curry, or by dietary type such as dairy-free.
The Peckish search algorithm enables consumers to find and order dishes relevant to their dietary requirements by creating a searchable layer across multiple ordering platforms such as Deliveroo and Flipdish.
Similarly, the company’s search algorithm helps restaurants increase online orders by matching the right dish to the right consumer, based on their personal preferences or dietary requirements.
Mr O’Shea said the food search engine aims to cater for the 15% of the global population which are functional foodies (vegetarians, coeliacs, those with food allergies, etc.) including 500,000 people in Ireland alone.
“Consumers cannot simply search for their favourite foods online and be told exactly where to order or purchase them. This is especially difficult if you are one of the millions of consumers looking for vegan or gluten-free foods.”
Peckish is targeting €150,000 of investment on the Spark Crowdfunding platform, in exchange for equity in the Peckish company through a SAFE note.
Equity crowdfunding is a type of fundraising where small to medium-sized investors can invest anything from €100 upwards in a company in return for shares in that company. It operates in much the same way as Dragons’ Den where companies pitch for investment and the ‘crowd’ decides if it wishes to invest or not.
Spark Crowdfunding has more than 9,500 investors on its database and has raised funds for 28 Irish start-ups over the last three years.
Spark Crowdfunding CEO Chris Burge said:
“Peckish has developed the easiest way to find exactly what you’re looking to eat or order online with its food search engine. Peckish is already earning revenues and has generated more than 350,000 search results since founding.”
Mr Burge said Spark Crowdfunding has had a 100% success rate, with every company seeking to raise funds achieving their target, in the last 24 months.
“Whether you’re a beginner or experienced investor, we make it easy for people to invest in high-potential Irish start-ups like Peckish.”
The investment will be used to add features to the Peckish technology platform to assist integrations, menu onboarding and an AI recommendation system, and add key personnel to exploit market opportunities.
The global online food ordering market is estimated by McKinsey to be worth US$150 billion, and it’s expected to grow to US$450 billion in 2025.
