Who loves to eat alone? I personally don’t. I rather starve then eat without company. Well there are many people out there who share the same sentiment as me. Also, sharing a meal with someone has many possibilities of culminating into a bond that is stronger. To ensure that you never ever in your life eat another meal alone, a new app called Lunch Kaki is now available on your app store.
Introducing the Masterminds Behind Lunch Kaki LLP!
Lunch Kaki LLP is the brainchild start-up of Melvin Tan and CC Huang. Melvin formerly was an equity execution trader who also had a short stint as a relationship manager whereas; CC was in charge of future development plans in Taiwan and was running his family business. Together they wanted to change the scene of social networking and enable nearby strangers to quickly grab lunch together. The app is presently based in Singapore and is unlike any of your quintessential social networking apps.
“We pride ourselves on having the original novel concept of sending lunch requests to strangers nearby. In fact, I would think people would prefer using our app over dating apps with dating as objective in mind. Our market segment is certainly wider as it covers people who are single, attached or married. Though it’s for networking, there’s no stopping a person from using it for dating. And nothing’s going to stop you from using it to arrange for dinner, drinks, supper etc. With Lunch Kaki, the possibilities are endless. We simply angled it with lunch as it does away with commitment associated with dinners and create a safe environment to start getting to know people”, add Melvin and CC.
What Inspired It All?
Inspiration struck Melvin, after he quit the financial industry. “I was ‘jobless’ and thus had turned into a ‘social animal’, networking at every single opportunity. One day while I was looking through my contacts trying to arrange lunch appointments, my wife was at the same time telling me how dreadful it was to have lunch alone. We looked at each other and the rest is history”, shares Melvin beamingly.
On Challenges Faced So Far!
In a start-up, there always are doubts and uncertainties associated with an idea that is authentic and original. Thus for Melvin and CC, the determination to stay focused and committed to their idea against all odds was certainly their biggest challenge.
Lunch Kaki is the Solution To…
Well this app is not here for merely solving a problem. The true purpose behind creating Lunch Kaki is to change the scene of social networking by enabling strangers to grab lunches together for networking purposes, to find people with common interests, for dating purposes, or for just having a lunch companion.
On Competitors, Intended Audience, Expansion and More
“Seriously speaking, we do not have any direct competitors as we are a social networking app for everybody be it single, attached or married. Indirect competitors would be all the dating apps out there. As we are based out of Singapore, probably the closest competitor would be Paktor who just got a round of funding from Vertex”, say Melvin and CC.
For them, this is just the beginning as they plan to scale up and make their presence felt in the global market. Also, Lunch Kaki is meant for anyone with an open mind and keen on meeting new friends. The team is proud to already have a strong base of working professionals that range from lawyers, doctors, traders, entrepreneurs and everyone else in between. It is a growing community that is getting stronger and stronger with each passing day.
How Do They Plan on Monetizing Lunch Kaki?
At present, there is already an in app purchase available. Free users will only be able to send out 5 lunch requests a day and search lunch kakis within a 2km radius. There is an option to pay USD 2.99 to be a premium user where they can send out 10 lunch requests a day and with no distance barred in searching for lunch kakis.
An ad space is created on the app that allows featuring of advertisements. This is done to predominantly not irk the users with pop up ads. To view all ads featured with the app, the user can scroll through this space to see if they wish to avail something. However, for Melvin and CC monetizing is not top on their priority list. They are mainly focused on building their user base as they rightfully believe that this is what will naturally get them the required cash inflow.
Also, upon reaching the desired user base, they plan on engaging restaurants and cafes to advertise their lunch promotions on the app. In this way, it’s a win-win situation, where the users of Lunch Kaki get to enjoy a lunch deal while merchants can drive more business.
“Currently our marketing efforts are centered in Singapore. However, anyone can download the app and use it if English is your main language. Users in other countries may find that there are not many users in their region. That’s because our marketing campaign have not reached overseas yet! We urge users to help spread all the love they can in their country (simple by Facebook sharing, etc) and hopefully there would be substantial organic growth even before we embark overseas”, add Melvin and CC on a parting note.
Wait, wait! We are not done just yet. Download and register with the app today and send Lunch Kaki LLP your interesting lunch quotes to enjoy free upgrade to the Premium package. Remember, offer is valid only till December 31, 2014.
To know more about this awesome app, do visit: www.golunchkaki.com
