Bitequest is a Delhi based startup that aims to be a comprehensive directory of top restaurants, clubs, bars and other such outlets in and around 
Delhi.
While there are whole lot of online foodie destinations (aPlacetoDine, FoodieBay, HungryZone) for NCR region, Bitequest also has special deals/offers from restaurants (which is what letshead.to is also doing in Bangalore).
The product focuses mainly on lifestyle category restaurants and needs whole lot of improvement in search – most of the searches result in no-result page.
One of the things that I like about Bitequest is it’s business profile page – rich in data (especially additional information like timings/cuisine etc).
One can book a table and Bitequest also has put the restaurant menus online – categorized under different sections (Food/Drinks/Chef’s corner etc).
If you are from NCR region, do give Bitequest a bite and share your opinion (especially on quality/accuracy of data).
Interesting. I still dont know if making a food-only-portal is better vis-a-vis a comprehensive local search engine. Khojguru.com, for example, looks at all businesses and tries to be rich in data for all of them. Here are examples from that site:
1. (it is for Earth Italian Lounge Bar of the Moets group and all start ups cover them)
http://gurgaon.khojguru.com/merchants/Earth-(Italian-Lounge-&-Bar)-13007
2. This is another example, that of Wills Lifestyle (Apparel)
http://gurgaon.khojguru.com/merchants/Wills-Lifestyle-149947
3. here is another, Jawed habib (Beauty Salon)
http://delhi.khojguru.com/merchants/Jawed-Habib-Hair-&-Beauty-Salon-151561
Ashish & team – keen to hear your thoughts.
Regards
Nitin
We are seriously deficient of some problem sovling ideas mann!!!! Looks like this market is getting more than its fair share of attention and effort.
The other day I ound a bunch of guys coming up with yet another classifieds site. On dropping a mail I found that they were themselves not convinced about the idea of being yet another. yet they spent all the time and energy to do it.
I seriously hope we can do some creative soul searching than churning out site after site in the same domains.
Seriously go out and do some legwork find out what problems retailers are facing, school going kids, parents, office goers, housewives, students, consumers are facing.
Why not start a pre-event networking sites( events like TIE are a fraction productive without knowing who is attending,) a Better business bureau of India on helping retailers follow ethicality issues. an offline ad-network for local retailers, of local retailers monetizing small spaces in restaurants, clinics, gyms.
@Aditya Gupta, Very valid point! Infact, the basic idea is that if something is easy, it’s probably not worth it.
And launching an Internet portal is a classic example – its just so damn easy to build one..- and maybe that’s why people are swayed away by cheap ideas..and not do something big..
@Ashish, actually – in the local search space, if you are collecting data yourself and having all the tie-ups with the retailers then its quite some legwork. My guess is that no one local search engine solves the problem ideally and that is why so many players have come in hoping to reach the “ideal” solution. The truth is, the ideal solution will take time to happen and only the bravest/fittest will survive. Nobody can make a quick buck in local search since operations in terms of data management are extremely expensive (unless one uses some “shortcuts”). And that is why most of the players in this particular space on an average survive 18 months.
in terms of internet portal being easy – i slightly disagree. The users have been continuously spoiled with great UI design, good content, good technology, integration with other media etc and all this is slightly expensive to build if you want any traction/interest. Again, expensive is a relative term.
Aditya – these are excellent ideas but ideas are worth a dime. i laud the bitequest team that they covered so many places, tied up for deals and then approached pluggd.in for profiling. I can guarantee you that would have taken a lot of legwork (and i am not from bitequest team).
Regards
Nitin