Hoppit Blog

The results are in! After 50,000 recommendations, we decided to put together the first Hoppit Trend Report for NYC, chalked full of all sorts of interesting data on Hoppers and where they go. Here are a few snippets from the report:

Top Trending Restaurants in NYC:

1. Shake Shack (Madison)
2. Shake Shack (UWS)
3. Grey Dog Coffee (University)
4. Koronet Pizzeria
5. Ruby’s (Soho)
6. Bouley
7. The Meatball Shop
8. Chipotle Mexican (Midtown)
9. Freemans
10. Caffe Reggio

Average Hoppit Psychographics:

1. Mac users
2. Mad Men watchers
3. North Face wearers who like to ski

Do you like the places above? Do those psychographics describe you? Then perhaps you should check out www.hoppit.com!

After a very successful alpha, Hoppit has kicked off its Beta 2.0 redesign! Let the hackathon begin :-)

Restaurant search has gone the way of personalization, and we here at Hoppit believe that our Place Genome Project is going to change the way consumers discover new places to eat and drink.

Let’s first consider Pandora. Pandora’s Music Genome Project is a fantastic example of how to do data-driven recommendations. A song is represented by a list approximately 400 “genes,” and each gene corresponds to a characteristic of the music (e.g. gender of lead vocalist, level of distortion on the electric guitar). Your average Coldplay tune has 150 genes, and when you throw Coldplay into Pandora, its algorithms find songs with a very similar gene pool, and play them for you.

I assert that the best way to recommend restaurants and bars is via this same gene-based approach. Places have many unique “genes,” too. For example, a restaurant can have:

• Type genes: Wine Bar, Pub, Cafe
• Cuisine genes: Italian, Mediterranean
• Pricing genes: $, $$, $$$
• Noise genes: Quiet, Loud
• Menu genes: Meatballs, Wines, Cheeses

And the most important genes (that we believe no one has really touched on yet):

• Ambience genes: Classy, Cozy, Romantic, Exposed Brick, Hipster, Kitschy, Fireplace

Ambience genes differentiate restaurants. If you think about it, there are 1,000+ Italian restaurants in Manhattan. But, there are only about 20 Italian restaurants in Manhattan that are cozy, with a fireplace and exposed brick (probably 1-2 per neighborhood). 

Ambience also plays a key role in your occasion. A large, classy Italian restaurant is perfect for a family dinner. A dimly-lit, romantic Italian restaurant is perfect for a Valentine’s day date. And a cozy, hole in the wall Italian nook is good for a 1st date. 

Hoppit is trying to transform the way we find new places by focusing on ambience. In Hoppit, you can find the exact ambience you desire (down to the nitty, gritty details). It’s the first of its kind, and it’s where we believe restaurant and bar searching is going.  

-Steven Dziedzic, Founder

What happens when Yelp and Pandora have a baby? 

Hoppit. 

Hoppit, your personal dining concierge, has just launched the world’s first ambience search engine for restaurants, bars, and lounges. Simply select a Hoppit “Vibe” (akin to a Pandora “channel”), like Hipster, Cozy & Quaint, or Romantic, and Hoppit displays all the restaurants and bars that fit that Vibe in your location. 

You can now curate the world of dining with one click.

Check out www.hoppit.com. 

And show us some love! Hoppit is here to help.