Technically Not Tech: Midtown Lunch invades Philadelphia

Update: Added blogger interview.

Let the record show that Technically Philly has two immediate reactions to MidtownLunch.com, the blog that aims to showcase cool places to eat during your lunch break for under 10 bucks:

1. Wonderful idea, a man can only go to Wawa so many times for lunch.
2. “Midtown?” C’mon now.

The site, originating from The 67th Ward, first expanded to downtown Manhatten and on January 13th expanded to Philly. The site is popular among Manhatten-ites, even landing coverage in The New York Times . According to Compete.com data, Midtown Lunch’s traffic (which is presumably is mostly due to its NYC content) is more than most of its new Philly competition, even the ones with an established presence in The 67th Ward.

The site author, Jamie (she prefers not to give her last name) is from Flushing and has taken the trip down the turnpike to go to law school (though she won’t disclose which one).

“I just really dislike going to generic [lunch] places,” she said in a phone interview with Technically Philly.

Jamie did her undergrad in the state and said she was always visiting friends in the city while at college. She maintained her own food blog and was profiled by Midtown Lunch before becoming the site’s Philly writer. She said hopes to make Midtown Lunch an outlet where people can find a “more fun lunch for people that work in the city for under ten dollars.”

But will the site’s Philadelphia section catch on here, where food blogs are as abundant as Phillies hats?

We explore using the same +/- rating system that the site uses in reviewing restaurants:

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Friday Q&A: Snipi CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi

Due to editorial limitations, we’re running our Friday Q&A a day late. Our sincerest apologies.

Three years ago, Midtown Village-based design firm Omeda Design + Technology, led by CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi sat down to a brainstorming session that led to an interesting new online shopping tool.

Snipi which lets users share products, videos, photos and more through an attractive drag and drop interface is attempting to finish what Digg and Delicious started: building consumer profiles created by analyzing the gap between customer purchases online.

“Take ‘X’ user, currently looking for a product for a niece or nephew. They buy it, and then what?,” Golsorkhi asks in a telephone interview with Technically Philly. “They’d drop off Snipi and then two weeks later they’d come back looking for the next thing. But they’re not inactive online.”

Snipi launched a public beta in early May and though growth has been modest the company has seen more than 5,000 registrations since, Golsorkhi says it is steady.

For consumers, Snipi is an attractive service, though a bit buggy and still in beta. Its slick interface more than makes up for the hiccups, and with a wide offering of platforms, which include a Firefox toolbar, an iPhone app and more to come, it seems a promising endeavor.

Technically Philly spoke to Golsorkhi to see what the service was all about, what’s in store for Snipi, and why he thinks Philly is a great place for startups.
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