Dinnerbell App Officially Launches in Fredericton and Halifax
FREDERICTON- One year after its beta trial, the Dinnerbell app officially launched in Fredericton and Halifax on April 27. Dinnerbell is a mobile platform where users can find out what’s happening at the restaurants and bars in their area.
Cormac Stewart, one of Dinnerbell’s co-founders and front-end developer, said the app offers key features to users, like business hours, ongoing specials, weekly specials, and timely events like music.
“The goal for Dinnerbell, as a user, is you’re looking to do something and you go on to the app and, ideally, you can find a deal or something going on in your area,” said Stewart.
Evan Larkin, co-founder and chief technology officer, said the mobile platform aims at bringing customers back into restaurants after Covid-19.
“Covid took a lot of people out of [restaurant] seats, and with delivery services ramping up as well we’re trying to get people back out,” said Larkin.
The app was founded by seven University of New Brunswick graduates, based on an idea that came to them for a 2019 class assignment. The team members put their effort into the idea in 2020 when the pandemic first hit.
“We figured it was a good time to dive into this and the more we talked about it, the more we got excited about it,” said Larkin.
The beta trial of the Dinnerbell app went live in June 2021 with a couple of establishments. Stewart said after this beta period, the Dinnerbell team made the app inactive and applied what they learned during the trial period.
Stewart said since the beta trial the app has gone through some changes. Establishments can now make their own posts and the app now hosts more restaurants and bars in the Fredericton and Halifax areas.
“Our main goal right now is to make an app that’s as valuable for users as possible,” said Stewart.
Larkin said the team received overall good feedback from the restaurants and users from their beta period. He said some users were surprised with the information they learned about the 10 restaurants that were on the app at the time, such as daily specials.
“We realized … it could be more of a hub for information. So that’s leading to our pivot to have posts and more information of everything you need to know about the hospitality and entertainment scene in the city,” said Larkin.
There are currently 21 restaurants and bars from Fredericton on the app and 64 from Halifax. It features an interactive map view where users can see the establishments in their area.
Stewart said since the official launch, Dinnerbell received feedback that users like the notification feature.
“I’ve gotten feedback from people that they get a notification and say there’s brunch going on somewhere or whatever it is. People seem to like that because it brings value to them and they learn something new,” said Stewart.
He also said one of the biggest things his team learned from last summer was users were interested in knowing what daily specials restaurants have.
“You’re really just setting yourself up for know more of what’s going on around [you],” said Stewart.
Larkin said Dinnerbell’s current goal is to make the app valuable for users and establishments. The current information on the app is taken from public restaurant websites, but they eventually want to establish a “more explicit partnership” with the restaurants.
“Our goal is to grow across the Maritimes and take it as far as we possibly can because we generally think there’s real value for all stakeholders,” said Larkin.
Jessica Saulnier is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her your story tips: [email protected].