A quarter of a million people have signed up for an app which听helps diners find out which restaurants are participating in a government scheme.听
The meal deal scheme,听鈥楨at Out to Help Out鈥�,听launched this month to听give听customers up to 50 per cent off to help eateries in the wake of COVID-19.听More than 60,000 restaurants are participating.听
Manchester start-up Sancus Insights saw its app hit听No.1 on the food & drink ranking on the Play Store, while its听overall Apple ranking placed it above the likes of tech behemoths Twitter, LinkedIn and Uber.听
Michael Lawes and Jordan Ryan Madeley听came up with the idea听when they听were听bombarded with questions about the meal deal through another digital high street platform they run.听听
鈥淥ur sole aim is to bring the high street into the 21st Century,鈥� said CEO Michael Lawes. 鈥淲e aim to provide a platform that puts everything our high streets have to offer at our fingertips; where our experiences are tailored to who we are and where brick and mortar business can access the same sort of digital insight and power as online businesses do, every day.听听
鈥淲e saw this scheme as an opportunity to lay the foundation for this. Starting with the hospitality sector to help those local eateries we all know and love to bounce back better.鈥�听
The听app听was created and听deployed听within three days.听听
CTO Madeley听explained:听鈥淲e expected high traffic but the passion and eagerness from the public to support their local eateries听was听phenomenal. We went from 500 users in the first听three听days, to 25,000 thousand downloads a day from there on.听听
鈥�This instantly toppled our servers,听limiting access to the app during peak periods, which was incredibly frustrating for us and of course our users of which we apologise.听听
鈥�So听we were all hands on deck day听and听night to stabilise things. It took a lot of investment in time and money, but at the end of the day, it was the right thing to do.鈥�听
Now working alongside HMRC for a regular stream of updates in participating venues, the app is now aiming for 1,000,000 downloads before the scheme ends.听
The start-up then intends to continue assisting high street businesses as they aim to bounce back from lockdown.听
The app is free听and听available for venues and diners to download at听听听听
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Restaurants