BY RIDA KAYANI, STAFF WRITER
A new food inspired app, HUNGRY, has been brought to the area to serve up authentic chef-curated meals to the Mason community.
The “serial entrepreneurs,” as siblings Shayan and Eman Pahlevani call themselves on the HUNGRY website, said they decided to create an app where they could introduce an open platform between foodies and local chefs, something they believed was missing in the modern food industry. The app offers up a number of meals prepared by real chefs all at the touch of a button.
“Research proved that chefs and caterers were already selling their meals, but a marketplace that connected the foodies with the chefs was the missing piece,” Shayan Pahlevani said.
The HUNGRY app is currently only available on iOS, but according to Shayan Pahlevani, the services will eventually extend to Android devices. It will also allow anyone with internet access to place orders online through the HUNGRY website.
Within the app, users will find several tabs to browse through, such as meal options, top chefs, personal orders and an account tab to upload an address and payment method. In addition, the chefs and meals are catered to an individual’s location, taste and even the time of day or date, Shayan said.
Shayan Pahlevani said, “Our app is an order-ahead model, so you can pick a date and order your meal ahead of time.”
He added that each trending chef has their own profile with a brief description of their experience and specialties.
“Our ‘top chefs’ tab serves as a trending page for our chefs so you can always see the best chefs in your area,” Shayan Pahlevani said.
As far as menu options go, the app offers a variety of diverse options, including the best-selling “Pineapple Habanero Burger,” “Indian Kathi Roll” and “Chicken Wing Adobo,” to name a few, Shayan Pahlevani said.
People can use the filter option to select “specific cuisine, dietary preference and allergies,” Shayan Pahlevani said, as well as choosing the type of food they would like, such as desserts or salads. The prices range anywhere between $10 to $14 (for lunch), depending on the meal of choice, plus a delivery fee, but Shayan Pahlevani also said “delivery is always free for orders over one meal.”
On the other end of the screen are chef’s that coordinate with incoming orders and their own expertise.
“Chefs create the menus that they want to sell, and cook on their own time,” Shayan Pahlevani said.
Since the launch of the app, Shayan Pahlevani said that over 500 chefs applied to serve the DMV area, and currently 70 are approved to sell and cook for the app.
In addition, he said “lunch has been so successful, with all our chefs selling out daily, that we are opening up dinner hours.”
All photos courtesy of Shayan Pahlevani.
The two siblings have also worked on a safety app called LiveSafe with a similar motivation, which has now reached the number one slot for safety apps on campuses nationwide, Shayan Pahlevani said.
As of right now, HUNGRY does not deliver on the weekends, but that is something the founders are working towards establishing as the app gains traction, Shayan Pahlevani said. He added as a special promotion, HUNGRY is offering an exclusive 50 percent discount for all Mason students and faculty by using the code ‘GMU’ upon checkout within the app.
The goal of HUNGRY, as Shayan Pahlevani claimed, is to “revolutionize a new way of ordering food where you know the person cooking your food, and you have direct access to your favorite local chef.”
