MenuDish - innovating dining experiences worldwide

SimberTech, a food tech startup, has developed MenuDish, an innovative app designed to enhance dining experiences for travelers and food enthusiasts. The app addresses the common challenge of navigating restaurant menus in foreign languages by creating digital menus that are easy to understand.

Moien Tajik, the founder of MenuDish, shared, "The idea for MenuDish came from our own experiences of moving to the Netherlands from Iran and struggling with restaurant menus in different languages. We wanted to create a solution that would make dining out more accessible and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of language barriers."

Technology choices and usage

MenuDish leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver its services. The app uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, powered by AI, to read menus in various languages and convert them into digital formats.

The front end is powered by .NET MAUI, which offers extensive cross-platform capabilities, allowing the app to support both iOS and Android with a single codebase. This technology enables the small development team at MenuDish to reach a wider audience efficiently.

Additionally, the integration with Azure services provides the scalability and reliability needed to handle a growing number of users, while ensuring data security. The app also utilizes Azure services, including App Service, CDN (Content Delivery Network), Application Insights, and Azure Functions, to ensure robust and scalable operations.

Moien Tajik explained, "We chose .NET MAUI because of my extensive experience with .NET and Xamarin.Forms, which made it easier to implement the app using familiar technology. Additionally, the cross-platform capabilities of .NET MAUI allowed us to reach a wider audience by supporting both iOS and Android with a single codebase. The integration with Azure services provided us with the scalability and reliability we needed to handle the growing number of users. We also appreciated the security features offered by Azure, which ensured that our users' data was protected."

"The cross-platform capabilities of .NET MAUI allowed us to reach a wider audience by supporting both iOS and Android with a single codebase."

Benefits and obstacles

The use of .NET and Azure services has brought numerous benefits to MenuDish. The app's development time was significantly reduced, and the ability to share code between the back end and front end streamlined the process.

However, the team faced challenges such as integrating authentication across platforms and scaling SignalR for real-time updates. Despite these obstacles, Moien Tajik said, "The robust community support and extensive library ecosystem of .NET were instrumental in overcoming the challenges we faced. We were able to find solutions quickly and efficiently, thanks to the active and knowledgeable .NET community."

Another significant benefit was the seamless integration with Azure services, which provided the necessary infrastructure to support the app's growth. Azure App Service allowed for easy deployment and scaling, while Azure Functions enabled the team to implement serverless computing for specific tasks, reducing operational overhead. The use of Azure CDN ensured that content was delivered quickly and reliably to users around the world.

"The robust community support and extensive library ecosystem of .NET were instrumental in overcoming the challenges we faced. We were able to find solutions quickly and efficiently, thanks to the active and knowledgeable .NET community."

Impact and future enhancements

MenuDish has received positive feedback from users, particularly those who struggle with language barriers while dining. Moien Tajik shared, "The ability to provide detailed information about dishes, including ingredients, calories, and dietary preferences, has been highly appreciated by our users.".

With plans to add audio features for accessibility, and further enhance the app using AI, MenuDish is set to continue revolutionizing the dining experience for users worldwide.

Moien Tajik added, "We are constantly exploring new features and improvements to make MenuDish even more valuable to our users. Our future plans include integrating AI to provide personalized recommendations and adding audio features to make the app more accessible to visually impaired users. We believe that these enhancements will further improve the dining experience for our users and help us reach a broader audience."

The impact of MenuDish extends beyond individual users. Restaurants have also benefited from the app, as it helps them cater to a more diverse clientele. By providing digital menus in multiple languages, restaurants can attract more international customers and improve their overall dining experience. This has led to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as positive reviews and word-of-mouth referrals.