New Social Media App Could Reshape Food Shopping

The latest social media network just launched, and it’s exclusively for foodies.

The Flavrs app provides a feed of cooking videos, recipe tutorials and meal-planning content with a shoppable integration that enables users to instantly purchase ingredients – which Flavrs said is an industry first.

Meeting a ‘human need’

“Prior to Flavrs’ launch, there has never been a dedicated platform that addresses the human instinct of watching food content and wanting to act on it,” Alejandro Oropeza, CEO of Flavrs told The Food Institute. “That very human need, along with the growing $130 billion creator economy, drove us to create a platform where foodies could watch, shop, and eat.”

That motto, “Watch, Shop, and Eat,” accurately taps into how young adults interact with social media. Over 80% of Gen Z adults enjoy watching food content on social media and 70% say it’s where they find their meal inspiration, according to a 2021 Statista poll.

As such, the demand for a platform like Flavrs is undeniably widespread, but Oropeza says they have a specific user in mind.

Designed for foodies

“Flavrs is built for people who live to eat. These are the people who enjoy food, who see it as an extension of themselves and a way of expressing themselves,” Oropeza explained. “These are the people who get excited thinking about their next meal.”

Those food-lovers eagerly anticipating their next meal won’t have to wait long, as the Flavrs app aims to make the journey from inspiration to action as frictionless as possible.

“We built an industry-first custom integration with Instacart that allows people to shop for the ingredients they need for any of the recipes on the platform,” Oropeza said. “You simply select the recipe(s) you want to recreate, hit the shopping cart icon on the right of the screen and each item is then added to an Instacart shopping cart.”

Focused on user experience

The food content to purchase pipeline is ripe for monetization and affiliate programs, but right now the platform is focused on establishing its name. Presently, Flavrs is free to use.

“As the platform grows, there will be other ways to drive value for users and creators that will become significant monetization routes, but for now our focus is on creating the best user experience for food content on the planet and driving value for our creators,” Oropeza said.

Flavrs debuted in beta earlier this month and is currently available only in the iOS App Store. Though the app is still in its infancy, Flavrs is backed by celebrity chefs Eric Ripert and Tom Colicchio and $7 million in seed funding, with big plans for the future.

Creating an ecosystem

“As we grow and scale, our vision is to become the category-defining food content and commerce experience for the 500-million-plus people around the world who live to eat,” Oropeza said.