Jess Koncz - Eatsee

The Last Supper was Steff to Sosa. Thanks for dropping by. Cum and Suss steves the life spice. All her socials at spicysteff.com. Today on The Last Supper, cast, I've got Jess Kons. She's the founder, CEO, boss lady of Eatsy. A company changed the way people discover food in a visual and personalised way. Think Tinder for food. That's what Jess is at. Eatsy, it's all about. Jess from Eatsy, thank you so much for coming in and joining me today. And thank you for having me in my major. You are at very much an evolving business, aren't you? Yes, it feels that way. Yes. I first discovered you guys from Crave at Newcastle, which is like an Instagram page where you do everything, cafe and restaurant and recommendations and all that kind of star-fripe. Yeah, they cover all things food. That started pretty organically, actually. I'm a huge foodie. I started posting photos of food from cafes and restaurants that I was eating at. But it was to my personal Instagram and some of my friends were like, "Cassie, post so many photos of food." Maybe you should start your own page. So I did and then, yeah, people started following it. So, yeah, it was kind of the start of it all. So were you a marketing person? I wasn't. I actually have a background hospitality, like working in front of house. And I always thought I'd open up a cafe restaurant one day. I just found my love for marketing when I was actually supervising at a cafe and they were like, "Run the Instagram." And I was like, "Yeah, I could do that." And then I loved that so much more than the actual service part of hospitality. So, yeah, I quit my job and started posting on this Instagram more frequently and we started getting asked by cafes and restaurants that would feature if we could actually then run their social media. And I remember the first person that asked me, I was just like, "Oh my God, I'm so not equipped for this." There's no way I should be charging for this. And I remember, I like straight up front saying that I was like, "I don't feel comfortable charging for this." I like, "Well, it's either you take the money and I hate it." And we stopped doing it or you take my money and I love it and we keep working together. Well, that's a really positive way of looking at it. Yeah, exactly. So were you taking your photos yourself? Yeah, yeah. Do you still do that? I don't. So I take good iPhone photos, but I remember I went to one feature by myself and I walked out feeling really unprofessional because I had my iPhone and I went to the shops and I bought myself a camera. And I was kind of like that fake until you make it moment. And I was just like, "Did you even know what camera to buy?" I had no idea. I was like, "Get me the most beginners basic camera and not stuff yourself with." And I started shooting myself early on. And then we got to the point where we were getting booked for like, paid shoots and I was like, "Okay, I'm so out of my debt." I really need to book a photographer. So yeah, I bought on a professional photographer and that was kind of the start of the agency. So yeah, after Cravener Castle, we started Cravener Media, which is a marketing agency specifically for cafes and restaurants. And yeah, my first hire was kind of like, I guess this is kind of an agency. Like I have clients and we have staff and before I knew it, we had a decent-sized team and I was like, "I guess I'm running a business that's an agency." Wow. It's just such an organic way to start and move on. Yeah, I was like 20 years old. I'm 26 now. So I was like, "It was my first business." I can't completely say I had no idea what I was doing to start off with. And yeah, it was sort of, it was just learning to go. I made a lot of mistakes. Social media is like that though. You can't just sit down and study how to run an Instagram page. No. It's trial by Erin really. It is. And we were in the fourth position. I think my alert so quickly is because we worked with a lot of restaurants and cafes. We were able to try so many different things that worked for some and worked, you know, didn't work for others. Instead of just like, you know, someone starting up their own business and they're only doing marketing themselves, it's really hard to split tests and try things. We had other people's money to work with. Like, you know, when we're running Facebook ads, it was great learning. And really successful. I mean, to have 47,000 followers in a local area. In a niche area is huge. That's a massive following. And Newcastle is just like, it's such a special place in my heart as well. Like now I started to expand into other areas. Coming back to Newcastle and being able to say the name, Crave and people recognizing it is just like such a, it's such a proud moment. Yeah, that's really it. Yeah. And, you know, I got anywhere else and nobody knows who I am. But Newcastle, it feels, yeah, it's really special to have so many people know about the Instagram page. Yeah. Yeah. The humble beginnings of it. Now tell me about Etsy who you very funly describe as Tinder. The most restaurants in cafes. Yeah, Tinder and the food. I love that. And you are doing huge things with this. It's been like a crazy last six months. I started the app about two years ago in Newcastle. It was called Crave. And then I had the opportunity to pitch like start up Shark Tank style at a preaching competition in Sydney. It was called Launch Festival. And I remember seeing the application process for it. And it was like the winner will get $100,000 and 12 weeks in San Francisco. Wow. Going through an accelerated program. And I was like, whoa. I can do that. I can do that. Honestly, it was just like for me, I was like, okay, this is Sydney. It's a pretty big audience. A lot of people will go to this. Like chances are, I'm not going to win it. But if I don't, it's just still a thousand people that will know about Crave that didn't before. So that's honestly like why I applied. I was like, I just want to tell more people about this app. Hopefully they download it. And then, yeah, we ended up winning it. Wow. And it was just like, it changed my life. It's a little old Newcastle. Yeah. And that was the thing. Honestly, like in Sydney, I'd pitch it other things before. And I'd have been told by people, you're not going to be taking seriously and tell you're outside of Newcastle. Like, word for word, you are just a little Newcastle business. And it was just like, it's crazy. It's location even matter anymore. Especially not for technology. You could be anywhere in the world. I could be in Bali running it and no one would even know. It's so mean. Technology just doesn't matter where you are. Yeah, definitely. So I think that because the pitching competition was ran by Americans, they had no idea, like Sydney vs Newcastle. No, they didn't have any perceive. Exactly. No, there's no preconceived perception on like, little old Newcastle or me. And yeah, so I was one of three winners that went across. They picked three people to go to America, which is incredible. And yeah, I went to San Francisco for, I had not been there for six months. And I only got back about two months ago in August. Yeah, really? So it was this year, it was just like, I couldn't believe how I'd gone from Newcastle to then like San Francisco. We didn't expand anywhere else. We didn't do Sydney yet. And I'm not going to San Francisco. San Francisco was San Francisco. Yeah, yeah, it was massive. And it's been a massive like shot coming back as well. San Francisco is just like a whole not the base. Yeah. Going over there and going through an ex-hello program. It was very focused around fundraising. So yeah, if anyone's ever listened to Shark Tangle, watch that. It was like the real life version of that for like three months in my life. They're getting in and alive. Yeah, literally. It's like, I've got very thick skin after that experience. It's just a little bit too much. Yeah, it's like, you know, spend three months with everyone telling you that, you know, it's not going to work or they want more validation because you need more downloads or you need more revenue. All these things where it's just like, you just have to have so much belief in what you're doing and so much passion for it because a lot of the time people are not going to believe in what you're doing. It sounds like it's a tech version of MasterChef. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Honestly, yeah, I feel like you can totally relate to it. I know, I can. You're gonna say all that. It's like, yep, I hear y'all. Yeah, yeah, I'm just like, I love it, but it's painful for when someone tells me that they don't love it. I know, but it's great. Yeah. So what has happened as a result of this amazing experience in San Francisco? Well, I think a lot of people took a small serious thing. Yeah. I learned so much personally and professionally being there as well. I took away over to San Francisco and spent six months in another country and, you know, going through such a prestigious accelerator program. I met some incredible people that I'm pinched at some of the biggest venture capital firms like in the world that I still pinch myself on a thing about what I was able to do. But the best thing about it was we were actually able to raise a small pre-seed round. So a lot of companies that go into the tech and they, you know, want to grow, they'll go out and raise money and they'll go to small backing to be able to hire more people. And we're at this critical point in the business where I had so much I wanted to do, but not enough money to be able to hire the people that I wanted to help build this and create it to be something bigger than just Newcastle. So we raised through any $50,000 after this, which is incredible. That's a lot of money. But you'll be surprised how quickly it can go. Especially when you went many wages, isn't it? It will develop as they're expensive and, you know, just marketing everything. It's more expensive these days to get eyeballs to see. It's completely competitive. Yeah, so it'll go quickly and then hopefully by then we'll continue growing and have more revenue and more restaurants. So that was the best thing as people took us more seriously and actually wanted to back it. So it's really exciting. So where is ETC available? So is the available in San Francisco? Or is it just in Australia? Yeah, so it's globally available. We have the most restaurants available in Newcastle and Sydney. We have some in San Francisco as well, but it's kind of this old chicken and the egg side of the business where if we haven't signed restaurants up first, it's not as an amazing user experience because you don't have many restaurants in the discover. But we're working through that. We are very much still in what I call like startup phase where we're trying to work out how we can grow this platform to be faster to scale, faster to more areas. Because if you think about it, if you went to order an Uber and there's no drivers in your area, you're not going to have a great experience with Uber. Yeah, exactly. So they sign up all the drivers first and then start promoting it. So I think it's just a challenge that we're still facing and if anyone wants to download it and check it out, they can swipe through dishes in Newcastle, Sydney and San Francisco. Yeah, I've been in and checked it out. It's really cool. Yeah, but if you're anywhere else in the world, then you can just discover dishes that are like hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from you. It's fun anyway. Yeah, maybe people will fly to Newcastle to try them. You never know. Yeah, it's very cool. So are you taking the photos of the food for these people as well? Currently we do. Yeah, so we'll send a photographer to the restaurant. We'll photograph it all. That's a big part of the value proposition to restaurants as well. A lot of them don't have great photos of. I think they don't. their food, their venue of like really anything. And we believe that content is incredibly valuable for them to be able to use on their website, their social media, but then as well as on our platforms. So yeah, we have a free subscription model where if they give us the photos, then they can list totally for free. But if they want us to connect them with a photographer to create their content as well, we have a monthly subscription. Yeah. So how did your business crave go while you were in San Francisco? We have an amazing team behind that. So they were running that for me while I was gone, which was great. But again, it's a huge thing to just uproot and go over there. When I first found out that I won launch, I was like, oh my god, now I have to go to San Francisco. Yeah. And then I got all my ducks in a row. Yeah, so it wasn't an overnight thing. Like I took probably about five months actually getting my ducks in a row and finding someone to replace my role because I was full-time working for the agency and running that business. And you can see it was just like my little side hustle where I was like, hopefully this thing comes to life one day and we launched the first MVP. And that was so exciting. And if you were starting downloading it, that was exciting. It was never really the business that I put all my focus in. It's just like my passion project. And then when we had like 20,000 people in Newcastle downloading the app. And I was like, this has to exist in more areas. So yeah, I found someone to replace my role in the agency when I was in America. And I actually just stepped back from the agency a few months ago. So someone else is running that now. Wow. I officially sold the business. And now I'm focusing on-- I have this one. Yeah. Wow. That's a huge step. Yeah. So that's running it now and owns the agency. She has worked for me for about two years. So for us, it was internal. All happened internally. She's incredible. She's just such a perfect fit for it. Oh, that's the same thing. It was quite thorough and dip it as hard all happened. So yeah, now I can focus-- It was meant to be. Yeah, now I can focus on my energy on Eatsy. And we need to be in more markets whereas the agency is very much just like Newcastle focus. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, some things are meant to be local. And things aren't. Exactly. So are you planning on staying in Australia now? Well, when I got back from San Francisco, I was in Newcastle for about a month. And I was like, oh, I need to get out of my comfort zone. And I need to launch this in a new market. I personally feel like we have saturated Newcastle. Like we've been here for five years. And every restaurant in Newcastle notes who crave is. Like we don't need a continuous selling crave to Newcastle restaurants. So I was like, what's the next day's at market? So I moved to Sydney. Oh. So I still spend a lot of my time in Newcastle, my team here. So many of our clients are here. So Sydney was the next market. I do have plans to go back to America next year. I think that it will probably end up being L.A. mid next year, because I think if you look at market opportunity in the size of America versus Australia, I think targeting America is definitely a great step for us. But it's just about capital and being able to afford to do it as well, to live in America is so much more responsive than Australia. I've actually not been to America. Oh, honestly, will you think about it? Most of the prices of things are the same, but then you have to convert it to America. So it ends up being like, you buy a coffee in America and it's $6, but then you convert it and it's like $10. And it's like, oh, it's so expensive. Especially as San Francisco. And then also employing people over there is a lot more expensive. So yeah, especially in tech. So developers can start to under-K for a junior position because Google and Facebook and all these huge companies are snabbling up these developers for crazy prices and little startups like me. Can't really compete in-- compete, don't you? Yeah. And the only incentive you can really give is equity and for the right people, and that definitely works, but a lot of people just don't-- They're not incentivized by that. They're like, sorry, unless you're going to give me $200. Why, cash? I want cash. So what's your big goal? I would say the big goal is that I just want Eatsy to exist as a household name when it comes to discovering places to die. And I think that the way that people discover food now when it comes to restaurants with like, you know, Tripiviser and Google and Yelp, they're all very review based focus. I think it's more important to be discovering the food that the restaurant makes rather than a review about their business. You know when you go to a cafe restaurant and someone will be like, you have to try this dish. This is the dish you have to try. I think that it should be about the food. And I just want to reposition that where people think about discovering the food from restaurants rather than just like what the business has been reviewed as. So I would love us to be the size of Yelp or Google. I think it will be the size of Google. I know. But imagine if we were like the size of Yelp, for example. There's no reason why a platform like this can't scale that big. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be. And you are unique, right? I think that what we do is very unique. There's no other platform that focuses on the dish. No, I don't know of anything else. They all go after reviews and it's all about the business list thing, which I think is great for people wanting to try and find a restaurant that makes good Mexican. But whatever the cuisine is, I think there's like, there's definitely a formula without works. And that's why these companies have done so well. But I think they're missing the one key thing, which is like, what is the dish from this restaurant that I need to try? And having people be able to use a platform like Eatsy to tell people about those dishes they're trying as well. That's a model that we're trying to move more towards. For example, you probably have a bunch of great cafes and restaurants that you go to where you just get the same thing every single time. Every time. Exactly. So imagine if you were able to tell your friends and other people that know you as the foodie that you are about those dishes. Yeah, that was amazing. Focusing more on that rather than the restaurant is what we're trying to angle down. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. It's such a different way of looking at this completely. And food is so visual. Like discovering it needs to be visual too. I think that Instagram has changed the game for that way. You'll be like, OK, there's this new restaurant in town. You'll jump on Google and maybe look at their reviews and they're menu. But then you go on Instagram to see what the food actually looks like. So we're trying to pull that together. So we can have one central place where you can see the menu. And you can know exactly what the food looks like. And all the information you need to know about that restaurant and what dish you should try. Yeah, which is great. I know I used to be a massive TripAdvisor fan. Yeah, yeah. Especially when I was traveling. And then I realized there's some countries overseas that have actually worked TripAdvisor out. And they just clearly pay people to do the reviews. And I've got them stuck a few times. And there's one country in particular that it was-- oh my god, it was terrible. Some of the places that I picked to stay and play sort of picked to eat were just terrible. So to eliminate that would be great to be able to actually see the food. Yeah, absolutely. I think what is authentic? You're right. A lot of people have hacked their systems where they know that the more reviews they get, the more people will come. Even if it's a good experience or if it's not. Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of restaurants hate these review platforms because people will come and competitors will write negative reviews. And there's nothing they can do about it. Or people don't like what they get. It's not that it's bad. It's just that it's not their personal preference. Exactly. Well, the thing is when you think about a lot of these restaurants and cafes, they could have 30 plus dishes on the menu. And someone will go there and they'll just try one. And they'll review the entire experience based on that one dish. And it's like that-- Or the one waitress. --we're having a bad night. Exactly. And I think that's what's really frustrating about that is restaurants. I feel like they get the hard stick of it when it comes to that because the person that's running that that's putting their heart and soul into it that might have one person that doesn't care about their job that day. And maybe the meal came out and they were busy. And it wasn't what they usually serve up. But their entire restaurant's being reviewed on that one experience. That's great. I just want to change that. Yeah. That's exciting. That's really exciting, actually. It's such a new way of looking at things that I don't think, well, we definitely hasn't been done before. Yeah, there's a lot of scope for you to grow. There is. There's so much scope to grow. That's it. And that's what I'm excited about is, I already love what it is now. And then I look at it and I'm like, imagine, in 10 years time, this has just got so much room to grow. And we have more creative people coming on board. Because right now, I'm a solo founder. And this is very much driven by my own. I'll go to sleep at night. And I think there's some new idea. And I'm like, yes, that's the thing. Let's build that. But I just can't wait for more people to be on board with this journey and watch this company grow as well. I'm excited about it. Yeah. I mean, the thing to found is where it's like, you know, Instagram started as two co-founders. And then they grew to this incredibly huge, huge company of it. Now everyone in the world uses. And those kind of stories that just made me so excited. One of these days, I'm going to hear about 8C being bought out for millions of millions of dollars by Google or someone like that. You can look back on this podcast. And I'll be like, oh, we'll never be as big as them. I really believe. And I can just feel your energy coming in, your passion. Well, it's all a tie-ax. It's energy and passion, right? Yeah. And I believe in yourself. I think you have to love me too. Yeah. Right. Is this a five-headed iTunes podcast? If so, leave a review. If not, for you. We need to talk about your-- I feel like-- Yes. We love you. Yes. So tell me what-- if it was your last supper, what would you want to eat? Yes. I love Middle East and Food. Oh, my God. I love it. Love it, love it. We don't have enough of it in your grocery store. No, we don't. I feel like there is not one good Middle East. But there is actually just no way that does it. It's such a gap in the market. If anyone's listening to this and can make it a tad Middle East and Food, start up a restaurant, please. I'll help promote you. I promise. So I love a good Middle East and Food. But it has to be-- I make one that I think is just like all the things that before was my last supper, I would-- So it's got to have a really good flatbread. It's got to have some tabooly with some pomeradon, bubbganosh, taziki, tomb, which is like the garlic paste. Oh, yes, I love tomb. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. It's made well. Yeah, I learned how to make it myself. And it's so easy. And then the final ingredient, which is the one that really separates it. Most people would have a plate like this with fluffles or something like that. I love halloumi. I love halloumi so much. And if you bake it in honey and time, it is like transformed. So halloumi on this plate is like-- It just takes it to the next level. It takes it to the next level. Yeah, put some fluffles on there. I'm not going to complain. No, I know. But it's got to have halloumi. Yeah, I know. So that would be my last supper. Yeah, that sounds delicious. Have you got a Middle Eastern background? I don't know. I'm actually half Hungarian. Oh really? Yeah, it's really interesting. Yeah, so yeah, but I was a deterian for 18 years going up. So I love vegetarian food. Really, really love anything to do with that Middle Eastern style diet because it's so fresh. Oh, yeah. It's so tasty and it's mostly vegetarian food as well. Yeah, it is. Actually, I was talking to someone the other day. I was saying how much I loved Middle Eastern food. I just think it's tasty without being offensive. Don't get me wrong. I love spicy food. Not being the Indian food entire. Yeah, the rest of it. But I just find Middle Eastern is just one of those foods that you can eat anytime. Yeah. Don't have to be in the mood for it because it's really-- I don't know. It's just really-- it's fresh and vibrant and tasty. It's so approachable. Yeah, it is. I agree. It just-- Yeah. Has anyone asked you this question? Can I ask you what you're last up for? I feel like I really need to know. I really-- And you'll listen as need to know. I've probably didn't know. And it's ever-- No one has asked me so I'm not a bit. Oh, what? I know. I know. Oh, goodness, babe. My last supper. I feel like this is a really high question for you. Oh, it is. But yeah, I think my last supper would change on a daily basis. OK, you're right. I didn't even want to have-- So how about today? Today. Today, I think it would be pasta. Pasta. Home made pasta. Mm. I think-- What are you going to put in the pasta? I think it would be a regu. I think I think it would be a regu. Do you make a mean regu? I do make a mean regu. But I'm not somebody else to make it for me. Yeah, I mean, if it's your last supper, you put your feedback. I know exactly. Exactly. And I think it would need to have beautiful grains of the sillian olives in it. I love brains of the sillian olives. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, and so much Parmesan cheese that it's all my-- All of the Parmesan. Like when they're braiding it on there, and they're like, tell me when to start. And it's just like the whole table's covered in Parmesan. Yeah, it's a great-- And I get so cranky when they just bring you a little bowl. Oh, it's like-- It's just like-- I'm not a mouse. I need much more Parmesan. I need so much Parmesan. Yes. So much more. And I'd like a bit of it. A bit like you, like a mezzai plate as a starter. Just a little bit of everything. Because I was contemplating saying a cheese platter as well. But I was like, I think that I would go cheese plate second. I had to be the mezzai plate first, and then cheese after. Yeah. And I'm going to go dessert before the cheese plate. Oh my god, yes, that's it. I don't know how I'm going to fill this in, but I'm going to give it a crack dessert, I think. I'm going to go really old school. And I'm going to go probably a pefflova. A pefflova? No. That's like my signature dish. I can ask to make that every single Christmas. Oh, really? Yes, I make a pile of it every Christmas. What do you put on the top of your pefflova? Usually I just do like passion fruit. I'll obviously, you know, do whip cream. And then passion fruit, raspberries, strawberries, it's not very innovative. It's just like, it's just classic. It's just the classic one. Yeah, I know. I put mascarpone on my mouth. Oh, OK. Mascarpone and cream. OK. Mix together. Yeah. I'm going to try that. Yeah, it's really nice. Just gives it a little bit more of a tang. OK, all right. So you just whip it together? Yeah. Oh, I know. So you whip the cream first and then you fold it together. OK, I'm actually going to try this as Christmas. And if everyone loves it, I'll just give it a try. It's yours. No, it's yours. No, no, no. Credit, credit, credit. So what about your dessert? What's your last dessert? Can I pick two again? Yeah, yeah, you can do whatever you like. It's your last one. OK, good. I really love a good Fudgey chocolate brownie. I think how good is it when you eat a brownie? And it's really Fudgey, but it's also kind of gooey. But then also like crispy on the outside. I was like, I had a discrepate. That's a perfect brownie, really. And then do you like a vanilla? Do you like a cold? See, I could have a cold because then it's Fudgey. Yeah, me too. Yeah, because when it makes it warm, it's kind of like, it's a big on the gooey aside. It's a bit like a cake. Yeah, exactly. No, so I could go cold, but then maybe some vanilla but an ice cream or something like that. Yeah. And then this is really random, but I was thinking about the flavor combinations of things that I just love so much in life. And it's coconut and oats. So an anti-piscan. I like maple syrup, coconut notes. I'm probably three of the most delicious flavors I've ever had. Yeah, I don't know why I love it so much. I just love anti-piscan. That's really random. If I was going to die, never be able to decide every again. I'd have a damn anti-piscan. I'd do it. That is so bizarre. Where did that come from? Where did you have that? I have no idea. Did your mum make that? No, no. I just-- Yeah, it's just the thing that I just love. And I have this granola recipe that I make that super simple. I just blend oats with dates, coconut, and then you just blend it. And then bake it, and it tastes like an anti-piscan. I put it on like a side balls. And oh my god, it's so good. I wish we had a ball of it just to try now. That sounds really good. Yeah. I think what I made before is a toasted oat ice cream. Oh my god. I think that's the ice cream. Speaking of my language. So you just toast the oats. And then you immerse them in the milk and the cream. OK, yeah. And let it sit for 24 hours and then strain it. Yeah. And then you've got that toasted oat flavor in with an-- So if you added like some maple syrup or something, you would be able to have anti-piscat ice cream essentially. And you know what you could do? You could use coconut milk instead of normal milk. Oh my god. And then you would have coconut. Can you please create this? Sure. Will you do it? Will you make a side cake? You're actually going to be going now. Yeah. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it now. I mean, all my Instagrams is full of food. Like it's literally all I do. So I'm just-- I'm constantly going to do that. I'm going to do that. Yes. We photograph the food you make it. Yeah, that's exactly right. So it goes right. It has to be done. It has to be done. Oh, thank you so much for coming. And I really appreciate it. I really invite him in the studio, which is extra special. I know. And I can't wait to see you on the young millionaires list because I feel like it's going to happen. I don't know if you people say like 30 under 30. I'm like, I've got a few more years left. I'm 26 now. So-- I think you'll be right. I think you'll get there. Got a hustle hard for the next few years. And we'll see where it goes. Oh, well, thank you so much for saying that. It was so lovely. If you'd like the service, tip us with a review on iTunes. It's free. You're tired us. [MUSIC PLAYING]