FoodCircles: the little startup that could

The Little Engine that Could is a classic illustrated children's book that teaches the value of optimism and hard work.

A modern take on this might feature FoodCircles, a local startup that Jonathan Kumar and his team have been nurturing along for the last few years.

FoodCircles believes "your hunger is powerful", and enables diners to buy a local restaurant dish for $1 or greater on its mobile app. 100% of the diner's chosen price is donated to feed a local child in need, or to their charity of choice.

To date, FoodCircles has provided 5,557 free meals (and counting), with almost 2,500 diners and 20 participating restaurants - all powered by a team of two staff and three interns. Perhaps most impressive, however, is that these numbers were generated with minimal marketing and all within West Michigan.

Kumar says he has gone through several iterations of the business through customer development and now has the proof of concept to take FoodCircles to the next stage in growth. "I personally am "on tour" for the next two weeks to meet with nonprofits in Chicago, Ann Arbor, and Indianapolis," he says. "They will have an opportunity to pre-order our technology, in order to use the app and website to convert local dining into daily funding and awareness. We will take these pre-orders to investors regarding our second capital raise."

During this time, Kumar says he will also be shifting his home base to move the business forward: "I will be relocating to Seattle to activate the market there. In the next 18 months, we expect to expand to five new cities and grow to 60,000 diners, 500 restaurants, and 80,000 people aided."

Kumar says Kyle Bekins will be in charge in Grand Rapids ([email protected]) and they will continue to host internships as well.
 
To follow FoodCircles, visit their website here and Facebook page here.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor