Students looking to “catch a break here and there” might have found one with the Spotluck dining app that launched in College Park on Friday, said Cherian Thomas, the app’s CEO and co-founder.
The app works in collaboration with nine local or locally owned restaurants, including Looney’s Pub, Pizza Kingdom and The Board and Brew.
Once a user downloads the app, they can “spin” once a day to receive a discount of up to 30 percent from one of the affiliated restaurants. Users will receive at least a 10 percent discount from any restaurant listed on the app. The discounts vary based upon the time, day and weather, Thomas said. When the user arrives their chosen restaurant, they use GPS coordinates to confirm their location and “lock in” the discount.
Spotluck will allow users to eat locally and find new dining spots, said Daniel Klein, a University of Maryland student representative for the app.
“We’re really there to market the neighborhood,” said Klein, a senior accounting and finance major. “When you’re having that back-and-forth with friends on where you’re going to [eat], it’ll pick a place for you to randomly go.”
Thomas and co-founder Brad Sayler launched the app in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2014, and it has since grown to more than 50,000 users in various hubs throughout the Washington metropolitan area. College Park has been one of Spotluck’s intended locations since the app’s launch, especially because a lot of the team members are University of Maryland alumni, Thomas said.
“We started out with a great group of nine restaurants, and we hope to see that grow,” said Thomas, noting that the app has already brought about 100 people into the affiliated restaurants. “We see us having a huge impact in College Park as the restaurant scene grows. Spotluck will provide [new restaurants] some exposure because we have that network and so many eyes on the app.”
Mayor Patrick Wojahn said he is thrilled to see this app enter the College Park market.
“It’s exciting that they’re promoting local restaurants — we’ve been trying through various means to promote local restaurants in College Park,” Wojahn said. “I can see it bringing more business for our local restaurants and making sure they can thrive in our community.”
Thomas also said he is excited to introduce Spotluck to the student market, as well as the “iconic” area of College Park.
“We strongly feel a mixture of not only the students, but also the faculty [will use the app],” Thomas said. “This isn’t an app for one demographic. Literally everyone and anyone that has a dining dilemma is our target market.”
Junior Lisa Maszkiewicz said she will probably try the app, but noted some students may be “too lazy” to take advantage of the discounts.
“A lot of people want to eat locally and they would, but since a lot of people aren’t from here, I think they eat the things they’ve been eating all their lives, like Chipotle and Noodles,” Maszkiewicz said.
Brian McClimens, the owner of The Board and Brew, said he hopes the app will “draw in new customers” to his restaurant and board game parlor.
“One of the nice things about the app is that they are paid based upon how many people use the app, so they get paid per customers in the store,” McClimens said. “I think they are trying to promote something good for … the customers, but also in a way that’s good for businesses.”
CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article misidentified the University of Maryland student representative for the app as David Klein. His name is Daniel Klein. The article has been updated.
