Most restaurant apps are glorified databases.
Beli turned dining into a reflection of who you are.
In a market dominated by Yelp's crowdsourced chaos and Google's algorithmic anonymity, Beli did something radical…they bet that your taste is unique, trackable, and worth celebrating.
Here's how a Harvard Business School project became the most talked-about food app you can't download yet.
The Problem: Everyone's Taste Is Different, But Reviews Pretend Otherwise
The founders, Judy and Eliot, discovered the problem while dating in New York City.
They'd research a restaurant obsessively. Five stars on one platform, three on another. Rave reviews from critics. They'd show up excited and leave completely disappointed.
A five-star review from someone who loves spicy, experimental cuisine means nothing to someone who prefers classic French technique. A rave from a vegetarian doesn't help a steak lover. Aggregate ratings flatten taste into meaninglessness.
**Then they came across this genius idea…**What if instead of showing you what everyone likes, an app could predict what you specifically would love based on your actual dining history?
The Vision: Celebrate Different Tastes, Don't Homogenize Them
When it comes to taste, there is no right or wrong.
Yelp tells you what's popular. Google tells you what's nearby. Michelin tells you what critics deem worthy. None of them tell you what you'll actually enjoy.
Instead of asking users to rate restaurants objectively (an impossible task), they asked users to track what they eat and how they felt about it. Over time, the algorithm learns:
- Which flavors you gravitate toward
- Which cuisines resonate with you
- Which restaurants match your specific preferences
- What you're in the mood for right now
Make Tracking Feel Like Achievement
Beli succeeded in making the act of using the app feel inherently rewarding.
How they did it:
Visual-First Design
Every meal gets a photo. Your profile becomes a gallery of culinary experiences. Scrolling through your Beli history feels like flipping through a beautifully curated food Instagram.
Effortless Logging
Quick ratings, easy tagging, instant saves. The friction between "I just had an amazing meal" and "I've logged it in Beli" is seconds, not minutes.
Personal Milestones
Number of restaurants visited. Cities explored. Favorite dishes discovered. Beli turns casual dining into quantified exploration.
The Wrapped Effect: Turning Data Into Identity
In mid-2024, Beli launched their "Midyear Snack" campaign—a personalized recap of each user's dining journey.
Think Spotify Wrapped, but for your food life.
What users received:
- Favorite meals of the year (with photos)
- Most-visited cuisines and cities
- Total restaurants explored
- Quirky stats about their eating habits
- Shareable infographics designed for Instagram Stories
The Growth Strategy: Invite-Only Exclusivity
Beli launched invite-only and created a waitlist thousands deep.
The Psychology of Scarcity
When you can't have something, you want it more. When everyone you follow is posting about Beli but you can't access it, you feel left out.
The invite-only model created:
- Artificial Scarcity
- Quality Control
- Word-of-Mouth Engine
- Viral Curiosity
- Built-In PR
- Community-First Growth
The framework:
Curated Onboarding
New users were invited by existing users or selected from the waitlist based on dining activity and geography. This ensured new members already cared about food culture.
Geographic Clustering
Beli launched city-by-city (Boston, NYC, Nantucket, LA), building dense networks of users in specific locations. This created:
- Better recommendation accuracy (more data per city)
- Local community feel (you'd run into other Beli users at restaurants)
- City-specific leaderboards and competitions
The Content Strategy: Horizontal UGC That Feels Native
What Is Horizontal UGC?
Traditional UGC: Users post on their own accounts, sometimes tagging your brand.
Horizontal UGC: Individual creators post on contextual branded accounts that tie directly to specific use cases, driving downloads through impressions that feel native, not promotional.
How Beli executed this:
Food Recipe Content
Instead of generic "check out this restaurant" posts, Beli-affiliated creators shared:
- "Recreating my favorite Beli-tracked dish at home"
- "The secret ingredient in [restaurant's] signature dish"
- "How to make the meal that became my #1 Beli rating"
Beli List Sharing
Users created and shared curated lists:
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"My Top 10 pasta spots in NYC (via Beli)"
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"Best date night restaurants based on my Beli history"
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"Hidden gems only Beli recommended to me"
Each list became a mini endorsement of both the restaurants and the platform that surfaces them.
Storytelling and Experiences
Rather than product-focused posts, creators shared narratives:
- "The meal that made me fall in love with Korean food (tracked on Beli)"
- "How Beli helped me find my new favorite neighborhood spot"
- "The restaurant I almost skipped, until Beli's algorithm insisted I'd love it"
The app became the supporting character in personal food stories, not the main plot.
Freemium That Feels Fair
Beli operates on a freemium model, but unlike most apps, their paid tier doesn't gatekeep core functionality.
What's free:
- Restaurant discovery and recommendations
- Meal tracking and photo diary
- Access to community lists and reviews
- Basic personalization
What's premium:
- Advanced insights and trend analysis
- Priority recommendations
- Extended search filters
- Ad-free experience
- Early access to new features
Why this model works:
Free users get genuine value and become advocates even without paying.
Premium users pay for depth and convenience, not basic access. They're the power users who dine out frequently and want more sophisticated tools.
The conversion happens naturally; casual users stay free forever and still provide value through data and content. Power users realize the premium features match their level of engagement and upgrade willingly.
Beli created a product people want to use daily and brag about using, not because of rewards or gamification, but because it genuinely helps them eat better and makes their food life feel meaningful.