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Lifestyle

What is Spotluck and Why You Need to Have It Today

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at American chapter.

Somewhere right now in this world a couple, a family or a group of friends are stuck in the age-old crisis of figuring out where to eat. Chances are you are also trying to figure out what to have for dinner tonight, but your indecision is causing you major grief. You wish that someone else could just choose your dinner for you. Guess what? The app Spotluck does just that.

What is Spotluck?

Spotluck is an app available for iOS and Android that you can download to “spin” a wheel that will select a restaurant near your location to dine at AND it gets you an awesome discount on your food and drinks. The app covers neighborhoods in major cities like the DC Metro Area, New York, and it continues to grow.

Your discount lasts a limited time and you can only obtain the discount if you dine in (which is actually really cool). You can also leave a review on Spotluck and earn points and more spins!

Points not only land you more spins but puts you into higher membership groups of Spotluckers. If you become a gold Spotlucker you may get better discounts or tickets to awesome events like a restaurant opening.

How does it work?

Spotluck
Photo courtesy of Spotluck

Spotluck uses a crazy cool formula that considers the time, day of the week and the weather to pull you out of your indecision and into the restaurant. This is because a burger and pint shouldn’t cost the same on a rainy Tuesday that it does on a bumpin’ Friday night. This discount then saves you money while still making the restaurant money from more people coming in.

What makes it so special for you?

My favorite part of the app is that there are NO CHAINS. All of the restaurants on there are local, unique restaurants that all have, at the least, a 3.5-star rating.  For example, if you are stuck in Baltimore traffic and spin to eat at La Tavola instead of Applebee’s (sorry Applebee’s).

What if you aren’t feeling the place it chose for you? Do not worry! Spotluck’s wheel includes eight local restaurants in your area to choose from. The other restaurants will still give you a discount, but it just won’t be as big as the one for the restaurant the wheel picked.

Another great feature of the app is that it can also narrow down your location to specific locations in the city you are in. Let’s say you want to grab a meal on the Upper East Side (because we all want to be Blair Waldorf), Spotluck will find you a place to eat specifically in that neighborhood.

What makes it amazing for restaurants?

Spotluck makes sure your review is a “real review.” Spotluck’s app tracks your location to make sure your review is made at the restaurant and if not the review will not be posted. This is to ensure that you aren’t some cranky old woman trolling on Yelp. The restaurant can also respond to your review to improve your future dining experience.

Spotluck’s restaurant owner side keeps track of how many people actually came to the restaurant they got and who did not. Restaurant owners can also see the most common dinners users order and a word chart of the topic s most reviewed (such as best servers, a specific dish, or service in general).

Out of all the food apps, Spotluck will make a huge difference in your since it takes the indecision away by leaving your meal up to delicious chance. Now download Spotluck and spin the wheel!

Check Spotluck out on their social media!!

…alllllssssoooooo high-key use this app because it’s incredible!! 

Spotluck on Instagram: @spotluck

Spotluck on Facebook: Spotluck

Spotluck on Twitter: @spotluck

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BryAna Stearns

American '19

Lover of baking, carbs, knitting, reading, and kickboxing. Oxford comma activist and cat enthusiast.